Mendoza is a 12 hour drive from BA. It's famous for being the wine-growing region of Argentina. It is about 2500 feet above sea level, dry but still fairly green, and at the foot of the Andes, near the border with Chile. Mendoza is a much smaller city than BA, and you can tell that most of life here probably revolves around the vineyards (and other agro industries like olive oil and chocolate making). When the bus crossed the provincial (state) line into Mendoza, there were dozens of signs and checkpoints for agricultural control. One sign said something like "Mendoza: the province free of pestilences," and other said "Roll up your windows and prepare for insecticide spray-down."
One fun connection I have with Mendoza is that one of my cousins is serving his LDS church mission here. I thought "how is he going to get anyone in Mendoza to want to be Mormon when their whole life revokes around wine?!" But he loves it here, and loves the people and culture. One thing he wrote home to his family about was "siesta" time. This doesn't happen in BA, but I guess out in the provinces the towns completely shut down for several hours each day. I tried to catch this in a picture yesterday: there was no one on the streets, it was eerily quiet. We actually aren't sure if it was siesta time, or because it was a Saturday or Carnaval, but every single little shop was closed. I could sure go for a siesta every day (though the Argentines actually need it because they don't even usually eat dinner until 10).
I also took a picture from our hotel window of "the Andes.". Funny thing: those are actually just tiny foothills, the real Andes are behind them, and even though the Andes are extraordinarily tall, when you're right up against something else, you can't see them!
Today we've just started out on a driving tour of the region, and I should get some good pictures of the real Andes.
More to come!
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