Things we like about Mendoza including a Nice Little Malbec

Giant geranium plant in front of church ruin (destroyed in the earthquake of 1861), doble ice cream cones served with cookies and chocolate sauce (pictured are peach and lemon with chocolate flecks sorbets), Mendoza's garbage receptacles to keep garbage off the streets, and the trees - even if they aren't native!

Jake would like to add that tonight's wine, served with homemade pasta with much more sauce than can be found on any dish at a restaurant in Mendoza, was a Bodega Norton Malbec 2006, one that Sylvan thinks can be found in the E.E.U.U. (the good ole USA). It had a leather, black cherry, plum nose, no sweetness, only a little acidity maybe, was smooth with a long, lingering finish. 30 Pesos. We learned in a class that the fragrance of the glass after it was emptied of wine was a characteristic of the wine. Go figure. This one had the fragrance of wet leather and black walnuts. We recommend it. A note for travelers: In the store, the wines costing more than 50 Pesos have an alarm on top so they won't be pilferred. These are the really expensive wines in the supermarket, the $15 bottles.

Cerro de la Gloria

One weekend morning we decided to explore Parque San Martin and climb Cerro de la Gloria within the park. It was a longish walk over to the park, but pleasant and the park greeted us with its massive gates crowned with a condor (see photo). We walked through the park, sticking to the shady areas as the day was already warm. The park is crisscrossed with irrigation channels and obviously someone keeps track of what areas have and haven't gotten water. After a few wrong turns and a pass through the aboriginal garden (see photo of huge cactus and flowering stalk of a yucca and photo of aboriginal with formal non-indigenous plantings) we eventually made it to the base of Cerro Gloria, a tall hill at the far end of the park. The zoo is at the base, but we didn't go through the zoo this visit. We stopped for a bottle of water and a foot-long hot dog though before starting the climb. A relatively new path zig-zags up the hill through partially native vegetation until it reaches the top where eucalyptus trees shade a small parking area. Cerro de la Gloria is named for the impressive statue at the top of celebrating the Army of the Andes, a cooperative venture between Chile and Argentina (see another condor sculpture photo).

Empanadas and more food

Argentina’s national snack food could be the empanada. On Wednesday the afternoon activity at school was to learn to make empanandas, so I stuck around along with seven other students. Ana started us out chopping onions, peppers and green onions to add to ground beef. Once the filling was cooked we filled empanada wrappers (available in packages) with the beef, a few little pieces of hard-boiled egg, and chopped green olive. She showed us how to neatly fold and seal the wrapper, and into a very hot oven they went. While the empanadas baked, we all wrote down the recipe and learned other food terms and sayings that have food terms in them. So next time you don’t understand something, just say “No entiendo un pepino!” (I don’t understand a cucumber) or if you’re feeling really energetic say “Estoy fresco como una lechuga” (I’m fresh like lettuce), or if feeling particularly kindly to your significant other, try “Sos mi media naranja” (You’re my half orange = other half).

Empanadas
2.2 lbs ground beef
2.2 lbs finely chopped onion
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, chopped in small pieces
Spices – salt, pepper, dried oregano, cumin, garlic, dried basil, dried parsley, paprika, dash of cayenne maybe
4 hard boiled eggs, peeled and sliced in medium pieces
Handful green olives, sliced
2 eggs, beaten
50+ empanada wrappers (La Espanola and La Saltena were recommended brands, wrappers are basically a pie dough type dough)

Heat the oven to hot (450?). Saute the onions in oil until clear. Add the ground beef, green onions and bell pepper and spices. Saute until beef is cooked through. Let filling cool in refrigerator 2 hours or overnight. Fill wrappers with a spoonful of filling, a few pieces of hard boiled egg, and a few pieces of green olive. Wet the edges of wrapper, fold in half and fold edges to seal. Brush top with beaten egg. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 10 – 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.

Today, Friday, school extra-curricular activities included an asado (barbecue) at lunch time and music. For the asado there were grilled chorizo and blood sausages, and a couple cuts of beef. Also salad as a relief from meat! Two big bottles of red wine made the rounds and the meal was finished off with deliciously refreshing watermelon slices. It is in the mid 90s today. Afterwards we adjourned back to the indoors where we could make as much noise as we wanted. Two musicians who are in a Mendoza band came and told us about the traditional latin rhythms with demonstrations and group participation. They play tonight at midnight with their 8 piece band at a bar and again on Sunday at the park so we hope to hear them in full swing.

La Parilla

Last night we joined two fellow students for dinner at one of Mendoza’s most famous restaurants de parillada (grill). Jake and the other students (a couple from Denver) had studied the names of the different meats served when you order parilla (mixed grill) and were eager to sample the real thing. Jake and I attempted to take the bus down to the restaurant, a straight shot down a single road, but both buses we caught took unexpected right turns onto side streets. We did get within a few blocks at least. We sat outside on the terrace by a bubbling fountain enjoying the warm night air. Marilyn ordered the wine as she used to work as a wine buyer and had visited several vineyards around Mendoza. (Sorry Lynn, I didn’t think to write down the names of the wines!). Three of us ordered parilla and Marilyn ordered Bife de chorizo, the best cut of steak available by all accounts.

When you order parilla, a parade of meats arrives. There were many different cuts of beef and cow parts (chinchulinas – intestines), a small porkchop, pork sausage and blood sausage. Then we were asked if we wanted repeats of anything! I can’t say I regretted that they didn’t serve the kidneys, liver or udder as is sometimes done. The meats are all grilled outside and had a delicious flavor. The bife de chorizo was indeed tender and Marilyn managed to get hers done rare, a feat in a country that likes its meat medium to well done.

Somehow we managed to top everything off with dessert. Jake ordered fresh strawberries which were full of flavor. Tim got a big piece of tiramisu and Marilyn had a sublime plate of figs stewed in honey and served with cream.

At 1am we walked the 16 blocks home through the lively Villanueva street bar and restaurant scene, still packed with people. Apparently clubs often don’t really get going until 2 am and stay open until 8 am.

Spanish Lessons

Bright and early Monday morning Jake and I went off to school with our notebooks and pens. We are taking Spanish lessons at Intercultural, about 8 blocks from our apartment building. We had taken placement exams the week before so when we got there we were assigned to different rooms. My class has just one other student, a woman from Ireland who has been taking lessons for the last 6 weeks. We plunged right into different subjunctive tenses and uses of the subjunctive. In my class, Silvina teaches from 8:30 - 10:30 am. Then there is a half hour coffee break outside where students mingle and sign up for optional lunches delivered to the school and afternoon activities. Vivi teaches from 11 - 1pm and then we break for lunch for an hour.

On Mondays the school hosts a language exchange in the afternoon. Students and anyone from town can attend. The first hour all conversation is in Spanish and the second hour in English. There were three Mendozans in my group. One used to work in NYC as a taxi driver, security guard and waiter before retiring back to Mendoza. The other worked as a waiter in Buenos Aires but has a house in Mendoza that he has been renovating for the last two years to rent out eventually. Students are from all over the world and of all ages. Duane is a pilot who works wildfires in northern California during the summer and travels to do mountaineering during the northern winters. There is a former school administrator from Chicago who has a year off. A young guy from California who is traveling for a year. A Brit who is traveling South America by motorcycle for 8 months. A South African woman accompanying her husband to live in Mendoza for 2 years or more as he works for the wine industry. It is astonishing to me how many people from Europe are able to arrange to travel for months or even a full year.

This afternoon we took the wine appreciation class. The teacher is the director of a sommelier institute in Mendoza. He explained (in Spanish) what the parts of the grape vine and grape are called, how wine is produced, and how to taste wine. We then evaluated one white and one red wine. The white was a 2008 Trapiche Sauvignon Blanc from Maipu (a suburb of Mendoza basically). It had a wonderful aroma of tropical fruits, but was too acidic to my taste. It did have a strong lemon/grapefruit taste if you like those flavors in a wine. The second wine - ahh, magnifico! It is a 2006 red wine (mixed varieties) from the El Peral vineyard in Tupungato, a town at high altitude in the province of Mendoza. The color was very dark and it had a strong scent of plums with undertones of strawberry. The sommelier also explained that the wine had been aged in an oak barrel giving it a vanilla and chocolate taste and that it had undergone some secondary fermentation which gives it a slight taste of leather or horse (I know, sounds unpleasant, but I didn't really notice those overtones anyway). Everyone in the class loved the wine as did Jake and I. The teacher labeled it "un vino para conversar", a wine you might break out after dinner because of its exquisite taste and ability to foster conversation.

Rafting and Cabalgata

We escaped Mendoza on a very hot day, 39C, to go rafting and horsebackriding in the foothills yesterday. Horseback rides are called "cabalgatas" in Argentina. We started with horseback riding. Our guide grew up in the area and filled me in on all the local plant names and uses. The scrubland has 4 or 5 different shrub species two of which seem similar to mesquite in usage. There was also wormwood and thyme among the shrubs. And a lovely red flowering parasitic plant on the shrubs. Also several cactus species. None of the trees in the towns would be there without the acequias, ditches used for irrigation. In one photo you can see a line of dead trees where the landowner stopped watering a piece of land. This was on an estancia (ranch) of 400 acres that we rode through. The ranch is now mainly used for tourism although the owner wants to start raising angora goats. Of our fellow riders, we had the most experience, so it was a pretty slow ride. There was a woman from Ireland along who had decided on going to Argentina as her big mid-life adventure. Her son is living here for a few months. She had been doing all kinds of activities she never thought she'd try! Two young women from Buenos Aires were clearly unprepared for the rigors of riding - one had shorts and flip flops on. An American couple from Boston were doing 2 rides in a row despite not having ridden for many years. I hope they were able to sit down still at the end of the day!

After horseback riding we returned by van to Argentina Rafting Expediciones headquarters on the Mendoza river where they serve a buffet lunch to rest up for our afternoon of rafting. The photo of the lake is the view from their headquarters. There were 4 other english speakers (an Alaskan woman and a young couple from Warwick, England who are traveling around the world for a year), so we were all put in the same raft. The guides explained safety procedures, how to put on the neoprene suit, and paddling techniques. The five rafts, 4 safety kayaks, guides and rafters all went by van upriver about 20 minutes. We got a review again on safety and paddling, got wet (very cold water from snowmelt in the mountains), and got in the rafts. I was seated in the back as someone with no rafting experience and Jake 2 rows up. The young couple from England had the front row - the wettest place to be. The Mendoza river has class II and III rapids along the stretch we were on, and it really was impressive. We plunged into great waves of water and at one point dared to go into a hole that none of the other rafts attempted. Towards the end we all got to jump out of the raft into the water then got pulled back up into the raft by our lifepreservers. I don't have any photos of the rafting of course, but you can see general photos at: http://www.argentinarafting.com/ingles/fotos_de_rafting.html.

Once back at the headquarters we sat around chatting with the Alaskan and English couple until the van finally took us back home around 6:30. After a shower and a rest we went out for dinner to a Middle Eastern restaurant called Comida Poblana over on Villavencia, another street lined with restaurants and bars. A half bottle of Santa Julia sauvignon blanc and an order of babaganoush and shish kebab helped ease aching muscles and finished off the day.

An Apartment

As Jake mentioned, yesterday we moved into our new apartment. We compromised on design and an outdoor space in favor of location and services. The apartment is in a 5 story building a block from Plaza Espana, one of the 4 smaller plazas surrounding Plaza Independencia. It is not especially remarkable, but has a dining/sitting area, a bedroom, a rather large bathroom and a tiny kitchen with a 2 burner stove, microwave, small refrigerator and sink. There are 2 large windows that look onto the walls of surrounding buildings, but you can see sky if you look up and the rooms are fairly well lit. The advantage of the building is that is has WiFi, someone cleans and makes the bed every day, does laundry once a week, and there is a doorman. It took us about 2 1/2 days to find a place. Our first day here was spent discovering how to locate furnished short-term apartments and the next two days looking at apartments. The tourist office had a convenient list of buildings with furnished apartments. I learned how to use the "locutorios", phone booths in stores, to call about places, and Intercultural, the language school we will be attending, actually would have been the best resource had we started with them.

Plaza life is great - as it grows dark and cooler the plazas fill with people. Plaza Independencia has lots of craft booths and snack vendors. There are entertainers as well. Usually a children's show of some sort and a couple people dressed as statues that move when coins are forthcoming. One corner has tango music, but we've yet to catch anyone dancing. Plaza San Martin has skateboarders doing tricks along the stairs and walkways. Our plaza has beautiful tilework and a fountain and seems to be one of the more peaceful plazas. Plaza Chile is under reconstruction this summer. We haven't spent much time yet around Plaza Italia.

There is a medium sized grocery store a block and a half from our apartment. We bought cereal (much missed the last week) for breakfast and frozen raviolis for dinner. We also got some green beans from a vegetable stand. We cooked up the ravioli with some sauce and boiled the green beans for a wonderful meal. I picked out a Malbec wine from the grocery from Vina Maipu. We both agreed that is was okay but not great. We'll try again though!