Mendoza - Day One (Kelley)

After I begged our way through long lines at the counter and through security (see post mi esposa es loca), we made it to Mendoza. The first thing outside the airport is wine barrels and a vineyard.

Mendoza is located in the desert and borders the Andes Mountain that divde Argentina with Chile. We took a tour of the city and were able to check into our hotel early. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around attempting to shop at local stores. We quickly learned that this would be impossible. Medozans are very unique in that they work from about 9 or 10 am until 1:30 pm and then take a nice, long siesta break until about 5:30 pm. So, this is the schedule of many of the businesses other than restaraunts. We returned to our hotel and decided to enjoy a short siesta ourselves.

We had reservations at a highly recommended restaurant called 1884 Francis Mallman. We took a taxi and drove to the outskirts of town. We ened up in a residential neigborhood and the taxi pulled up to a huge, industrial looking garage door and flashed his lights. This really looked like the garage door to some wharehouse and I looked at Michael and asked if he was worried. It felt like we were going to locked inside some garage and robbed. However, the door was open and we pulled in to an interior courtyard where someone verified our reservation time. We got to the entry doors for the restaraunt and I tried to pull--no luck. So, I tried to push--still no luck. I was worried there would have to be some secret knock to get in when the hostess finally unlocked the door and let us in.

Mendoza

The restaraunt is very charming and quaint. The food was phenomenal! Michael's ribeye looked like it weighed three pounds. I ordered a steak that I'm not sure of the cut, but it was thin and crusted with salt--it was amazing! Both steaks were cooked on a grill out in the courtyard and we could watch the experts at work while we sat and enjoyed our dinner. I had noticed the menu that one of the items was called "giant rib for two". Someone near us ordered this and when came out it truly looked like it had to have been a dinosaur rib. I don't know what animal it came from, but it appeared to be at least three feet long and the circumferance of a cantaloupe!

That was it for Mendoza day 1. We headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep for our four winery visits the following day.