MENDOZA: capital internacional del vino

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What happens when a city that calls itself "internaltional wine capital" organizes the yearly wine harvest fest (vendimia)?  that's right, there are no free rooms available.

In this case it was not just the vendimia but also the carneval's weekend; a celebration that is growing in Argentina since the actual goverment made it a holyday going from Shrove Monday to Ash Wednesday. 

Luckily my problems with accomodation where not so critical this time as I had reserved in advance and got one night confirmed, the 2nd night in waiting list. At the end I had to change to another hostel, ugly and noisy, but at least I had a roof over my head, and it was raining!

The overnight bus drive from Córdoba was ok; eventhough it took 1,5 hours longer than announced and there was no border crossing this time. In the morning as we approched Mendoza we could see the highest mountain in the Andes (Aconcagua) as well as the large wineries in the area.

Although in a dry part of the country, Mendoza has many parks, some of them very big and all of them green. This is because the city has learned to efficiently use the ice melting water that permanently flows from the Andes, building very nice and refreshing allees within the city.

The Parque General San Martin is one of the largest one. This park also provides access to Cerro de La Gloria, a small hill overlooking the city. The park has sport lanes as well as a small lake used for rowing and other water sports.

At the top of Cerro de La Gloria there is an impressive monument made by the uruguayan artist Juan Manuel Ferrari in honor to El Ejército de los Andes that liberated Argentina, Chile and later Peru from the spanish crown.

The park also has a playground for the little ones, including a small monumento to Mafalda, a well known latinamerican comic from the 60-70's by Joaquín Salvador Lavado better known as Quino. Quino was borned in Mendoza in 1932.

Mendoza's vendimia would not be complete without a wine tasting festival and a wine queen. This was planned for the whole weekend and was very crowded on Saturday, but had to be cancelled on Sunday due to heavy rain.

      

Not far from Mendoza is a new Reserva Natural made to emphasize the importance melting water has for the whole region. It was a rainy day.