Our bus got into Mendoza around 7:30 AM and I quickly found a restaurant for breakfast before I made my way to the hostel.
Even more trees along the streets than in Cordoba. All of them were being irrigated from a below-sidewalk creek-like flow which was turned on and off depending on the need for irrigation. Old trees were far below the sidewalk which created a walking hazard if you you weren’t attentive to where you were walking. I am sure that the abundance of trees lowers the city temperatures which were in the high 90s while I was here.
Following the example of Mendoza, cities like Athens have begun an aggressive action to plant trees to lower the increasingly hot summers.
They had some beautiful plazas like Espana and Italia along with functional parks like Independencia and O’Higgins.
Shortly after I got to the Hostel Legares, I went on the afternoon wine tour with Spanish speakers. That turned out to be pretty good because when I got to the wineries, I got a private English-speaking tour with Luis, Ara, and Stephanie. I am sure I got more samples as a result. Plus these students were fun to talk with.
The next winery was Visitende, and it looks very high-tech with its gleaming stainless steel settling vats, French and American Oak barrel aging, and cellars full of corked bottles laying down to age. My guide was Ara from Paraguay, and also a student who was a close friend of Luis from the other winery.
We also visited an olive oil factory where we learned that they hand pick the olives rather than mechanically shake the trees which are common in the US. Part of the tour was to push the sale of olive oil emollients.
We also sampled different olive oil flavors including orange, rosemary, oregano, and garlic. We also had some balsamic vinegar and olive oil for a traditional taste.
I enjoyed walking to the street of Sarmiento Avenue just off Independencia Plaza which was filled with restaurants and enjoyed stopping at them for drinks and dinner.
The following day I took my first-ever paragliding flight and it was exhilarating. My pilot, Alejandro, was an experienced pilot of 25 years and we soared for an hour by catching the thermals. It was so quiet and peaceful gliding around above the mountains.
Back at the Legares Hostel, I met two Americans. Nathan was from Ft. Collins, CO, and was on his way to solo climb Mt. Aconcagua. It is the highest mountain in the Americas at 22,838 ft. He had previously climbed all of the major peaks in Colorado. Sunita was from Florida but was moving to North Carolina when she returned from her travels in South America. She Had decided that she had enough of frequent hurricanes.
She has been traveling for about three months and instead of using her debit card at Western Union like I had learned to do, she was using USD cash and learned from me that her exchange rate wasn’t as good as at Western Union even with their processing fees. She was now considering it as she made plans to travel south to Bariloche a few days after me.
While waiting for the Andesmar night bus to Bariloche, I enjoyed revisiting my favorite restaurants and Plazas, especially Italia, and Espana.
I got the top front seat and had a full view of the country we passed through until it got too dark. It reminded me of the times I drove down the Baja peninsula to our Loreto home, with views of endless desert and sagebrush.
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