Places

I just got an email accusing us us appearing to only be "partying and traveling." It certainly doesn't feel like that. I wish that were so. I suppose we only take pictures when there is something fun happening. So finally we´ve put together a bunch of pictures of our everyday neighborhood places.

Google Earth pic of our house. (courtesy of Paul) Our neighborhood is full of boutiques, cybers and travel agencies, as well as some normal minimarkets.








We went to a fancy restaurant for lunch on a very hazy fall day. On other days you'd be able to see more of a mountain range. Decimo is located on the tenth floor of just about the tallest building in town (12 floors?). View was nice. The lunch was a little pricier than what we normally would spend, but tasty.






Here is that very building taken from Avenida Sarmiento, also known as La Peatonal, or pedestrian street. About a block and a half from our place is this 3 block walking mall, filled with shops, coffee and ice cream places and restaurants with outdoor seating. Most times of the day there are people drinking espressos and chatting. Tourists can also be found dining here, as it is pretty much the center of Mendoza. If you turn on the news during the day, there is usually someone broadcasting live from here.





Go the other direction a half block from our apartment and you will find Plaza Espana, one of the five plazas, varying in degree of cuteness, around the center of Mendoza city. This one currently is the champion in cuteness, featuring painted ceramic tiles, a fountain pool, a big monument and craft fair every Thursday through Sunday. You can find people shopping and just hanging out, drinking mate and chatting.




Before we moved to our current place, we used to spend time studying Spanish on benches at forgotten Plaza Italia. Sundays are the best time at any of these plazas because most people are with their families at home. Look closely and you can see Louann conjugating irregular verb tenses and getting a tan. This picture is from Autumn. Plaza Italia is currently undergoing renovations.




After living in this neighborhood a few months, we're figuring out the best places to buy certain items. No one-stop shopping for us. This shop has good pan casero (home-style bread) and I sometimes buy milanesas or a steak to cook at home.





This is the place where Lou gets most of our fruits and veggies. She is a regular there for sure. She and Alejandro have been throwing around the idea of English lessons in exchange for produce.






This is Mendoza´s Mercado Central. It is similar to the central market of any Latin American city but much, much cleaner. It seems pretty new or recently to cater to tourism. It doesn´t have the funky smells typical of other markets we've been to. We go to this place for special purchases that are harder to find at local shops, like mushrooms, cilantro, bean sprouts or chile peppers




This is the soccer stadium I walk by traveling between jobs. Last year its team was promoted to the highest league and so played in the 1978 World Cup stadium, the biggest stadium in town. It seems to be regularly used for youth soccer practices when i walk by. Sometimes I stop and watch for awhile from the stands. The team (Godoy Cruz) was demoted to the second league so I guess they'll be returning to this field.




Espacio Modigliani is an art gallery that is open one night a week for shows and live music. We've somehow become semi-regulars there. Louann is practicing her art-snob look.










This is the view from the back of a bus on my commute back home.