A Busy Couple of Days

I wanted dad to see Buenos Aires before we had to leave and continue our travels, so we toured the city yesterday. It was quite a long day with lots of walking, but I really wanted him to see the city that I lived in for the last 2 months. After dad finally got his bag we let from our hotel and took the Subte down to Catedral where I showed dad the Casa Rosada (where the President works) and Plaza de Mayo. We ate lunch at a little restaurant and I had my first lomito. A lomito is a tenderloin sandwich and it was delicious! From there we walked down the street with the San Telmo markets and checked out all the artesanias. They had some really awesome things that were handmade It goes for about 15 blocks, but we only walked about 5 blocks and then we left so we could go to Cafe Tortoni! 

It was a beautiful day, but a little chilly in the shadows of all the big buildings. We had a relaxing time at Cafe Tortoni and I drank my first submarino (hot milk with a chocolate bar) and it was alright. Not really my favorite thing to drink. From there we walked down 9 de Julio which is the street that is supposed to look like Paris and saw the big obelisk in the plaza there. Then we walked to Teatro Colon but it was closed for tours so we just walked through the walking area and around the outside. Then we took the Subte to Plaza Italia where we got the BEST ice cream EVER!! Dad had to agree that it was pretty close to the best and he really enjoyed it. After this, we had to hurry back to our hotel so we could catch a taxi to the bus station. We caught the 9:00 PM bus to Mendoza.

This morning around 10:30 we arrived in Mendoza and it is just as awesome as it was two weeks ago. However, we are not staying at Backpackers Hostel where I met my very interesting roommates in their towels :) I requested that we stay in a hostel where we could have our own room and when I wanted to shower and dress, I could do it by myself in a bathroom ;) So we are staying at this nice little hostel that is closer to the bus station. After we arrived we took a walk down close to Plaza Independencia to look at these little casks they use to age wine. Then we took a wine and olive tour. It was so AWESOME and we learned so much! 

We went to two wineries and an olive oil factory. The first winery (Lopez) was very industrialized and they did a lot of their work with machines and had a very large factory where they made the wine in HUGE oak casks. We got to taste one of their sparkling wines and then another wine that tasted very much like oak. At the second winery all of their work was done by hand and it was so interesting to see how they irrigate their vineyards. I can't imagine doing all that work by hand. At this one we tasted Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Syrah, and another Malbec. Today we were in the Maipu region of Mendoza and she said there were 1000 wineries just in this region! There are two other regions that border this Maipu region with I'm sure just as many wineries of their own.

Aging wine

This is only a medium-sized cask!

Bottling factory

Big glass of wine!

We also toured an olive oil factory! I had no idea that Mendoza was big olive country as well. This factory we went today made some of the best olive oil I have tasted. They had extra virgin olive oil, unfiltered olive oil, garlic olive oil, oregano olive oil, etc. It was all so delicious and am hoping that they have something similar in the United States. They also dehydrate fruits and vegetables there. The best was the tomatoes that had been dehydrated and then made into a tomato paste. I thought the olive factory was way better than the wineries to be honest! Also, did you know that green and black olives are the exact same plant??? Black olives are just more mature than green olives. I had no idea!!!

Olive press!

Anyways, I have to get up early to go on a high Andes tour so I better get to bed! Hope all is well!

P.S. I wrote this very quickly so I apologize for any errors!