Moving on to Buenos Aires

Along with our friends, we enjoyed touring (and tasting!) a number of wineries in the Uco Valley, about an hour south of Mendoza.

The setting of the vineyards with the backdrop of the Andes, made for some picturesque strolls among the vines.

We were surprised at several vineyards to find rose bushes blooming at the end of many rows of grapes. They told us that these attract some pests naturally (rather than using chemicals) away from the grapes. But mainly they act as an early warning system. The rose leaves react quickly to a fungal infection, so the grape vines could be sprayed with sulphur, to prevent them from becoming infected.

We also learned about the use of concrete vessels to ferment and age wines, when they didn’t want to impart any oak flavors, but wanted more gradual oxygenation of the wine than with steel tanks.

The walls of the concrete eggs are very thick, and can keep the wine cool even when outside. This winery also had the ability to pump in cold water through the surrounding walls, if the temp in the egg was rising too high [the water was just in the concrete walls, not in the wine ;) ].

The little town we stayed in just outside of Mendoza had many streets lined with sycamore or plane trees.

Our next stop was Buenos Aires. What a big, bustling city! And we were there over the long weekend holiday of Mardi Gras - government and many business offices were closed on Monday and Tuesday. We decided not to venture into downtown for the parades and gatherings, since we speak only minimal Spanish.

The city has beautiful neo-classical architecture, like many major cities in the world, from the 1860’s to the 1920’s.

There were concrete balconies and wrought iron everywhere -

I had read that their Opera House, the Teatro Colón, is considered one of the best in the world, so of course, we had to take a tour. Unfortunately, they don’t have performances during their summer in Jan. and Feb.

Inside, the height of the ceilings was awesome…

… as were the trimmings -

There are 7 levels of seating, as you may be able to appreciate from this picture of the boxes:

(the orchestra was rehearsing for an upcoming show)

During our wanderings, we happened onto this “pretty pile of bricks” -

the Faculty of Engineering building

The Recoleta Cemetary is where many prominent Argentinians and celebrities are interred (including Eva Perón). It was established in 1822 and has over 4600 vaults. It was like a mini-city within the city.

It was a little creepy down some of the narrow paths…

…especially when you could look into some of the vaults and see the coffins stacked on shelves.

Steve thought this was the most optimistic denizen of the place; he apparently hoped that if someone knocked, he would be able to answer:

At a nearby park, there is a famous sculpture - Floralis Generica, which is supposed to open and close with the passage of the sun.

And I will close this post with a last view of the city -