here we go

Dan: We made it to puerto Madryn this morning after 23 hrs on the road. Veronica was going as far as Neuquen for work and kindly offered to take us along with her. It was a sunny half-day ride, drinking mate and speaking Spanglish the whole way. There were some overheating truck scares but everything turned out ok.

In Neuquen we caught an overnight bus to Puerto Madryn. The first thing we did upon arriving at 7 something was find a hostel (Lejano Sur - it's really new and clean) and take the world's earliest siesta. Post-nap we walked to the beach. Not a pure sand, Spring Break type beach, but it did have something no other beach we've been to had -- whales. We saw some actual whales popping up for air, right from the shore. Tomorrow we have an all-day excursion scheduled to go look at the whales by boat, plus see other wildlife on the Valdes Peninsula. The beach was windy and the water was cold, but it was really, really nice to lay around in the sun for a couple of hours. It made it a little warmer here when my mom told me it was 5 degrees F back home today.

A few days ago I met a couple of gringos in the Mendoza bus terminal. They were standing there looking confused, frustrated. I asked them if everything was ok and they told me their woes. We chatted a bit, concluded their bus business and I invited them over for mate. As we walked to our place i showed them local points of interest; the central hospital, the gypsy ladies who were about to ask us for money. We chatted for awhile, taught them how to drink mate and kiss on the cheek. It was fun to hear their impressions after having spent only one week in the country and nice to have a chance to impart upon them our knowledge of Mendocino and Argentine culture. It was like someone had finally come to visit us. We were able to see through their eyes. Kind of made me nostalgic for Mendoza even before leaving.

Farm Visit

Lou: Dan has a student that works for a seed company, so, he thought it would be right up my line of work if I tagged along for a day while she visited some customers. She got to practice her English in exchange. Veronica sells vegetable seeds to many of the farmers around the area.


We spent a lot of time on the road and left at 8 am getting back at 5 something. It was like a real work day, though I didn’t really do anything. And well, we took an almost 3 hour lunch break because “we can’t really do anything until later because everyone is taking the siesta now (ie a long lunch and/or nap). It was fun to hang out with her. We made stops at a few places that were high into the garlic harvest. There was a strong smell of garlic coming from the fields! There is a picture of me holding garlic bunched & tied. Then, they are loaded onto trucks like the one pictured (how many slow garlic trucks did we get stuck behind!) and taken to a warehouse to be dried, stalks removed, and boxed.


There was a lot of shop talk with the farmers as she handed out new squash varieties that she wanted each to try as a trial. We also stopped by a farm where they had a carrot trial planted, and she needed to check how it was doing.


We went to Tunuyan in the Uco Valley. So, I think we were essentially in the foot hills and the view of the mountains with all of the greenery & trees was spectacular!


Food: Here are some great, tiny peaches & part of a giant squash. It’s hard to see scale, but that’s a regular salad plate, and that is a slice of half of the squash. It is probably 8” in radius here. The whole thing seems to look like a long African style drum of 2’ or more. I thought it would be stringy for being so large, but it was really sweet and soft!

Feliz Día del Acción de Gracias

Dan: Happy Thanksgiving. Last night we treated ourselves to dinner at Caro Pepe, a tenedor libre (eat all you want) place. They have a giant grill with all sorts of meat (family reference: like a family meal at the Andersons, with the addition of goat) to choose from as well as salads, and other Argentine fare, pasta, pancake and ice cream bar. No pumpkin or pecan pie, no turkey, but we did stuff ourselves to beyond the point of common sense until 11:30 pm.

We’re packing up our stuff and fixin’ to leave this weekend. As we’re moving on it seems that tourism has suddenly begun here in Mendoza. Like an invasion from the Lonely Planet. They travel in twos, guidebooks clutched to their chests. We too shall join their ranks over the next few weeks.

Our plan is to head south, south, south. First a 24-hour bus to Puerto Madryn, where we hope to see some aquatic wildlife and some ocean. Part two of the journey is to Calafate where we want to look at a glacier. Part three is sort of flexible, but has us near Bariloche for awhile. We’ve inherited and borrowed some tents and bags so we can try some camping. Then we’ll come back to Mendoza, pick up our stuff and say some adioses. Next we’ll head across the border to Chile where Louann will fly back home. My plans are still up in the air from there. I’m looking at Chilean Patagonia to stay with my friend at his uncle’s house.

The last two days have been really hot, so a change to chilly Patagonia is welcomed. Leaving Mendoza, on the other hand feels strange. Getting rid of/ selling things (a nice girl from Minnesota is buying my bike!), finishing up our food. Just like any move, but on a much smaller scale, since we don’t have much. This week we’re saying goodbye forever to students, colleagues, friends and acquaintances so it is all just setting in. We have no fewer than 5 gifted bottles of wine right now from students saying goodbye.

We’ve got some adventure ahead of us so we’ll try to keep the blog going from the road.

Dan´s Bicycle Commute

Here is a video I made on my bike ride from Instituto Star in Godoy Cruz to our apartment downtown. The video is quite uneventful, but you can at least see what the streets and sidewalks look like here. What you are about to see is possibly the best part of my day, in that I am usually done working for the day and the way home is ALL downhill. Sweet.

El vino

I feel sort of lame that we haven’t written a specific blog entry about wine, it being such a huge part of tourism and the local image of the area. Mendoza: Tierra del sol y vino. I just never felt that I had enough knowledge on the subject to do it justice. I still don’t really know doodly-squat about vitiviniculture, but after having done a few winery tours, gone to a wine tasting with professional guides, having talked about wine with people in the industry, and having drunk from a bottle or two (hundred), I feel I can tell a little bit of what I know.

Mendoza (province) is the undisputed wine capital of Argentina. Other regions, Patagonia for instance, also have their wines, but I don’t think their production is anything like here. I’m told that there are around 1200 wineries, read: places that turn grapes into sweet, sweet vino, in this province alone. Some of them have their own vineyards, others buy from grape-growers, or a combo of the two. The white varieties I can remember having tried are sauvingnon blanc, chardonnay, torrontés, pinot grigio, a very sweet chenin and champagnes, pink and rosé. There are also some only-slightly bubly wines under the name Frizzé that are also drunk cold and have flavors like peach and pineapple. Of course the majority of the wine is red (tinto). Off the top of my head, I can think of having tried malbec, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, syrah, syrah rosé, tempranillo, sangiovese, bonarda, borgoña, patero, varietal combinations of some of the above, and some unpedigreed boxed “vino tinto.” I hope your image of me hasn’t changed having read that long list of wines. “When does he have time to teach English?” I’m a little surprised too. Many of them were only samples. Of all these varieties, malbec is the boss, or as Lou’s student Pepe put it “The Man of the House.” The name malbec comes from the French word (or words maybe) meaning “nasty tasting.” I guess it didn’t do too well on french soil. But the environment here has been good for the little grape.

The vino is sold in the 750 ml bottles we are used to, as well as much larger damajuanas of 5- or, I think, 10-liter jugs. Boxed wine is popular for those who are looking more for the destination than the ride, but they are much easier to tote around down or take camping. I think a lot of people drink a glass of wine with meals here. Local legend is that it “decreases the fat in beef.” (We also met a group of people who are convinced that eating the hard, outer part of a baguette is better for one’s health. So they don’t eat the soft middle.) One thing I thought odd when I first saw it was when people mixed their wine with soda water, about half and half I think. Ice is also added. I thought it was just to water it down, make the wine go further without getting wasted. Some people have told me that a fine wine is improved by a squirt of soda. Soda water is a big business here. There are trucks full of soda jugs that take away empties and deliver new ones like the milk man of yore, or Simon Delivers at Sean and Regina’s house.

Wine is generally drunk in the home. If you look at the people eating at sidewalk restaurants or bars, they are mostly drinking 1) coca cola or 2) beer. Argentine beer (which is nothing to write a blog about) is still cheaper than wine (unless you buy boxed venom), especially in a restaurant. If you see a bottle of wine on a table, there is a good chance that the patrons are tourists, especially if there isn’t also a bucket of ice and some soda on the table. Wine growing has been going on here for a long time but Argentine wines have always been comsumed before they had a chance to leave the country. I don’t know if it was that they couldn’t compete with other international wines in terms of quality or if they simply weren’t marketed abroad. Nowadays they are getting some respect, especially for the price, and exporting more and more to South America, Europe and USA. But it is still pretty small when one looks at the potential. I was told that the Chilean winemaker Concha y Toro exports more wine than all of Argentina.

Oh, and I don’t think we’ve ever paid more than $5 or $6 for a retail bottle of wine. For under a dollar you can get an unambitious boxed tinto with notes of chewed sugarcane, PVC and an acidy mouthfeel. Or you can just drink that forgotten bottle of red vinegar that’s been in the back of your cupboard for five years ago. Don’t forget the soda water.

Capoeira Vid

Have a look at Louann and other people from the place where she practices capoeira. We did some recording in classes and then had some footage of free-style circle "playing" at a capoeira party.

The weird

Here are some pictures that are just plain weird.


<----- For a few hours we had a pet slug. His name was Adrian.









It was a very surreal afternoon when we we sitting in a plaza in a small town, when a mule walked by, followed by a llama, followed by two children. ----->














<----- Life imitates art








You can see that this dog is about to get beaten up by another dog. ----->






<----- Each pitcher of sangria comes with a free gringo head.

The Bad

In the digital age, we just take a ton of pictures and throw out the bad ones, right? Somehow these escaped the recycle bin. So just to show that we really aren´t having picturesque postcard times, here are some of the worst of our pictures so far.

















She´s engaged to this man -->









Run Lulu Run ----->












This lady looks very frightened of Louann. ----->










<----- Baby!!!!







<----- Happy campers.

The Good

These are the best pictures from over the year that we don´t think we´ve posted yet. With a digital camera even an amatuer can accidentally end up with some pretty nice shots.


<-----Talampaya / Valle de la Luna ----->








<----- Valle de la Luna / Santa Rosa de Tastil ----->













<----- Iglesia Catedral, Salta / Iglesia San Francisco, Salta ----->












Guanacos somewhere in Jujuy Province ----->




<----- Las Vegas




Cerro Concepcion, Valparaiso, Chile ----->









<----- Sergio, an angelic Chilean



Viña del Mar, Chile ----->











<----- View from Cristo Redentor, Chilean/Argentine Border









<----- Tourist couple at Japanese Garden, Palermo, Buenos Aires

Go see the doctor

Lou: At some point Dan had the idea that we should visit various businesses to hear their spiel (in Spanish) and thereby practice Spanish. I don’t think that idea stuck too long, could have had something to do with the Herba Life “party” he ended up at once…

Sorry to bore you with health ailments, but in the last few weeks we’ve had the opportunity to get a little Spanish practice in the practice of health care. After returning from Buenos Aires I developed a ferocious cough. I had a few thera-flu packets (thanks Aya!) that helped me sleep at night, but after finishing them I went to the pharmacy looking for the anti-cough active ingredient—only to find that that active ingredient (which is over the counter in low dose in the US) could only be given with a prescription. So, I bought some lame cough syrup that didn’t help a whole lot. I could feel that I was getting very slightly better each day, but after a week of almost non-stop coughing, Dan couldn’t take it anymore. We went to Hospital Central.

There were tons of people waiting in a few different lines when we entered the lobby area. We went to the central desk, and Dan told the lady about my ailment. She told us to go to the emergency room & told us where it was, but after we didn’t get it right away, she was really nice & led us downstairs. (but I wonder how many people had to wait while she was showing us around!)

I haven’t mentioned that this hospital is free. There are other hospitals & clinics that work with different health insurance companies or that one could visit but aren’t free. Some people have told us that Hospital Central is a bad place to go, others have said that it is fine.

We brought our books expecting to wait for hours since I didn’t have an appointment (as waiting for health care seems customary in the states), but within about 20 min or less they had seen most of the 15 people in the waiting room & had called us. The waiting room was very simple, just a few benches. The next room looked as one might imagine a free hospital. It was a bare walled room with a couple of curtains for privacy for each of the 2 patient benches. The benches had some plastic covering that was torn & peeling. Not the most hygienic looking furniture, but they weren’t performing any surgeries or anything here. This was just to get the preliminary examination.

The doctor obviously wasn’t used to dealing with foreigners because he didn’t bring the language down a notch, & I was glad that Dan was there because I wasn’t understanding him much. There was no: let’s take your weight, your blood pressure, let’s get a throat culture… like in Minn. He listened to my lungs with a stethoscope & said they were good. Then, he disappeared for a little while. He came back with a little light (not even a tongue depressor!) and looked in my throat. He said I had inflammation, gave me a prescription, and sent us on our way. Turns out the doctors’ signatures may be the same the world over because when we arrived at the pharmacy they didn’t seem to be sure what was written!

I took the $2 pills (cheapest prescription I’ll ever have!) for about a week. I still was getting slightly better each day, but still having some horrendous coughing bouts (I was thinking, “its not fair, I don’t even smoke!”) Many people were talking about how bad their allergies were at this time, I decided that maybe allergies were the root of the problem. So, I tried some over the counter stuff like Claritin. Finally, two weeks after the first doctor visit, I went to a clinic that specialized in ear, nose, and throat. I wasn’t sure how much faith I had in the first hospital. I knew I would have to pay, but wasn’t sure how much, so I brought 200 pesos with me.

Even though I had a horrible accent and wasn’t real sure in what I was saying, the receptionist seemed surprised that I didn’t have local health insurance & said, “You know you have to pay…” She made an appointment for me in an hour and seemed apologetic that that was the soonest time. (To get an appointment that fast in Minn!) I went over to another window & paid my 40 pesos (about $13). I was in the commercial area so I was not too bummed that I had an hour to window shop.

This time I brought my asthma medication, the pill blister with the name of the stuff I was taking, the allergy medication & poured out my little pharmacy for the doctor. I told her that I had had a cough for a month. She shined a little light up my nose & in my throat & told me that I had Sinitus and inflamation. She came back with the prescription that was a box that said it was a cortisone injection. (Side story starts here: when Dan had a cold in Mexico he went to the pharmacy & the lady tried to give him a syringe with antibiotics. When he told her that it wasn’t what he wanted she made some snide remark about the gringo not wanting to give himself a shot!) So, I’m a bit confused—is she going to give me this box & send me home? I start telling her no. She asks, “You don’t want an injection?” and I tell her that I’m not accustomed to giving myself shots! She tells me that she can have someone give it to me. I’m still not sure if this was her original intention, & I misunderstood --or if she was really going to send me home with a syringe!

I went into a little nurses station that looked a little more like a clinic room in the states. It had the paper covered bench a sink & other common hospital type stuff, except for the fact that there was a burner with a tea pot of hot water. For sterilization, or just to keep the mate flowing?! The nurse was really sweet & when I left I asked if I was done or if I had to pay for the shot. She replied, “No, mi amor!” Needless to say, I walked home very slowly. After two days, I was almost completely better, and the apartment is a much more peaceful place for Dan!

So, for $13 I saw a doctor and a nurse and got a cortisone shot. How much does each of these things cost in the states?! I imagine it would have been at least a $200 bill for these 20 minutes. Though I’m pretty sure that the course of action in the states would have been different. I think cortisone can be hard on your heart & can’t imagine them giving such a thing without knowing any medical history! I did a little research on the net & saw that it is sometimes given to people that are having an extreme asthma attack to control the inflammation of the lungs (which asthma essentially is). (I think it is also different from a cortisone shot one might get in a joint)

The Road

Dan: Now that we’re sort of wrapping up our stay here in Mendoza, neither of us has really been inspired to write anything. It doesn’t seem like anything exciting or interesting is happening. So, we’ve decided to post a series of photos that I don't think we ever posted before. The photos I’m posting today are of roads we’ve traveled. Maybe its the fault of Mr. Hamburg’s English 9 class and Robert Frost, but I like taking pictures of roads, whether or not they diverge in a yellow wood. So here they are: a bunch of roads. (I try to line them up on one side but the formatting always gets screwed up.)

Took this picture our first week in Mendoza, on the way up Cerro de la Gloria.

The red earth streets of Puerto Iguazu.

Talampaya Park.

Caracoles in Villavicencio, less than an hour from Mendoza.

A road in Valle Fertil that turned out not to really lead to any kind of ruins after all.

Jujuy Province, northwest Argentina. Trains weren't using the tracks so these goats decided to using the RR crossing.

Las Vegas. (I feel like we already posted this one) Apparently this isn't far from where that ill-fated plane of soccer players crashed in the 70s.

Villa General Belgrano, Cordoba Province. Kind of Minnesota looking.

Avenida Colon, about 3 blocks from our house.

Salty road near Salta, northwest Argentina.