Mendoza

While in Mendoza we have traveled on a tour to the boundary of Argentina and Chile. It
was a full day from 8am to 7pm. Gorgeous countryside, very aired as Argentina is mostly
desert with a few oasis in which one of them Mendoza and the wine district is located. We
went to the top of the highest mountain range here, about 15,000 feet high. We took a
ski chair lift to the summit of one mountain to see the beautiful views. We enjoyed a nice
but very large lunch of grilled chicken, potatoes, bread and salad. Our tour consisted of
mostly Spanish speaking people and 4 tourists from Norway and us so our tour guide tried
to tell us some things in English. We enjoyed it all though. The second day we went white
water rafting. Here we met another American couple from Florida. The rafting was great
fun and exhillerating. Good to be on the water again. Our guide was so funny. One of the
guides, Salvadore from Portugal, rode back on the bus with us to the city and invited us
for a BBQ at one of the Hostels close to our hotel. Dinner was at 10.30PM so we took a nap
before going. Ha! Had a great time and met people from the states, Great Britain, and
lots of Argentinians. The food was fabulous. Great steaks, sausages, salads, and grilled
vegetables lots of wine (we took 2 bottles) and beer. We expected mostly young people
to be staying there but were all ages. One young American man had just gotten back from
Brazil and Carnival there. The bus ride had been 58 hours. Gads. I told him only because
he was young could he handle that. Yesterday we went on a Wine Tour of 3 vineyards with
a fantastic lunch at one of them. We were in a car with a driver and English speaking tour
guide named Loly, pronounced Lowly. She was a great guide and we had wonderful tastings
and much of the countryside. We got full tours of the 3 vineyards. One of the wineries
Adeluna is owned by Mr. Lay of the Frito Lay family. It seems he asked to buy one of the
old family vineyards here and they wouldn´t sell so he went into business with them and
when they couldn´t match the money he was putting into the vineyard he bought them out.
Although our guide was careful to not say it, it sounded like a hostile take over to us. The
family had not wanted to sell as vineyard had been in their family for years. We are
staying in the city today, Wednesday, and touring the parks located around our Hotel, there
are 5 of them. History of the parks and Mendoza. Mendoza suffered an earthquake in
1861 which destroyed the old city of Mendoza. The new city was moved some miles away
from the orginal location and 5 parks were built as a refuge place for the city residents
should there ever be another quake. The one in the center , Parque Independencia, is
in front of our hotel and the other 4 are built 2 blocks away from each of its corners.
All have beautiful green scapes, flowers, vendors, and one we are going to today, Parque
San Martin, named after the liberator of Peru, Chile, and Argentina, has a lake. Tomorrow
we leave for Puerto Madryn along the coast where we hope to see the Orcas, penquins, and
sea lions. I will write more from there. Amors, Adios.