Cal & Rachel Litwiller's Adventures: Wednesday, June 3, 2015: Mendoza Wine Area

This morning we slept in a little – Cal was up at 8:15 - when the sun was rising. It looked like the whole outside was on fire. Everything – clouds and mountains glowed in orange. I was up for a peek and then went back to bed!!

Sun Rise in the East

Mountains at Sunrise in the West

Panorama of the Mountains

The restaurant had excellent Wi-Fi reception so this morning Cal worked on posting photos and the blog. He posted the events for 2 days. We really have been having issues with good reception for posting, but I have continued writing.

Our Winery Hotel

Early sun on the Mountains

The clouds kept moving over the mountains, so as we ate breakfast and Cal worked on the computer I kept taking photos of the area. I also found 1 English magazine – an “O” Magazine from January 2014!! But I enjoyed reading it. Finally we packed up and left our lovely country setting at 11:30.

Views from our Winery Hotel

We continued our drive though this valley, seeing more fruit orchards. Our host last night said there are cherries, peaches and pears. We actually did not see any cherry trees, but lots of peaches and some pears. Our host said that years ago apples were big in this area, but now China has taken that market, so they have changed to other fruits. Also walnuts – “nuts that look like a brain” – they did not know the English word for this type of nut!! It was an interesting drive.

Grape Plants under Netting

Newly pruned plants in the foreground

Pruning Plants

More Vineyards

Peach Orchard under Netting

More Peach trees

Pruning Peach Trees

Disking between rows of plants

We decided to get back on the main road going north to Mendoza, however, it was fairly early in the afternoon, so we decided to take a main road going east out of Mendoza. We drove east on this highway for at ¾ an hour. We saw produce crops once we were out of the city. Cabbage, broccoli, difference types of lettuce and who knows what else, as we were not close enough to identify them.

Lettuce Plants in the field

Red lettuce in the foreground

Tree lined Street

Transportation by Bike

At a location alongside this eastbound road, we saw lots of people walking; a huge number of buses carrying people to the event; the people were carrying flags of all sizes with slogans on their flags; it appeared to be a “march” or a “peaceful demonstration”. Police and police cars were everywhere, but they were primarily directing traffic. The people were apparently walking to an outdoor stage. We had no idea what it was all about, but it was all very orderly. We continued driving east a little farther before turning around and returning to Mendoza and the hotel where we stayed two nights ago in the downtown. We rested for a little while before setting out on foot to explore more of the city. We had two more of the major parks/squares to see – Espana Square & Italia Square. On our walk we crossed the pedestrian street just off of Independence Square. We realized a “march” was taking place in Independence Square too. We stopped a guy who looked like he may know English (however it was very little), but he communicated that this was a “march” about “awareness of violence against women”. Later the waiter at our evening meal told us that the President of the Argentina was at the event we witnessed east of the city this afternoon. We think all of South America is having awareness about this issue right now – Chile was having it too.

Stage where the President spoke

The Gathered Crowd - Tailgating

Transportation

After we saw all the squares, we found a little place to have a pizza (before 8:00 pm), so we could return to our room at a more convenient hour for us!! We have to leave for the airport by 6:30 tomorrow morning, so we need to turn-in early.

Plaza Espana (Spain)

Mosaic Tiles

Mosaic of Christopher Columbus Discovering "The Americas"

Plaza Italia (Italy)

Pizza for Dinner - Very Tasty

Walking Street

I have not said anything on these blogs about the town/city dogs! Every town/city has stray dogs walking around. They are healthy looking dogs, but are not owned by anyone – a lot are German Shepherds or about that size of dog. We understand that they are fed left over food from restaurants. They have all been taken to vets to be neutered, given shots, and dewormed. They seem to walk with pedestrians at crosswalks, are friendly, and well behaved. But they will be laying down for a nap along the street. They are often playing with one another in the parks, and you do have to watch for poop on the sidewalks. They do not seem to bother anyone, and we have never seen one hit by a car (cars wait on them and maneuver around them!). There were lots of town/city dogs in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (northern Chile).

When I write again we will hopefully be in Cordoba, Argentina, where we will be both Thursday & Friday, leaving Saturday morning for Buenos Aires.