Our flight departed from the domestic airport in Buenos Aires at 8:00am. It's a 2 hour flight to Mendoza, our last stop in Argentina. That would allow us to spend practically a full day in Mendoza upon arrival. The following day we would go out on a full day wine tour. We arranged a taxi from the taxi desk at arrivals and went to our hotel.
When we arrived at the hotel it was much too early to check in. We left our luggage at the Bell Desk and then proceeded to lunch. I had become somewhat used to initially speaking Spanish to anyone we came across. So I asked the hostess, "Tiene una mesa para dos personas, por favor?". The hostess seem to get a little excited and told me I spoke very good Spanish. But she said it in English. How good could it have been if you feel compelled to answer in English? To be fair to myself, the hotel catered to an International customer that typically spoke English. It was a Hyatt Hotel, and although the room was very comfortable, interaction with the staff was usually reserved. It's not our preferred way to travel. We like it when the staff gives you a personal and biased opinion of things, it makes your short time in their native city more enjoyable.
Hotel Room
After lunch we went out to explore the town. The city has a large grassy square in which to wander. It was right across from our hotel. There were a number of street vendors on the other side of the square so we wandered over there. After that we took off for the Mercado several blocks down. It was a bustling area in and around the Mercado. In the Mercado they sold fresh meat and vegetables. There were several large eateries as well.
The usual hanging carcasses
Cow Parts
We continued to walk around the downtown area. What was striking was the number of storefronts selling cheap goods. There were lots of low end stores selling electronics, kitchen appliances/gadgets, and clothing. It gave me the impression that the town was not as well-off as the areas in Buenos Aires we had visited. It was around 2:00pm and most of the businesses were shutting down for siesta.
We stopped in at an open air bar for a snack and coffee since the town was shutting down. While we were seated, we caught a glimpse of our Canadian friends which we met in Antarctica and flagged them down. They had just come back from Para-gliding. That is where you go up to the mountains and launch yourself off of a mountain slope with an open parachute. They showed us the video later at dinner, it looked like quite an adventure. While on the ship in Antarctica we had made arrangements to have dinner in Mendoza. They had made dinner reservations for that evening so we could all get together.
Open Air Cafe
We went back to the hotel. Given that 6:00pm dinners are not possible in Argentina we still needed to wait awhile until dinner. Frankly we were a little bored. I think we just sat outside in a patio area overlooking the town square. It was a very warm early evening, probably over 90 degrees.
We had dinner at an Italian restaurant, where we were seated outdoors. There were 8 or 9 of us. We had a nice evening meal and then we took an evening walk around the square and said our farewells to the Canadians, aye. We really enjoyed those guys. It reminds me of a song by LCD Sound System, called North American Scum. It is a song about North Americans not being as cool as other peoples of the world, but there is this one line, "but don't blame the Canadians!". You can get it on the iTunes monopoly, it's basically Techno.
Bruchetta
Canadian ring-leader Nhung
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