Category Archives: South America

One of the distinctive structures in Buenos Aires is the widest highway in the world, Avenida 9 de julio that runs through the middle of the city, up to seven lanes each way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_de_Julio_Avenue Unfortunately for us, we rode up and down this landmark both directions while searching for the exit to the neighborhood ofContinue reading “Buenos Aires, Feb. 9, 2015”

Rio Cuarto to Rosario was a day of driving in the rain. We stopped to look at birds, but not much happened on the road. There are some unusual signs along the highway: I finally saw the nest of the national bird of Argentina, the rufous ovenbird, named for the shape of their nest madeContinue reading “Rio Cuarto to Rosario, Feb. 8, 2010”

We were hosted in Mendoza, by Carolina Lopez, who manages three apartments rented through AirBNB. Here are a few pictures: Best ice cream in Mendoza: Ferruccio Soppelsa

Argentina has many surprising works of public art and architecture. We passed a few of them along our way.  There were some unusual pieces of art, such as a gigantic ugly statue in a roundabout, a very large metal sculpture of a bicyclist by a bike path, as well as a stupendous new dinosaur museumContinue reading “On the road to Rio Cuarto, Feb. 7, 2015”

Friday, Feb.6, 2015 Last sips of wine Since we must continue our journey tomorrow, today was our last tasting opportunity. We made an appointment to visit the Norton winery and taste sparkling wines at 11 am. After several wrong turns, we got onto the big highway (40), and made our way to Norton without muchContinue reading “Last Sips of Wine, Feb. 6, 2015”

Wednesday Feb. 4, 2015, 32 C (89F) It doesn’t feel as hot as 89, probably because it was overcast most of the day. We decided to visit the thermal springs in Cacheute, outside Mendoza. When we arrived around noon, the place was packed with hundreds of cars and people. After a walk around to lookContinue reading “A subterranean winery with a Latin name–very archaeological.”

Feb. 3, 2015 continued We did not have a reservation for the Vistalba winery, but it was near Kaiken, and we  met the bicyclists there, too. We did not take the tour, having just toured Kaiken, but we joined the group for tasting in the cellar where they’ve got a high-ceilinged room exposing one wallContinue reading “Vistalba, Decero wineries”

On our way in and out of wineries, we saw all these birds. It was great! Big day for Wine. Fist stop was Kaiken, in Lujan de Cuyo, where we joined about 8 other people for an English language tour. Very nice tour, lovely grounds, nice group of people from 2-3 different tours. Five wereContinue reading “Lujan de Cuyo near Mendoza–Feb. 3, 2015”

Today was a planning day. We called Carolina at 9 am. She came over and we discussed moving downstairs, parking the car in the garage space at the apartment rather than down the street and finding a dentist to glue Jonathan’s broken crown back (no more caramels). Fortunately, Carolina arranged a dentist appointment for 5Continue reading “Getting Started in Wine Country”