Tuesday, November 19, 2024
We enjoyed another interesting day on what turned out to be a beautiful late Spring day in the Southern Hemisphere.
I'm sure that Mendoza's Chamber of Commerce was excited about the weather being provided to us for today's two pronged adventure.
But first, as the group's early riser, I was out of our Sheraton Hotel bright and early to get in my morning constitutional.
CHOCOLATE AND CHURROS!
I prayed for divine guidance and was given an answer, "Move along fat boy, nothing to see here."
Why does this man have a palm frond?
This question would be answered as well by the end of my stroll.
Statue at Plaza San Martín
What is General José de San Martín
pointing towards?
We were told that that no matter what city in Argentina you find with a statue of this man who liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru from Spanish domination, he will always be pointing to the Andes Mountains where he crossed to do his good deeds.
Coffee entrepreneur eagerly plying
his trade to eager customers
A good looking museum
building spotted on my tour
A watchful eye over Mendoza
AHA, that's the reason for the plam
frond, cutting edge street sweeping
Back at our artsy Sheraton Hotel
Part of the reason for my morning stroll was to find an open money exchange emporium to turn $100 USD into untold billions of Argentine pesos.
At a coffee shop where I purchased my first cafe con leche of the day, the barista directed to an exchange shop on the next block that was scheduled to open in about five minutes.
I headed that way and as I approached the money exchange's location I passed about a half dozen men standing discreetly apart at about COVID-19 line standing intervals near the exchange house who all simply whispered "Cambio" as I passed. They were asking if I wanted to exchange my money with them instead of with the reputable exchange house.
I walked by all of them without answering any of them, got into the short queue and exchanged my $100 for Argentine pesos.
This is what Argentina's colorful
paper money looks like
Coins are not used in Argentina, only paper money.
The denominations seen here with their approximate U.S. dollar equivalents are Left to Right, Top Row: 2¢, 5¢, 10¢, 20¢, 50¢.
Going Left to Right on the Bottom Row we have: $1, $2 and $10.
Anyone up for a game of Monopoly?
The view out of our window
this morning was a GREAT one!
Last night our Hotel Concierge,
Andrés, at this Mi Viaje a Mendoza
office, helped us with today's adventure
A trip into Mendoza's famed Maipú
Valley famed for its Malbec wine
We were set for a private tour for just the four of us of the Bodega Finca Agostino Winery.
Our informative driver, Marcelo, picked us up in his spacious, new Toyota van on time and whisked away about 40 minutes the the Finca.
We were set down amidst vineyard's
awesome looking grapes
We were scheduled for lunch
and a tour of the winery
Somehow, wine glasses were
rarely seen empty like this
on this fine day
Grape Growing 101
We were surrounded by grape
vines as far as the eye could see
Laurie was in her Happy Place
Truth be told, so was I
These vines were planted in 1951
Our first glass of the day
in the vineyards
There would be several more to be sure.
What a view!
Our partners in crime
Mostly misdemeanors but if the need arises . . .
The Andes Mountains in the distance
The Patriarch of the Agostino Family
Nice Wine Tricycle
Our lunchtime feast about to begin
A sparkling wine to start the meal
The antipasto dishes included
parmesan encrusted olives, parmesan
cheese flakes, garlic bread and salt
Bur there would be more, much more.
The bone marrow was to die for
and some animal did, gracias!
Next came these meat slices
with delicious Agostino olive oil
The arancini was PERFECT!
Did I fail to mention that the Agostino family are immigrants from Italy?
I loved the two part, seemingly broken serving plate.
Time for some white fish and
then a plate of mussels
So many plates were coming at us at a fast and furious pace, that I didn't get the chance to photograph all of them.
We were all feeling
Happy to be Alive
Then there was more wine
The pasta was AMAZING!
Asparagus, YUM!
Rib-eye steaks with parmesan
potatoes for Brian and I
Laurie and Koreen each had the
brisket cooked slowly for six hours
And, yes, there would be more
Malbec wine consumed
Time for desserts
First up, roquefort cheese topped with apricot jam.
Next came the mini-cream puffs
The tiramisu was outstanding
The dessert pièce de résistance though was the chocolate mousse with toffee crumbles sprinkled on top.
Unfortunately, I did not get photos of it or the deliciously paired sweet dessert wine.
This sumptuous meal was served over a three hour period that allowed to fully enjoy the food, wine, our gorgeous surroundings and, most of all, each other.
Laurie and I were in the early stages
of food and wine induced comas
We decided to sit out the short tour of the winery at this refreshing spot while Brian and Koreen were led by our fun hostess, Paola, into the inner workings of the Agostino olive oil and wine empire.
in the wine cellar
Art abounds on the vineyard's
well manicured grounds
See what I mean?
To sum up our afternoon at the Bodega Finca Agostino Winery, the food was both delicious and presented beautifully, the wines were all exquisite and our surroundings whispered of peace and tranquility.
We had experienced a wonderful afternoon but we still had one more agenda item to attend to before the night was over.
The Opening Two Games of the
2024 Tazón Sudamerica
The games would be played at the Polideportivo Padre Jorge Contreras, no relation. What were the odds?
We left the Sheraton via an Uber ride to get to the games.
We were dropped of at this address
Padre Jorge Contreras 1300 was the address of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo's Medical Sciences Building.
Thanks to the aid of four medical students who were studying together at a picnic table, we were directed to the site that we wanted which was miles away and would require yet another Uber ride.
We finally made it!
A quick Google search of the internet gave us this information about Padre Jorge Contreras.
He was born in Mendoza in 1925, was a teacher, university professor and priest known for his dedication, work and social commitment to the people of Mendoza.
Padre Contreras passed away in his life long, beloved city of Mendoza in 2008.
The Polideportivo's mandatory mural
Our first game tonight was between
the Costa Rica Sharks and the
Paraguay's Black Dragons
While the Sharks had about 30 athletes at their disposal, the Black Dragons only had four substitutes on their sidelines.
The Sharks in black on Offense
The Sharks like to run the ball
Two solid run blocks by the
black clad Costa Ricans
Not a Down Marker
One of the referees would act as the Official Down Marker. Now the chains on the other hand were of note.
Tournament officials tied two Downs Markers together by a pair of ten-yard long thin ropes. Unusual but in worked.
Necessity is the Mother on Invention.
A Costa Rican Gray Beard
The field was in pristine condition
Soon after this Third Quarter play
the game was stopped
With the Sharks far in front of the outmanned Black Dragons, a player from Paraguay team was seemingly seriously injured.
The game was first delayed for about 30 minutes until an ambulance arrived.
Then both teams agreed to end the game early with the Sharks being declared victorious.
Game #2 was then ready to start
as Peru's Black Lions faced
Argentina's Team Sudaca
Lots of players on the Team Sudaca
sideline but again, only a few on the
Black Lions' bench area across the way
Pre-game Sudaca antics
A well conditioned Costa Rica
Shark lineman with some post-game
nourishment before sitting down to
watch the Black Lions-Sudaca contest
AWESOME helmet #17!
Fast and furious action
Gradually, the Argentine's superior
numbers took command of the battle
To sum up these games, all four teams' rosters were made up of men with an obvious passion for the game of American football.
Our concerns were with the age and dubious quality of the helmets that some of the athletes were using and with the disparity of the roster sizes.
The conditioning and skill development levels were all over the spectrum but the sheer joy that all were having playing American football at grassroots levels was still fun to watch.
We found more art once back
at our Sheraton Hotel digs
We took advantage of our Member's Level room status and partook of the free snacks, beer and wine to debrief what had been an interesting day before calling it a night.
Exercise levels suffered due to our
long day of dining and football
It was actually good preparation for Thanksgiving next week.
On an extremely positive note, Koreen did not fall down today.
Tomorrow will be our last full day in Mendoza before heading home on Thursday via Santiago de Chile.
Stay tuned . . .
