My New Friend

After so many warm days in Mendoza, we were surprised to wake up to a cold front the next morning.    We made sure to drink extra hot coffee during breakfast.  While we dined, we discussed options for the day.  Mom's back pain had flared up a bit, so we decided it would be best to take it easy.  Not even a bit of pain can keep a woman from shopping, however, so we got ready and headed back downtown to check out some more souvenirs.

The cooler weather must have scared most of the tourists off, because the shopping area was nearly deserted.  It could have also been the fact that we were awake a bit earlier than most people, too!  We picked out a few more souvenirs from the shops, and headed off in a different direction than yesterday to see if we could discover anything new.  We had been told that we might find some good leather shops in that direction.  Although we'd already gotten quite a few leather goods, there really is no such thing as too much leather.  Especially at the great prices they had in Mendoza!  Mom actually found a really neat leather bag that has three separate compartments meant to carry a thermos, mate, and hierba.  She's not really into hierba mate, but she bought it to use as a purse and to carry water (or Diet Coke) when she travels.  The salesperson also suggested that it would be a good place to hide wine.  Hopefully she'll refrain from doing that, especially in foreign countries!  I know we're all for new adventures, but I think jail is one that we'd all like to avoid, if possible.  

On the way over, we started talking about the dress and realized that we really didn't have any good way of getting it home.  Even though it's not a traditional wedding dress, it still is pretty big!  We'd only brought our carry-on suitcases, so there was no way we'd be able to fit it in one of those.  We discussed just bringing in on in the garment bag, but were worried about having to crumple it up in the overhead bins.  We decided the best way would be to invest in a new suitcase altogether.  Of course, as soon as we decided to start looking for one, they became almost impossible to find.  We ended up stopping back at the dress store to ask the salespeople there for a suggestion.  Unfortunately, all of them were completely different than the ones that had been there on the night we bought the dress, so were a bit confused at first (they thought we wanted to buy some luggage from them).  Once we'd explained that we'd already gotten a dress from their store, they pointed us in the direction of a luggage shop.

www.suitcases.me.uk

It was just on the next block over, and we'd actually passed it numerous times in the past few times without even noticing it!  We first tried to find a large rolling garment bag, but soon realized that it wouldn't be much bigger than our carry-ons and that it's singular purpose would make it inconvenient for future trips.  Instead, we asked for a large, hard-sided suitcase.  They had some really great Samsonite sets, but we decided to forgo those upon learning that they were more expensive than the dress itself!  We were about to give up and try another store when the salesperson pulled out a huge (very ugly) black suitcase.  It was probably large enough to fit a good-sized toddler inside, and then maybe even have room for his pet puppy!  It was the display model, but still had (some of) the protective plastic covering on it.  It looked like someone had gotten bored and started to pull bits and pieces off in places, which didn't help with the aesthetic appeal.  But it was sturdy, and it was on sale!  We decided to go for it, despite it's hideousness.  Maybe we can paint it pretty colors later.

I quickly took the suitcase back to the hotel while Mom relaxed in the plaza.  Even though it was only about 11:00 a.m., we felt pretty accomplished with our day.  We definitely deserved some coffee.  Of course, we couldn't return to any of the same coffee shops, we had to try something new!  We saw some tables outside on the other end of the block, and began heading in that direction.  On the way, we passed by an old, official-looking building with a beautiful stained-glass window at the entrance.  It turned out to the be the tourism office, so we decided to take a quick detour to see if there were any other things we simply couldn't miss in Mendoza.  The building was undergoing some remodeling, so the information was actually upstairs.  Mom's back wasn't behaving very well at this point, so she stayed down in the souvenir shop while I went up to get some information.  The guide showed me some points of interest on the map, most of which we had already seen in our wanders around town.  She circled a few museums that we should visit, but told me we'd have to wait until the next day because all the museums closed on Mondays.  When I caught back up with Mom, she'd already managed to have a conversation with the salesperson in the store and had bought some beautiful hand-blown glass jewelry for some of her friends.

Armed with more information and more souvenirs, we found our way to the coffee shop at the end of the block.  This one was probably the most "traditional" Argentinian coffee shop, in that most of was actually a bar where the customers stand to drink their coffee.  We were lucky enough to snag the last indoor table left.  The place was filled with people, mostly older men discussing politics and the lottery.  Seems like a strange combination of topics, but I guess they do both involve gambling.  We ordered our regular Diet Coke and cappuccino.  Mom was feeling a bit hungry, so she also ordered a "carlito."  Yes, in most Spanish-speaking countries, this would be the name of a little boy.  In Argentina, however, it is apparently a hot sandwich.  Hers came with ham and cheese.  I didn't get a taste, but I'm assured that it was delicious.  The waitress was a bit concerned that Mom didn't want any mayonnaise on it, though.

After our brunch, it seemed to have gotten even colder out than when we started.  This wasn't helping with Mom's back, so we decided to go back to our warm hotel and take a break for a while.  We'd ventured a bit farther than we thought, so it took us over half and hour to get back.  By the time we made it up to the room, I was beginning to get hungry.  Luckily, we still had our huge bottle of Diet Coke and some leftover bread and fruit.  I snacked on that while Mom relaxed with a nice game of "Angry Birds."  Well, maybe "relax" isn't really the best word.  Let's just say that Mom can get a bit competitive with her online gaming.  I learned quite a few new words as she played!  I am happy to report, however, that she is slowly but surely defeating those pesky pigs and has now reached level 6.  I really hope I never make her as angry as those birds do, though!

With Mom settled in for her anti-pig campaign, I decided to head out on my own a bit, lest I get caught in the crossfire.  I headed out in the opposite direction from which we normally went.  The woman at the information center had told me that there was a tower in the park that way, and that it had great views of the whole city.  I arrived to the park at 2:35 p.m.  The tower closes at precisely 2:30.  I was kind of disappointed about missing it so closely, but there were still plenty of other things to see in the park.   Spring has arrived in South America, so there were all sorts of fresh-blooming flowers everywhere!  There was a very large trellis covered with beautiful, purple flowers.  They smelled amazing!  They almost looked (and smelled) like lilacs, but not quite.  Either way, they are awesome and I want some.  Maybe someone out there can help me identify them.  There was also a huge tree filled with white blossoms.  They didn't smell as good to me, but the local bees thought otherwise.  I couldn't find a hive anywhere nearby, but the entire tree was surrounded by hundreds of bees!  I spent a while trying to get some pictures of the, but bees are quick little things!  It took me about 45 minutes, but I did finally get some good pictures.  In fact, the picture set as the cover to this blog was taken at that tree!

I wandered around a bit more, just enjoying the clean air.  It was nice to get out of the big city and be able to breathe for a while!  Eventually, I decided I'd better make sure Mom wasn't getting too violent with her pigs, so I started back towards the hotel.  On the way, I passed by the courthouse, where there was a protest going on.  I'm not familiar at all with Argentinian politics, but apparently there is a law that prevents mining companies and others from dumping contaminants into the drinking water supply.  Recently, there have been talking about repealing the law and allowing the companies to let their waste run off into the rivers--specifically the one that provides potable water to the city of Mendoza.  The protest was fairly small, maybe about 30 people in total, and quite peaceful.  In fact, most of them were just sitting on the steps, holding their signs and eating sandwiches.  I paused to take a look, and one of the young men came down the steps to explain their campaign to me.  Half of the explanation was made while he still had some of his sandwich in his mouth, so I didn't quite catch the specifics.  He said they were making a petition for the local government not to repeal the law.  He asked me to sign, and said it was ok for me to do so, even though I was a foreigner.  It sounded like a good cause to me, so I signed.  Hopefully I understood his explanation enough and didn't just sign up for a free year-long trip to Antarctica or something like that!

Now that I'd signed my life away, I figured I'd better definitely hurry back home.  I made a quick stop to snap a photo of some more flowers I saw on the other side of the courthouse.  As I was packing up my camera, a dog walked out from under the bushes and just sat down right in front of me.  I said "hello" to him, to which he responded by jumping right up on me and trying to "kiss" me.  I love animals and everything, but ever since my "flea" incident the last time I was in Chile, I've become very wary of strays.  He was very friendly and not in the least threatening, but I've learned the hard way that touching unknown animals doesn't always yield good results.  I pushed him down, said "good-bye" and continued on my way.  Apparently he wasn't quite ready for "good-bye" just yet.  He started to follow me, and I checked to see if maybe I had some leftover food somewhere on me that he was trying to get to, but I found nothing and I told him so.  He continued to follow me anyway.

I tried a few more times to get rid of him, but he just kept coming.  I've had dogs follow me for a block or two, but none ever this insistent!  The hotel was a good 20 minute walk away, so I figured that if I kept going, he'd eventually get bored and go back to his home.  Guess not.  He actually ended up following me all the way back to the hotel.  On the way, people kept asking me about him, assuming he was mine.  Even when I abruptly changed directions, he stayed right on me.  I eventually gave up and just gave in to the idea that I had a new pet for the day.  When we reached the hotel, he even tried to come inside with me!  The concierges weren't too keen on that, so they made sure to keep him out and even chased him a little.  Before I went in, I tried to tell the dog to wait outside for me, but as you all know my "dog-language" is a bit rusty so I couldn't be sure that he understood.  I wanted him to wait because we still had the leftovers from the parrillada in our hotel room, and I thought he definitely deserved a reward after walking so far with me.  I ran up to the room to grab the goodies, and hurried back out to try to find him.

I didn't see him anywhere on the sidewalks or in the streets of the next few blocks, so I figured the concierges must have scared him off.  I decided to walk back a bit in the direction we'd come from, to see if maybe he'd turned off onto another street.  I didn't have to go that far, though, because I found him in the little convenience store next to the hotel, trying to beg some chocolate from the owner.  Of course, the owner told me to get "my" dog out of his store.  I didn't even have to say anything, because as soon as the dog saw me, he ran right towards me.  There was a lot of meat left over, so I started out just giving him small pieces.  He wasn't too fond on the sausage, but he really liked the pork ribs.  He devoured the pieces so quickly that I finally just gave in and dumped out the whole bag for him.  I'm pretty sure he thought he'd gone to heaven at that point.  As he enjoyed his meat, I said "good-bye" one last time and headed back to the hotel.  I knew that if I stayed until he finished, he would try to follow me again and I was already doing all I could to fight the temptation to take him home with me!  By the time I came out again an hour later, he was gone.  At least I know he was well-fed!

Back in the hotel, I found Mom in the courtyard reading and enjoying some more Mendoza wine.  I asked her how her "Angry Birds" progress was, but she didn't want to talk about it.  Instead, we discussed the wedding a bit more.  I was concerned because I had initially planned to wear a simpler, shorter dress so that we could go straight from the ceremony to hiking in the mountains.  With the change of plans in the dress department, it looked like that wasn't going to happen after all.  And now that I had such a beautiful dress, I wanted an excuse to be able to wear it more, not less!  We talked about having a more traditional reception afterwards, but that's just not really my (or Scott's) style.  In the end, I decide I'm going to go hiking in the dress anyways--all we have to do is figure out some way to rig up the skirt so that I don't fall.  Although having a higher skirt doesn't necessarily guarantee that I won't fall anyways.

www.toursinspain.com

With that important decision made, I took a look at my watch and saw that if we hurried we could still make it to the open-top bus tour of the city.  Mom was still recovering from her back pain and her violent battle with the birds, but told me to go ahead without her.  The tour was scheduled to leave from Plaza Independencia in about 10 minutes, so I rushed out and hurried to the plaza.  I shouldn't have worried; Argentinian time is even less precise than Chilean time!  I got to the pick-up point just about two minutes before the scheduled departure, and the bus was only half full.  I figured it was because of the cold, dreary weather and hopped on to find a spot by myself near the back.  There were a few more people behind me, and once they got on, it looked like we were good to go!  Apparently not.  I guess the driver was determined to fill up his bus, even if it did mean some hard selling.  He left us in the parked bus and started to wander the plaza, trying to sell people on the idea of riding in the open-top vehicle up a large hill on a cold, windy day.   Most people weren't buying it.  Finally, he convinced a family of six to sign up and fill in the remainder of the empty seats.  Now, twenty minutes after the scheduled departure, we all settled in and got on our way.

As it turned out, the tour didn't show much of the city itself, but was instead focused on Parque San Martín.  The only part of the city that was included on the tour was the street leading from the plaza to the park.  I was kind of disappointed, because I'd thought that we'd already seen most of the park, but it was too late to get off now.  Oh, well, at least I would get the history this time.  Going up the main street to the park, I learned why we hadn't seen any very old buildings during our explorations of the city.  Mendoza was originally founded in 1561 by Spanish explorers who had come from Chile.  In fact, the city's official name is "Ciudad de Mendoza del Nuevo Valle de La Rioja," after the then-governor of Chile.  The town center was strategically placed on what the Spaniards believed to be the largest river in the area, but actually turned out to be a wide irrigation canal dug by the indigenous Huarpe people.  In fact, Mendoza is naturally a pretty harsh desert, but the native people had long ago conquered it with a complex series of irrigation ditches, some which are still in use today.

www.diasdehistoria.com.ar

With all the dirty work in preparing the land for habitation out of the way, the Spanish did what they did best: moved in and took over.  Actually, an interesting fact about this city is that it was one of few (or perhaps the only) that was acquired legally according to the standards of the native peoples in the area.  The explorer Pedro del Castillo had developed a good relationship with the Huarpe people, and had even spent an entire winter living among them.  This, along with the fact that the Huarpe were an exceptionally pacific people, led them to agree to allow the Spanish ownership of the land.  And besides, it really was in the middle of nowhere without easy access to water and other villages; how advantageous could it really be to them?  The Huarpes even helped to establish and build the new Spanish colony and were, in fact, its most populous residents throughout the rest of the 16th century.  Despite efforts by Chilean authorities to send colonists to the new land, it seemed most were reluctant to cross one of the largest mountain expanses only to reach a desert surrounded by "savages."  It wasn't until the early 17th century when a group of colonists were sent to the city and them promptly denied access back to Chile that the city started to grow.  Forced by the blockade to grow their own crops and become self-sufficient, the new settlers finally resigned themselves to life in Mendoza and adapted to their new environment.

www.juggle.com/mendoza

They adapted quite well (with the help of some farming techniques learned from the Huarpe), and by 1813, Mendoza was a thriving metropolis and served as an outpost for traders moving goods across the Andes Mountains.  It was this year that it also became the center for the newly establish province of Cuyo.  Things were looking good for the city of Mendoza, and it seemed as if nothing could slow its upward progress.

www.metaforaenadobe.blogspot.com

That is, until the night of Thursday, March 20, 1861, almost exactly 300 years after its founding.  As the clock approached midnight, the 12,000 residents were awakened as the earth began to move beneath them.  The area had been prone to tremors before, but nothing of this scale.  By the next morning, the 7.2 magnitude earthquake had killed nearly 5,000 people and left the survivors homeless.  Not one building had been untouched, or one life unaffected.  To date, the 1861 earthquake is still the largest ever recorded in the area.  For the residents of the city, that year became known as "el año que Mendoza desapareció."--"the year Mendoza disappeared."

But the Mendocinos are strong people, and the survivors dusted themselves off and began to rebuild the city almost immediately.  The "old" city near the river was left exactly as it had been by the earthquake.  Instead, new construction was begun to the west of the original city, closer to the mountains.  There had been a few houses in that area prior to the earthquake, and portions of them were still standing.  Architects designing the "new" Mendoza wanted to start over, so the post-earthquake structures were build in a very modern style, as opposed to the very traditional architecture of the original buildings.  In fact, the people held such reverence for their old city that it was over half a century before anything was rebuilt in the "old" section of the city.  In the newer parts, however, some interesting architecture sprung up.  Instead of completely demolishing the old houses, new structures were built right into them !  There are quite a few such houses that can be seen on the road leading to the park, but the bus was moving so quickly that I only managed to get a shot of one of them.  This building is now used as apartments, but the land was originally owned by a wealth Mendocino who built his estate there.  The entire building was destroyed in the earthquake, save for the magnificent turret that was incorporated into the apartments and now serves as a grand entrance for its residents.

By the time our quick history lesson was complete, we had arrived at the gates to Parque San Martín.  The park is part of the "new" city built after the earthquake.  In fact, it was built as part of a reforestation program that began in an effort to combat the epidemics of diphtheria, measles, and cholera that had plagued the city since the earthquake.  Originally named "Parque del Oeste" (Western Park), construction on this European-inspired garden began in 1896.  It was an ambitious project at a time when the city's resources were already spread much too thinly, and it was the cause of quite a bit of controversy among the city's leaders.  Some argued that the money would be better spent improving the sewers and waterways of the city.  Eventually, it was agreed that the park would do the most good in improving city health by enhancing the air quality in the area.  They also argued for the benefits of a "trickle-down" economy, contending that the beautification of the land would lead to higher property values encouraging a wealthier class of citizens to make their way to Mendoza, bringing their money with them. This money could then, in turn, be used to make other improvements that the city required.

I'm not sure if it was a direct result of the construction of the park, but Mendoza's economy sure seemed to be booming when we were there!  And I sure appreciate the efforts to construct the park--it's a great place to escape and relax.  It's also home to some of Mendoza's most famous landmarks, such as the Estadio Malvinas Argentina and the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo.  The university's medical school is located right in the heart of the park.  What a great place to study!  Another not so famous yet equally important landmark that can be found inside the park is the Club Mendoza de Regata--the city's rowing club.  We were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the team out for their afternoon jog as we passed by the club.  Most of the people on the bus were middle-aged women, and I'm pretty sure the collective sigh that this sight released from them could be heard throughout the park.  It did, of course, catch the attention of the team, who were all kind enough to look over and wave at us.  I'm surprised none of the women fainted at this point.

As we all settled down from that excitement, the driver drove us to a roundabout with a huge fountain in the center.  This, he told us, was the "fuente de los continentes."  As stated before, the creators of the park were very inspired by European examples and wanted to emulate their idols as much as possible.  It'd be great to have a grand story about the origin of the fountain, but it was actually purchased from a catalog. Yes, that is correct--apparently such catalogs were fairly common at this time (was this the same era in which you could buy your house from a Sears catalog?).  It was purchased in 1910 from a French foundation for the equivalent of about $2000USD.  Despite its somewhat boring origins, it is a very beautiful work of art.  Modeled after 18th century European fountains, its four sides represent the four world continents--America, Asia, Europe, and Africa (at the time, Oceania was considered part of Asia and Antarctica wasn't really considered at all).  Each continent is held up by figures modeled after Greek statues, and at the base of the fountain mermaids can be seen frolicking in the water.  It's an interesting juxtaposition of many different cultures.  We drove around three times just to get a complete view!

Now it was time to head to the main attraction--Cerro La Gloria.  It is the biggest hill in the city (the Andes aren't in the city, so they don't count), but that's not what makes it so famous.  The hill is famous because it is home to the Monumento al Ejército de los Andes.  The "Ejército de los Andes" was the military unit from Mendoza that fought to restore independent governance to Chile and to free Peru from Spanish dominance.  Led by general José de San Martín, it was comprised mostly of freed mulatto slaves and former Chilean soldiers that had emigrated to Mendoza after the Chilean revolutionary war.  They are most famous for their successful crossing of the Andes, which took nearly a month.  Once across, they joined with other Chilean forces in Santiago and were instrumental in the defeat of royalist forces in various battles, including the Battles of Chacabuco and Cancha Rayada.  The Mendocinos are very proud of their contribution in these historic events, and this monument commemorates the brave men who fought so valiantly.

The monument was commissioned by law in 1888, but its creation did not begin until 1909.  It was designed and created by Uruguayan sculptor Juan Manuel Ferrari.  The work took many years to complete, but finally, in January of 1912, the final stone was laid on the statue on the anniversary of the army's departure across the Andes.  The monument was officially inaugurated on February 12, 1912, the 97th anniversary of the Battle of Chacabuco, and the day was declared a regional holiday.  Today, the monument is the most visited attraction in the city of Mendoza.  It's interesting to see the great detail in the monument, and I can easily understand why it took so many years to create.  In fact, I'm surprised it didn't take more!  I also learned (by eavesdropping on a different tour group) that there are  international rules regulating the creation of monuments.  According to the regulations, if a soldier is to be depicted on a horse in a monument, the horse must be positioned differently depending on how the solider died.  If the soldier died in battle, both of the horse's front legs must be reared up.  If he died as a result of wounds received in battle, one of the horse's legs must remain on the ground.  Finally, if he died of natural causes, all four of the horses legs must be firmly planted on the ground.  Not all sculptors follow these regulations, but Ferrari was a stickler for details.  His depiction of general José de San Martín shows the horse with all four legs on the ground.  After a successful career, the general retired to France, where he died of old age in 1850.

We stopped to enjoy the the monument and the view from the top of the hill for about 20 minutes.  Most of the people used the time as an opportunity to take a bathroom break and to grab snacks from the vendor at the other end of the parking lot.  Not many were too interested in the monument (which might explain why all the information I gathered came from reading the plaques and listening in on other tour groups instead of from our own guide).  I tried to get as much information as I could, because I know how much all of you love to read the extended history lessons on my blog!  I also took way too many pictures of all the detail on the monument.  I can't post them here, but check out my Facebook page to see all the pictures I took!  I also took a moment to enjoy the view of the city of Mendoza.  It's a lot bigger than I imagined, and it kind of reminds me of San Antonio.  The population is just under 2 million people, but even in the downtown area you always feel as if you're in a small town.  I guess that's just what you get from spread-out desert cities!

By the time we got back on the bus, the temperature had dropped and the wind had picked up.  As we headed down the hill at full speed, we all started to wish that the bus weren't open-topped.  We tried to enjoy the views on the way down, but I think most of us were just hoping to get to the tree cover as soon as possible and hopefully get out of the wind.  On the way down, we passed by the stadium, and everyone got really excited about that.  Most of the other people on the tour were Chilean, and apparently there had just been a big Chile v. Argentina match at that stadium, so of course this called for extensive heckling of our Argentinian guide.  He took it all in stride, though, and invited them to come back into town for the next match, when the tables would surely turn.  The rest of the way back to the plaza was fairly quiet, with the guide focusing on avoiding the rush hour traffic and the guests huddling together to keep warm.  I've never seen a group in such a hurry to get out of a vehicle, not even after the 10 hour flight from the U.S. to Chile!

After thanking the driver, I hurried back to the warmth of the hotel, where I once again found Mom cursing the birds for their inability to destroy the pigs.  By this time we were both pretty hungry, but neither really wanted to venture into the cold to find something to eat.  Instead, we opted for the hotel restaurant where we could avoid the wind and still get some great wine.  I opted for a salad, but Mom went for the stuffed chicken.  When we got our meal, we were disappointed that we'd left the camera in the room (but too hungry to make the effort to go back to get it).  My salad was very colorful, with fresh seared salmon.  Mom's dish looked almost too good to eat!  Her four large pieces of chicken were stuffed with a blend of ham and cheese, and were all arranged atop a saffron-spiced bed of rice.  To top it all off, there was a beautiful latticed potato slice sticking right out of the middle of it all.  We were pleasantly surprised to learn that not only was the presentation beautiful, the food was exquisite!  And reasonably priced, too!  We got our two meals and two glasses of wine for under $35!  All in all, it was a great way to end a long day.