Mendoza

ihana.com - big trip - diary - argentina - april 2003

Friday 4 - Wednesday 9 April

Mendoza is where T's mate, Alejandro, comes from and he happened to be there at the same time as we were. Alejandro's cousin and partner in crime is David and he and his girlfriend, Silvia, kindly put us up at their house which is a menagerie of animals, most alive but many not! David is an avid hunter and flesh eater so we were treated to wild boar, venison, ostrich and even puma soup during many sumptuous mealtimes.

Huntin' and shootin' isn't complete without the fishin' so we went to a nearby fish farm where they breed big Asian plant eating fish and managed to hook three of them. Of course fish was on the menu the following day, delicious when cooked super slowly on the parilla (bar-b-q thing) and served with salad and rocquefort cheese sauce.

Our time in Mendoza was mainly spent in a semi-drunken wine haze as we went from lunches to dinners. David was a superb host and introduced us to lots of his friends who were all impressed by the trip. Lots of presentations of the website were well appreciated and usually accompanied by a huge meal and label-less bottles of wine straight from the bodega (vinyard) owners own store. Needless to say it was top stuff.

Despite Mendoza's appearance of tranquility with tree lined streets and plazas, a lot of petty crime has begun in recent times after the economic problems. The landy was broken into for the second time in a week, this time the thief got away with the princely haul of two lighters from the cab, although now the drivers side door lock is broken. Enough was enough so we took a tour around the lock shops and found three new double hard locks with huge keys to fit to the doors. Now the thieves will have to smash the windows to get in...thats tempting fate!

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