MENDOZA, Argentina - Getting to Mendoza via an eight-hour layover in Buenos Aires was not the most fun I ever had. We were spent when we finally got here. Buenos Aires was as expected, a super high-density city with a definite European feeling. Had a great steak for lunch at a restaurant that was recommended. Could not wait for the beef. It was as great as advertised.
It was a quick 1.5 hour flight to Mendoza, but we couldn't appreciate the Andes due to the clouds and all that darkness. Today (Monday) took a guided mini bus tour of the city of Mendoza. Got a sense of the importance of this crossroads between Buenos Aires and Santiago. Very important logistical area for shipping. We have not seen a vineyard yet!
Great lunch in the home town of our host, Sebastian Bistue from the Davis Wine Co., just 20 minutes south of Mendoza. The countryside looks more like Tucson, AZ, then Napa. Mendoza is a city of trees all irrigated by an ancient system of canals and oversized gutters. If not for this system, it would all look like Tucson. Monday night was the Festival de la Vendimia. The Harvest Festival. It was an amazing show in an amphitheater with hundreds of performers and a fireworks show that was probably illegal even in Argentina. Amazing. Hard to imagine anything like that anywhere in California. Tomorrow we go to the vineyards!
I have to go to bed. It is 3:45 a.m. Tuesday. Very late dinner and drinks. That's how they roll in Argentina.