so now that weve decided to come back to new york (june 2), we have been able to structure our lives a bit more. perhaps coming up with time-limits on coffee drinking. perhaps setting boundaries for how late into the morning we sleep. things like this. first though, we decided to take a trip out to mendoza to do our sideways thing.
mendoza is in the heart of wine country and is right smack square on the tourist trail. mendoza also has the distinction of being on the argentinian vacationmaker trail too, and, this is easter week, which apparently is the biggest vacation week for argentinians in the late march/early april timeframe. and, we didnt make reservations.
luckily one hostal did have a room for us. a room, of course with no lock on the door, bunkbeds and no windows. and in a hostel filled with a thousand dirty 20 somethings vying for backpacker of the year award (1002). there we have to contend with the american who refuses to speak english. this character is one you can expect to find in most every heavily backpacked area. they are learning spanish (or whatever language) and have taken to heart all of the snide comments of foreigners concerning being an american - you know - the comments about george bush that are meant to rattle us and shame us to the bone. it is not uncommon to approach people in spanish - it is the common language after all. but, once done, and once the conversation reaches the "where are you from" level, and it is determined that you really are both from the same country and thus speak the same language, and yet when you attempt to switch to said language and the other person doesnt - this is when it gets strange.
we have to contend with the digeridoo playing hippie who isnt from anywhere in particular and isnt going anywhere in particular. lets face it. it isnt easy to meet new people. but, when traveling it is. a simple, "where are you from?" or, "where are you going?" usually suffices. however, when captain hippie decides that he is from "his mother", "the world", or "earth" the conversation cant go much farther.
at any rate, mendoza is a clean, new city. it is not the place to come if you want to see old archtecture or ruins. the streets are tiled rather than cobblestoned. the plazas are actual parks where you can have picnics and whatnot. its definitely a city built around tourism, however. the restaurants are more expensive and fancy - you wont find $2 steaks here. and, everywhere is offering to bring you to a vinyard, a mountain, or white water rafting. all of which are within easy reach and if you make it our of the city to the city park, which is about as big as the city and includes a lake and leaves turing fall colors (probably not all the time), you will see the mountains with their snowy peaks. however, being a wine oriented city, you can only imagine, of course, that mcdonalds has gotten its hand in the game. so, yesterday for lunch anna and i went to mcdonalds without knowing exactly what was in store. i ordered my two big macs because it has been well over 2 years since ive eaten at mcdonalds and i was in the mood fo a big mac or two. but, also onteh menu were little bottles of wine. and this was no mcwine either. this was regular, local wine. the mcdonalds marketing peopel are so clever...
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