A lovely bouquet of Argentinian beef and red wine
I can’t say all that much about Santiago. I liked the city. It’s definitely more cosmopolitan than what I had seen for a while. I stayed in Barrio Brasil, the little bohemian neighborhood, which was cute, and spent the three days I was there walking around the city. Almost the whole downtown seemed like a pedestrian walkway, lined with all sorts of shops, with music playing over speakers. The only thing I lamented was not being able to see the Andes in the background because it was mostly cloudy the whole time I was there.
I took a night bus to Mendoza, in the heart of Argentinian wine country. For being a place I was always looking forward to going to, I really did very little. It was a cute town, with little shops and cafes (although it was mostly cold and rainy the whole time, rendering these pretty useless this time of year), along tree-lined streets.
I had arrived at something like 4:30 in the morning, so I slept late in the hotel. I went looking for breakfast, and learned this quite quickly about Argentinian breakfasts: they pretty much don’t exist. All they have is coffee and croissants. Omelettes can be found, but these are not for breakfast and aren’t very good. At least the coffee was good, though, and I started drinking a lot of it.
I was very determined to eat a fat steak and drink some wine…afterall, those are the things that Argentina is known for, and my food options hadn’t been too abundant lately. I asked the hotel guy where I could find a good steak. He gave me directions but told me I couldn’t go yet, it was too early. It was 8:00! I entertained myself for a good 2 hours and then headed to the restaurant.
The place was less than half full. I ordered a bottle of wine and a bife de chorizo, which is the extra thick steak. I sat writing in my journal, drinking the wine until finally my steak came. It was good, although I can’t say it was the best piece of meat I’d ever had. Halfway through, I finished the wine and asked my waiter if I could take the rest of another bottle home if I didn’t finish it. Sure I could. The boys were arriving in a few days, and I knew I was very much out of drinking form, so I was trying to get in some practice before they arrived.
I was there for quite a while, updating my journal. It was finally 12:30 by the time I left, and people were still only just arriving to sit down to a huge steak dinner! I couldn’t believe it. I ended up somehow finishing the bottle (but not the steak, that’s for sure), another thing that I couldn’t believe. I headed back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, I immediately threw up a nice bouquet of red wine and steak and took a shower. For some reason, I couldn’t turn off the shower, so I quickly got dressed and ran downstairs, telling the hotel guy in Spanish something like, “I can’t stop the shower!” He ran up with me, reached his arm inside the bathroom (there are no tubs or shower stalls, just a drain on the floor), and shut it off. I don’t know what was up with that…I never had any other problems with the shower (save the one time the water went out on me with a head full of conditioner).
I really didn’t do much for the next few days; I walked around town and took refuge from the rain in internet places (trying to learn French for Madagascar and find an apartment to rent in Buenos Aires). I left two days later on a night bus to Buenos Aires, with two days to get everything ready for when Rukman, Pompei, and Eli arrived.
Tags: Argentina, Chile, Mendoza, Santiago, Tag Index
Tania
June 18th, 2006 at 7:07 am
Hi,
I see you finally made it to Medoza. And have you found the vineyard of our Costa Rican Mendoza wine? Reading you stories makes be a bit jalous. You journey seems enless while i spent my days in the office. But this autumn i’ll be on the road again (India?).
Enjoy you journey through afrika (i’m sure you will, i’ts really a warm and beautiful continent). And keep writing you stories.
Groeten, Greetings, Au revoir, Buen viaje
Harm
Ps. if you want to relive the machu Pichhu expericence look at this site http://www.mp360.com/