From Tucuman we made our way via La Rioja to Mendoza. The road from Rioja to Mendoza leads for several hours through dry landscape, scattered with bushes. No houses, no agriculture, we even pass a small salar (salt lake). But this suddenly changes: grape vines appear left and right, and the street is lined with tall trees: we approach Mendoza, the wine region of Argentina.
The city of Mendoza has wide streets with many trees, the houses are generally low - precautions against earthquakes. We enjoy this welcoming city with its many beautiful squares, and a lively pedestrian street lined with cafes. One of the highlights is the Parque San Martin: A huge park (larger than Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens combined), including a lake which is used for regattas. We walk around for several hours, unsuccessfully try to access one of the private swimming pools in the park, and scale the Cerro de La Gloria: a hill offering great views over the plains with the vineyards on one side and the Andes on the other side. What Simon Bolivar is to the "northern countries" (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador) is San Martin to Argentina: he lead the Army of the Andes from Mendoza to Chile to free the region of the Spanish, and is celebrated as a Libertador.
Of course, we also get to know the vineyards in the area. We do this by bike! Having little knowledge about wine, we learn quite a bit about wine growing as we visit one vinery after another....and we get to drink plenty, too! The scenery is breathtaking: the green vineyards stand against a backdrop of the Andes with the snow-covered peaks of some of the highest mountains in South America. After we decide that we had enough wine, we visit a olive plantation, and the extremely interesting museo del vino - housed in the former mansion of Bautista Geronimo Gargantini. Gargantini emigrated from Lugano in Switzerland as a poor young man, and returned in 1911, having made a fortune as a wine maker in Mendoza. Our visit to the museum ends with... more wine tasting (and sampling grape marmalade, as well). Somehow the ride back to our bike rental seemed very long. Natasha felt quite drowsy and had the best sleep that night.
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