Mendoza Wine Tours

We arrived in Mendoza on a fantastic bus from Andesmar that I will do a full review of later.  It is a pretty city and a lot more clean than Buenos Aires.

We checked into our hotel and had some lunch and then it was off to tour some wineries.

The first winery that we visited was Dante Robino.  It was the more modern, industrial and higher capacity of the two that we visited.  The picture below is how they used to store the wine in barrels, but now that has been turned into this museum portion.

The picture above is the private tasting room of the family that owns the winery.  They keep 300 bottles of each type of wine on hand, I guess in case of a wine emergency.

The second bodega that we toured was much smaller than the first.  It is pictured above and you can see that building on the right looks a bit older than Dante Robino.  This winery is the Cavas de Don Arturo.  Notice there is no link... this is small enough to forego a website altogether.

This winery was much more personal than the first winery and the tour guide, Denise, was much more proficient at English.

At this winery they still complete a lot of the process manually.  This is where the grapes stripped of the leaves and stems before they are crushed and sent to the other building through underground pipes for further processing.

At this winery we ended up purchasing two bottles of Syrah Roble Premium and two bottles of Malbec Roble Premium.  We also bought grape oil, a byproduct they sell.  All of this for about $65 USD, which I thought was quite a deal.

After the winery tours we went to tour an olive oil and food dehydration processing plant named Pasrai.  It was pretty interesting to learn all of the rules behind making extra virgin olive oil.

We took a picture of all of the products they make from olives:  soap, lotion, body oil and other things.

We ended up having a tasting at this place also and big surprise ended up buying some cheap things there also.  We got a three pack of garlic infused olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette,  and balsamic infused olive oil, a dried tomato and olive oil paste and a green olive paste for around $25 USD.

It was an interesting day filled with a lot of tasting.  We met some nice people from the states that were on vacation and it turns out that one of them was actually in Argentina studying to be a Spanish teacher also.

Ciao,

Tim

Uruguay Redux

So, now that the program has ended and I am on vacation time I have switched gears into a bit of a tour guide.  I went back to Colonia, Uruguay but took the faster ferry through Buquebus this time.  We ended up leaving a little late, but it turns out that even though they quote 1:15 minutes to get to Colonia, it probably takes closer to an hour.

The Duty Free shop on the faster ferry was much larger - two floors!  However, you aren't allowed to go on the top deck, so the only view is from the windows.

This time we went to Uruguay it was imperative that we eat at El Drugstore again.  I know I alluded to the delicious food here in my previous blog, but I never got around to writing the review because of my computer problems.  Everything that I have had there has been ridiculously delicious.

El Drugstore

Shrimp in Lemon Sauce

Sweet & Sour Chicken

This time the weather was much better and some of the pictures we were able to get were a little more typical of what people might enjoy about Colonia.  It was easy with a golf cart again to finish all of the sights in one day.  We arrived at 10 a.m. and then our ferry left at 8:30 p.m. which allowed us to view the sunset.

The wind was a little stronger on the second trip.

The sky was a little more clear. 

Sunset with a man and his dog fishing

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of the sunset.  Shortly after we returned to the terminal to be processed back to Argentina.  I now have a lot of stamps on my passport...

Ciao,

Tim

Iguazu - Day 2

On the second day at Iguazu we had much better weather.  It was really sunny and the sun decided to be quite photogenic.  On this day we decided to only go to the Garganta del Diablo, which is the biggest opening of the waterfalls.

If I have any advice it would be to do the Garganta last if you have the time to explore the rest of the park first.  I think it would make the other waterfalls seem less impressive if you did them after.

There were a ridiculous amount of people in he park the second day and it was a little more difficult to get pictures without hoards of people in them, but it was worth it.

In this photo you can see the water rising from the waterfall, it looks like smoke from a fire to me.



This is the spot where you could really start to tell the water was pickin up speed.



Garganta del Diablo

Garganta del Diablo

In this photo you can see the trajectory of the water, the power pushes it so far from the ledge before it falls.

Across the canyon these smaller waterfalls were more visible the second day.

Just as in my last post I wanted to take some video to share with everyone.

Also, on the second day we were able to make some cute, new, little friends.

There were about 20 of these little guys jumping around the trees.  One of them actually started to approach a lady who was not intelligent enough to put her orange away while she watched.

Hope you enjoy.

Ciao,

Tim

Iguazu - Day 1

Sorry that I have not been able to post.  I am making an attempt to update my blog from the computer at the University of San Andres.  Because of the computer issues these posts will not be exactly chronological, but still should include some of the amazing things I was able to do down in Argentina. 

We decided to take a 17 hour bus ride to Iguazu on our long weekend.  It was actually a pretty comfortable ride on Via Bariloche.  Our dinner, breakfast, coffee, blanket and pillow were all included.  The round trip was only $250 USD, which I thought was reasonable for such a long journey.

We arrived at Iguazu and it had been raining so some of the areas were closed.  Our first day at the park it continued to be quite a dreary day, but I still was able to take same great pictures and video. 

These waterfalls were voted one of the seven natural wonders of the world a couple of years ago and are truly stunning in person.  They are considered one of the top tourist attractions for all of Argentina.

We started at some of the smaller waterfalls like the one pictured above. 

These little guys were wondering around freely and were pretty good at getting food from the tourists.

I think this picture is great at showing exactly how wide the waterfalls were.  It sometimes seemed as if they went on forever.  In fact, if my research proves me correct, these are the widest chain of waterfalls in the world.

I actually stood where the guy with the trench coat is... but it was too wet to take a picture.

Entrance into the park was $130 ARS Pesos, but with views like this one... I think it was worth it.  Also, if you got your ticket stamped the first day - your entrance the second day was half price.

It is my opinion that this is something you really have to see in person, but video is a little closer to doing this justice than photos so I thought to include some.

I will update more as time allows.  The new part for my computer should be here on Friday and then I will be able to catch up on some of the things that I have been doing.

Ciao,

Tim

Computer Problems

Please know that I haven´t forgotten about the blog, but my computer charger has broken and it won´t be able to be replaced for about a week.  So... my blogs will be less frequent.

La Bomba de Tiempo

Tonight we had a group excursion to La Bomba de Tiempo.  We all were told to meet on the B line of the subway here at a stop in the Abasto Mall.  It turns out that inside of this mall they have a play place for the children.  It is called Neverland.  I am sure they were going for a Peter Pan theme, but all I could think of was Michael Jackson.

As I was going up the escalator with a couple of the girls I noticed that the V wasn't light up.  I made the comment... man, just like when kids left Neverland Ranch... missing their "V."  (The V I am referring to is "V"irginity - for those of you not following.)  It wasn't my best work, but I thought it was clever.

The outside of the mall was pretty fancy though.

Abasto Mall - Buenos Aires, Argentina

The shows that we went to see were at the Ciudad Cultural Konex which was a pretty interesting venue for a show.

If I am being honest I really liked the opening act more than La Bomba de Tiempo, but that is because the opening act had a singer in the group.  I took short videos of both, but could only get one to work - luckily it's of the act I liked more. 

The dancers were also included  in the entertainment of the first group.  A big chunk of our group left during the first song of the headliner.  I left after I had been there for a few songs... because I felt like I was probably going to have a pretty good contact high going if I stayed much longer.

La Bomba de Tiempo

I am feeling a little under the weather tonight - so that is all until next time.

Ciao,

Tim

Uruguay Part II

Today I got up early so I could be sure to see all of the sights that I had planned on seeing while in Colonia, Uruguay.  It wasn't exactly pristine weather, but it IS winter here and I still think I found some interesting shots.

We traveled through barrio historico and then followed the highway of the Americas that runs from the city along the coast.  I wanted to share some of these photos I was able to capture.  When I uploaded the photos on my computer I realized that I had taken over 125... so this is just a small sampling.

Sail Boat in the Morning Fog

Bird taking flight toward the island

Coast Photo

Lonely Boat off the Pier

Yellow Tree on a Sand Beach

The sun making a poor attempt to come out... 

Some sort of Heron bird fishing for it's morning meal

"Puerto Colonia" Boat

Abandoned building... or so we thought.  There were people living in parts of this building.

Coast Photo

Plaza de toros Real de San Carlos

Rock Trail into the Water

Rocky Shore with Sailboats

Antique Car - Barrio Historico

Antique Car - Barrio Historico

Antique Car - Barrio Historico

This ship passed right by our ferry as we headed back to Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires Skyline 

Buenos Aires Skyline

 The experience in Uruguay was really, really worth it.  I think most of the people that chose to go had a good time.  I do have to say that renting and driving the golf cart made it a lot more fun and we were able to capture a lot more.

Ciao,

Tim