Author: marionvermazen

When we left Neuquén Saturday morning it was windy with blowing dust. We headed west towards the mountains. After a couple of hours the terrain changed from the flat, scrubby desert that we have been driving through for the last several days, to foothills as we started to go up into the Andes. Eventually our road turned to gravel and we could see the snow covered peaks.

We are staying for the next two nights in Villa Pehuenia. Our hotel, Posada La Escondida is a beautiful lodge on a mountain lake. We have a room right on the lake with wonderful views of the mountains and the lake.

For dinner we went just a little ways down the shore to El Marino Amarrado. We had a great view of the sunset and a delicious meal. Duke and Brian had empanadas and salad and Jo Ann and I had lamb.

We had a long drive today because,in planning this trip we knew we wanted to move south from the Mendoza province towards the mountainous area around San Carlos de Bariloche. There are no towns or places to stop between San Rafael where we were last night and Neuquén where we are tonight. Google said it was about a seven hour drive which is a much longer drive than we like to do.

As we drove south today the roads were quite good and we were driving about 70 mph. Then we crossed into a new area and all of a sudden we were driving on probably the worst paved road we have ever been on. It was nonstop potholes and some of the potholes were so big and deep that it felt like you couldn’t see the bottom!

Duke had to slow down to 15 mph at times and for about 100 miles we never got above 30mph. It was horrible! Our seven hour drive ended up taking us nine hours!

Tonight we are at a nice hotel, Cyan SoHo Neuquén. We walked to dinner at Restaurante El Ciervo. I had Milanesa Suiza. Milanesa is a dish that is very common in Argentina. It has been on the menu at almost every restaurant we have eaten at. It is basically a chicken fried steak. Often they use the steak almost like a pizza crust and add cheese, tomatoes, eggs, onions and other things.

We will only be here in Neuquén one night. Tomorrow we head to the mountains.

This morning we drove about an hour south of San Rafael to Cañón de Atuel . The bottom of the canyon has a reservoir of the Atuel River in it. We sat an a deck overlooking the reservoir and enjoyed coffee and drinks. I had a lemonade. The reservoir and canyon are beautiful and the weather was perfect.

This afternoon we did a wine tasting and tour at Bodega Alfredo Roca. Then we played cards on the patio of our room.

For dinner we went to Bodega FOW and had a fabulous meal. We started with goat tongue. Next I had carob pasta stuffed with langoustine. Duke had steak and Brian and Jo Ann had pork.

People have asked us if we are seeing anything about the U.S. bailout of Argentina. The elections here are a week from Sunday. We don’t hear or see much but I did see a banner on a TV news story that said “Trump is a Peronista”.

Wednesday we drove southeast from Mendoza about Three hours to the town of San Rafael in the Cuyo wine region. We are staying at a wonderful small posada just outside of San Rafael, La Caballeroza Posada Boutique. We checked in and played cards on the patio outside of our rooms.

For dinner we went to an excellent nearby restaurant, The Club. We had empanadas and salads. It was all delicious.

Tuesday was a wonderful day in Mendoza. We started out by driving to Cerro de la Gloria. It’s a hill and lookout point in General San Martin park. At the top of the hill is a big bronze memorial to the Army of the Andes. The army led by the Argentine leader José de San Martin crossed the Andes from Mendoza and liberated Chile. The bronze statues are built into a Stone Mountain like-foundation. I think it’s the best memorial and statues I have ever seen.

Then we drove down to the lake in the park below the monument and walked around it.

From San Martin Park we drove about 30 minutes southeast to LAUR Olivicola and toured the balsamic vinegar plant and the olive oil production plant. Then we did a tasting of the oils and vinegars they produce. On the English speaking tour there were only the four of us and a young man from the Netherlands, Tom, who has been traveling all over South America for the past year. We really enjoyed the tasting, the tour, and the conversation.

Finally we went 30 minutes west to Lamadrid Winery. The Lamadrid winery restaurant is Michelin recommended. We had reserved a four course lunch and wine pairing. The meal was served at a table under the spring green trees at a table set on the grass. The setting was idyllic and the food and wine were superb. After our midafternoon lunch we toured the winery. The founder of the winery was Guillermo Garcia Lamadrid. He was born in Cuba where his father had a successful business.

When the Cuban revolution started his father was jailed and Guillermo, who was eleven years old was sent to the United States to live with an American family. Two years later the family was able to escape Cuba and reunite with Guillermo. They moved to Puerto Rico where they built a successful business. In the early 2000s they sold their business, moved to Argentina and started Lamadrid winery. The winery is dedicated to Guillermo’s mother who gave him the opportunity.

After our big day we didn’t need to eat or drink any more. We drove back to the hotel, played some cards and turned in early