Over Thanksgiving week, my fiance and I went to Buenos Aires and Mendoza and made a day trip to Uruguay. We came back to New York with clogged arteries and lungs, an appreciation for Argentina's countryside and an aversion to large Latin American cities.
Argentinians eat late. It was 2:30pm and we were waiting in line outside the restaurant for at least half an hour.
A church in Recoleta.
Cementerio de la Recoleta, where Eva Peron is buried.
Provoleta, a grilled chunk of provolone cheese with oregano and olive oil.
After the first day in Buenos Aires we took an early flight to Mendoza. I had booked an automatic car on Avis's website, only to find out at the airport that the car rental companies only have manual cars. We didn't know how to drive one so we sat in the parking lot Googling, "how to drive a manual car." After practicing driving in circles around the lot, my fiance drove while I navigated (we couldn't figure out how to reverse the car though). After three hours of stalling, missed turns, yelling, pushing the car by hand in order to do a u-turn, and driving to what seemed like nowhere, we arrived at Cavas Wine Lodge.
The view of the Andes wiped away the "I want to choke you" feelings from the morning and instilled calmness in us.
After lunch and getting a massage, we went to a wine tasting class at the lodge. No matter how many different types of wines I drink, I still suck at describing the notes in the wines.
The sunrise from our rooftop terrace.
The sunrise reflected off of the Andes to give it a purple hue.
Riding horses from our vineyard to another vineyard, Vina Cobos, for wine tasting.
After wine tasting, lunch at the ranch. That's my first RUI.
The sun setting behind the Andes.
Dining under the stars at 1884 Francis Mallmann in downtown Mendoza. Delicious food but bad service.
On our last day in Mendoza we rode bicycles around the vineyards. There was no one else around us but barking dogs and horses grazing in the fields.
Our view from our table at Ruca de Malen, where we had a five-course lunch. They served more innovative dishes using seasonal vegetables. My favorite meal of the trip.
After Mendoza we headed back to Buenos Aires. Above is Casa Rosada, the office of the president. The Microcentro neighborhood has a lot of office buildings and not much else to see.
The neighborhood of San Telmo had bars, antique shops and some boutique clothing stores.
Mercado San Telmo also had antique stores aka "old, used items" and fruit and meat stalls.
While we were in Mendoza at a wine tasting, a couple next to us warned us about tourists being robbed--their cab driver had drove off with their luggage and they also met people who were beaten for their jewelry. As I was crossing the street to take a picture of the above building, I noticed a motorcycle coming fast towards my direction so I held onto my purse. Then I heard a man scream but couldn't pinpoint who it was. I saw another man across the street run away and jump onto the motorcycle that I was avoiding. I looked back and saw an older Japanese couple holding onto each other, very much traumatized from what had happened. From that point on, we were just paranoid everywhere we went.
A protest on Avenida de Mayo, a main street in the city. The protesters, who looked like the indigenous population of Argentina, were carrying signs about socialism. We also passed by a soul train line of breastfeeding women.
On Thanksgiving day, we had lunch at La Cabrera, one of the most popular steakhouses in Buenos Aires. It was pretty friggin good.
An eyeglasses storefront in Palermo Soho, a cute neighborhood lined with boutique clothing stores and cafes.
Each of the boutiques only carried a few items and had whimsical decor.
The day after Thanksgiving we took a ferry to Colonia del Sacramento, a small, quiet town in Uruguay.
The streets make you feel as if you stepped back in time. There isn't much to see or do there but it was better than walking around the smoggy streets of BA.
On our last day in BA we ate pizza at El Cuartito.
Overall we had a good time on the trip but if we had to do it differently, we would probably skip BA and just go to Patagonia or some other small city in Argentina.
1 comment:
It seems i t was a great trip while in Buenos Aires rent an apartment or went to a hotel?
Post a Comment