Author: marionvermazen

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

Today we drove south to Mendoza in the heart of Argentina’s well known Mendoza wine region.

After checking in to our hotel we went out exploring. Our hotel, Portal Plaza Suites is on one of Mendoza five main plazas, Plaza Chile. The main plaza is Plaza Independencia. The four other plaza are at the four corners of an imaginary square two blocks out from the main square.

We walked to Restaurante Carolina Cocina on Plaza Italia for dinner and had a great meal.

We are staying at Hotel Buena Vista outside of San Juan. While we were eating breakfast this morning I saw a beautiful bird and managed to get a good picture. It’s a Great Kiskadee!

I’ll insert a picture here of Duke and Jo Ann discussing what route we should take back to the parking lot. We are overlooking Ullum Dam Reservoir at the point where we decided to turn around

After breakfast we drove to Ullum Dam and did a hike. We were planning to hike to some caves along the shore of the lake. But after hiking up for about half a mile we decided that the trail was too steep so we turned around..

Next we drove into San Juan and visited the cathedral. Then we had coffee and alfajores at a coffee shop nearby.

A few blocks away we visited the house where Domingo Faustino Sarmiento was born. It is now a museum. The guy who told us about Saramiento educated us about Sarmiento and his many accomplishments since we knew nothing about him. He lived in the 1800’s. He was a president of Argentina, an ambassador to the U.S. and an educator and he did an amazing amount of things for his country.

We drove back to the hotel, played cards and then later had dinner at a nearby restaurant, La Coquette.

Tomorrow we will drive to Mendoza.