Gaucho Day and Mas Wineries

Tuesday we took a break from touring wineries to adventure ‘gaucho style’ in the mountains west of Mendoza.  We rode up foothills of the Andes on horseback to soak in the buena vista.  Giant Condors soared over the mountain peaks as we perfected our riding skills in preparation to fend off banditos (which Pedro assured me do not exist).

After enjoying lunch by the lake we spent the afternoon hiking to a waterfall to repel down a twenty meter cliff with the team of experienced Argentine guides. 

After the long day of adventuring we regrouped with a siesta at home before embarking on a seven course dinner wine pairing at the restaurant Brindillas.

Today was a colorful tour of four local wineries in the Lujan region including Achaval Ferrer, Lagarde, Carmelo Patti, and Dominio Del Plata.  Our favorite was the small proprietor Carmelo who shared his delicious Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, and a personal blend with us.  The group purchased numerous bottles to bring back to the states and Carmelo was sincerely happy to share his passion and a taste of Mendoza with the young visitors.

Mendoza in the fall

Andeluna vineyard

We spent the day visiting vineyards in beautiful Mendoza.  The dry climate and high altitude provides a unique climate to produce many grape varietals, as well as lots of other agricultural products.  With the Andes in the background, the scenery is gorgeous.

Museo de Che, Tango, Hokies reunite, Recoleta Cemetery, Argentine Experience

Buenos tardes!  We’ve done a lot since the last blog post; here’s a re-cap.

Mueso de Che – Born in Argentina, but not exactly celebrated here, Che Guevara is a controversial figure.  We found a little museum on a map that ended up being an interesting collection of photographs, paintings, books, and a life-size replica of the guerrilla within a shop crammed with any kind of second hand trinket you can imagine.  Eladio, the museum owner, was a friend of Che’s good friend and clearly believes in Che’s cause.  He spent 2 hours telling us all sorts of stories and advice related to Che and the movement he died for.  Che was “mad with love,” for humanity, he explained, and felt that the type of society he was fighting for was worth using violence to achieve.

Tango – The museum owner ended a long-winded conversation with suggestions for things to see in BA.  We were in the market to see and maybe even try a little tango dancing, and as luck would have it, Eladio’s son teaches tango and salsa.  At 8:30, we made our way to “Club Premier.”  Bright graffiti art covered the walls, colorful flags hung from the ceiling, and pizzas and empendas were warming in the oven.  The tango lesson was underway when we arrived, so we joined the group as they practiced shifting weight from left to right then doing a couple of moving steps around and around the room in a circle. There were all levels of dancers in the class, so we broke into a small group of beginners and tried to follow the steps.

At the end of the lesson, there was a “practica.” Experienced dancers took the floor while a three person band played tango music.  After taking lessons, we had a much better appreciation of how hard tango is; yet good dancers make it look completely effortless.  Sitting amongst portenos and watching them tango and sing along to folk music was a really cool, very Buenos Aires experience.

Hokies reunite – On Friday, we joined the VT crew who were tired but in good spirits after their all night flights.

We changed money, found a nice outdoor cafe for lunch, and headed over to the must-see Recoleta cemetery.  One of the largest necropolis in the world, the cemetery is filled with monuments and mausoleum housing the remains of prominent and wealthy Argentines.  We navigated the maze of weathered structures to find Evita’s grave.  She is buried with her family, which is controversial because her grave is amongst the remains of the wealthy who despised her left-leaning political reforms. After exploring the cemetery, we found a nice place for dinner and drinks in SOHO Palermo.

On Saturday, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel, then scooped out a hop-on, hop-off bus tour.  The route hugged the river front and looped through different neighborhoods and around important buildings.  We had awesome empenadas and shared a penguin-shaped pitcher of red wine for lunch, then returned to the bus to see more of the city.  According to a taxis driver, there are about 10 million people who live in BA proper and about 20 million in the surrounding area.  The city is huge and parts reminded me of New York City, but with more European and Latin American influence.  There are streets with enormous, ornate buildings, and other areas with small shops hawking all kinds of products with apartments above.  BA is a great city to explore and enjoy.

The Argentinian Experience (interactive restaurant adventure) got us up to speed quickly on the local food, customs, and culture of Buenos Aires. Our Argentinian lawyer/cook named Fernando schooled the group of Hokies in making our own empanadas, learning key Spanish phrases plus all the required hand gestures to pass as local Portenismos. We had arguably the best steak in the world and consumed delicious vino and copious amounts of Yerba Mate to get us pumped up for the post dinner Buenos Aires night life. This town’s world famous night life begins around 2:00am and rages through sunrise. We got a small taste of the BA scene, and were barely capable of waking up all members of the party in time to catch cabs at 7:00am for the early morning flight to Mendoza. Kiel and Cara arranged a guide and a beautiful mansion villa for the group in Mendoza, and we will update the blog soon with the wine tours and happenings over the next four days.

Pre Hokie Buenos Aires Adventuring

We certainly got the most out of our first hostel where we enjoyed free Spanish lessons, then jumped on a walking tour of downtown BsAR with an experienced guide named Nicolas Goscilo.  We ended up improvising our plans over the last two days after meeting some interesting folks who steered us in the right direction.

Nicolas walked us from the oldest building in BA, Manzana de las Luces, to Playa de Mayo where we explored the Catholic Cathedral and the Mosoleum del San Martin, as well as the surrounding government buildings.  There were periodic booms resembling canon fire from the streets surrounding the downtown Plaza de Mayo and small groups of protesters with banners blocking the streets, but Nicholas explained that this is common place near the capital, and no one seemed to be surprised, including the numerous police.

Nicolas did not sugar coat the violent history of the 1970s and 80s Dirty War.  He explained to us in detail the regime changes, the detainment, torture, and disappearances of 30,000 gorillas, leftists, unionists, politicians, students, intellectuals, and bystanders that the military regime deemed ‘subversive’.

A plaque showing where a detention center was. These are all over Buenos Aires, reminding us what happened in the not so distant past so it won’t be repeated again

We visited the Evita museum and learned the history of Maria Eva Peron’s leadership during her husbands time in power. Then Nicholas brought us to a memorial plaque outside a large police station that served as a detention center where atrocities were committed during the military regime.

Following the heavy history, our tour group went to a bar for beer and a brief Tango show in San Telmo.  All and all it was a great intro to downtown Buenos Aires and Argentinian history.

After checking into our new hostel in San Telmo, we explored the local area and found a small Argentinian BBQ joint for dinner where we enjoyed pulled pork, incredible ribs, and a bottle of delicious Mendoza Bornarda vino.  Our adventure continues with Che Guevara and Tango dancing on Thursday but we need to run now.  Larissa will fill you in on the rest.

Dia uno

Hola!  We made it to Buenos Aires at 6:15am, tired from an overnight flight via Bogota.  We took a Tienda Leon bus from the airport and dropped off our massive bags at our hostel, Portal del Sur.  We walked a couple of blocks to Cafe Tortoni where we enjoyed a doble cafe y un cafe con leche and split a jabon sandwich for breakfast.  To get a better exchange rate, John scoped out a trustworthy-looking gentleman repeating “cambio, cambio,” indicating he offered the illicit blue dollar exchange rate.  Given how frequently the government defaults, many Argentine’s try to stock up on American dollars. The blue dollar is about 35% higher than the official exchange rate for pesos.

Cafe Tortoni

Next, we practiced our ABCs en espanol and learned how to speak like a portena (person from Buenos Aires) during free Spanish lessons offered by the hostel.  Karo Torre was an animated teacher who skillfully taught everyone in the group something new, no matter what their level of Spanish.  Savory empanadas y una tarta at La Morada made for a delicious lunch after Spanish lessons.  The walls were lined with old soda bottles, toys, boardgames and other memorabilia.

La Morada

In the afternoon, we navigated the Sube and walked around a few neighborhoods.  We found people to be really nice in BA.  They are patient with our so-so Spanish and many can reply with a few English words. Finally we were able to check into our hostel and take a much needed nap.  After some planning for the next few days in BA, we found Chan Chan, a yummy peruvian restaurant for dinner.  Looking forward to another fun day tomorrow!

Let The Journey Begin!

We have condensed our material belongings into a storage unit and backpacks while preparing for departure to South America.  We plan to have a visionary trip seeing old friends and visiting new places from Argentina through Chile, Bolivia, Peru, plus a bonus trip to Mexico in late July.  Our goal is to brush up on Espanol and have the time of our lives.   We hope you enjoy sharing the experience through blog updates with pics and happenings.