Malbeclipse Part 2: Argentina

Si no vino a beber vino ¿por qué vino?

If you did not come to drink wine, why did you come?

Mendoza Folk Wisdom
(It sounds better in Spanish, even if you don't speak Spanish.)

Part 2 of our #malbeclipse adventure took place in Argentina. We described the reasons for this journey almost two years ago in Malbeclipse 2019, and we are very grateful that we were able to follow through on this dream.  Most of the photos in this post are by Pam; see James' Malbeclipse 2019 album on Flickr for his photos, some with annotations. To read about the Chile portion of our explorations, see Malbeclipse Part 1.

Most of the wine we drink in Casa Hayes-Boh is Malbec from Mendoza. A few years ago, we realized that this grape goes with just about everything, as the many Malbec references on our recipe blog attest. From some cursory exploration online and from our experience in the aisles of local wine stores, we knew that Mendoza is home to many vineyards, and that Malbec is very important there. We had no idea just how true this would be. On arrival at our hotel the first night, the simple restaurant in the lobby turned out to have an extensive wine list, including a couple dozen Malbecs from Mendoza.

We quickly realized that the choices were overwhelming, and also that we could waste a lot of time driving aimlessly about to wineries that might not have any openings on their tours. Pam noticed that quite a few agencies in the city book winery tours, so we visited one of those agencies our first morning. We had an excellent short tour that afternoon, a longer tour with an incredible lunch the following day, and found our own way to a vineyard on our third day. Some of the highlights are below.

From one of the tour bus, Pam noticed a graffito with a dramatic take on a familiar theme --

Graffiti in Mendoza "Meat is Death"; "Dairy is Rape"

Thus our first afternoon brought us to the lovely Vistandes (get it?) winery, where we started to gain an understanding of just how much Malbec a typical operation produces in Mendoza, as well as another winery, an olive-oil factory, and an historic church. 

We visited the Trapiche winery to begin our second day of touring. Seeing this brand so often at home, we were not surprised to find that it is one of the oldest and biggest of the Mendoza wineries.

Iscay is the Incan word for two - used to name this blended wine

A canary in a coal mine
problems with the rose bushes indicate a problem
 with the soil that needs to be addressed

Looks like George Jetson lives here; compare below

The press is called a trapiche
enthusiastically shown here by our guide;
the company derives its name from the press.

Ants are as important for organic wine as they are for organic coffee;
they are honored at the entrance to the Trapiche visitors' center.

From Trapiche, we went to the Familia Zuccardi bodega, which is actually a collection of various wine projects of this extensive family. The main tasting room was quite busy -- with dozens of visitors at each tasting -- and serves as a small gallery for some very talented local art students.

It was here that we had a fantabulous lunch with countless courses and three wine glasses that were never allowed to sit empty for long. We shared a table with fellow tourists from Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, all of whom were surprised that we could carry on a conversation in Spanish (with some Portuguese).

On the third day we drove south on our own, using old-school GPS to find our way to the Bodega Salentein in the famous Uco Valley, about an hour's drive to the south of the city. 

We hoped to have lunch there, but its restaurant was booked solid in the dead of winter. Views of the Andes were the best we had seen from any of the vineyards. It turns out the Uco and Mendoza are valleys in the sense that Tucson is -- meaning not really valleys at all.

Salentein has lovely views

Instead of a tour, we enjoyed an excellent glass each and enjoyed the views. We then visited its famous -- and free -- art galleries. They include this fun piece that tempted us to break the no-photo rule (which we had conveniently not noticed).

Having fun at Salentein Winery and Art Gallery
 Uco Valley Mendoza, Argentina

The Chilean portion of our travels had its theme songs; for this one, only the UB40 classic comes to mind. Best listened to without the official video, which is garbage.

One last thing: we did not expect to see llamas or alpacas on this trip and for the most part we did not. We saw one from a bus window, plus these on currency worth about 50 cents.

One map records the important sites for both parts of our adventure -- where we stayed, where we ate, where we toured vineyards (and the like) and where we were when we saw the sun blink out for 2-1/2 minutes.



Also see Pam's StoryMap featuring photos of our trip.

To read about the Chile portion of our explorations, see Malbeclipse Part 1.

Lagniappe

We made this entire journey without knowing about this key bit of nomenclature, courtesy of Terrible Maps:

Malbeclipse Part 1: Chile

Part 1 of our #malbeclipse adventure took place in Chile. We described the reasons for this journey when we started planning it almost two years ago in Malbeclipse 2019, and we are very grateful that we were able to follow through on this dream. Most of the photos in this post are by Pam; see James' Malbeclipse 2019 album on Flickr for his photos, some with annotations. To read about the Argentina portion of our explorations, see Malbeclipse Part 2.

Chile was without a doubt the cleanest and most welcoming of any country we've ever been to - this includes the US. It also had the best roads, by far. Even as millions of visitors descended from across the globe we were hard pressed to find any litter, were welcomed everywhere we went, and encountered nary a single pot hole.

Finding our hotel was no small feat, and we were grateful to be tackling Santiago's wondrous and mystifying boulevards on a quiet Sunday morning. We concluded that "involuntarily" was the only way to make a U-turn in this lovely and lively city.

Once we settled into our room, we ventured out to meet up with Paulina, a friend James had met when she visited Bridgewater two years ago, just as we were contemplating this trip. We met at Parque Arauco - an upscale mall with many of the same stores we find at our local malls in the US. One special thing we discovered, though, were these Escher-esque outdoor escalators.

Colorful window displays and public art were also featured throughout the mall.

After a day in Santiago we headed north to the Elqui Valley, which Paulina had recommended for our eclipse viewing. We arranged to stay for two nights before the eclipse and two nights after, because we were taking no chances on missing it!

The beautiful public library in Zapallar was made from re-purposed shipping containers

Just outside the library we discovered this container for recycling of cooking oil

We went to Zapallar in search of penguins. Alas, we found none. We were not, however, disappointed by this lovely walk along the shore, on a well-maintained path.

No penguins, but we were happy to find some pelicans

Beautifully colored boats put us in mind of the Azorean whaleboats that James rows

 Even the graffiti was beautiful 

There was much energy, artistic and otherwise, evident on the eve of the eclipse. We attended a piano concert, and also witnessed all kinds of spontaneous activity on the town plaza.

Van Gogh - Starry Night

Weed Pants

We love that this information sheet with "Tips for Locals" was translated into English
 Also note tip #6: Be respectful and cordial with the tourists
Wondering if such a thing will ever appear in any kind of documentation in the United States

The special glasses allowed us to see only the sun when we were wearing them
We got them from a friend who was flying in the totality shadow on a NASA plane

As the eclipse proceeded, the program at Quebrada de Paihuano included ongoing commentary in Spanish and English with one of the many local professors of solar astronomy. Carly Simon was not featured in the program, but a few minutes before totality, the discussion was interspersed -- without comment -- with (e)clips from this inevitable album.



The emcee and the professor encouraged the crowd to be silent during the 2-1/2 minutes of totality. Of course this did not happen, but the exuberance was quieter than it might otherwise have been.

12:25 pm - total eclipse still over four hours away

4:16 pm - partial eclipse

4:27 pm - partial eclipse

4:33 pm - partial eclipse

4:39 pm - Totality!

4:42 pm - sun begins to appear again

5:01 pm

5:09 pm - sun is going down behind the mountain

We did not try to leave the area the day after the eclipse -- veterans of other eclipses told us this would be a very bad idea. So we explore the Valley a bit more on the following day, and we were delighted to have had the opportunity.

The Elqui Valley is home to Chilean poet, and winner of the Nobel prize in Literature (1945) Gabriela Mistral. Pam had read some of her work when she was a student of Spanish literature in the 1980s, but seeing the homage that her home paid to her almost everywhere we went prompted us to read some of her poetry together. Pam picked up a bilingual edition of Madwomen from the library where she works when we returned.

We also toured the Pisco Mistral Distillery. (Hurrah!) As with almost all tours we took while traveling, we had to insist on a Spanish-language tour. There was always deep concern expressed that the "next English tour was full", and then some sort of disbelief, followed by surprise when we said we wanted to take a tour in Spanish.

A free glass is de rigueur when doing a tour and tasting

This special edition pisco was 43.3% alcohol, instead of the usual 46%, in reference to the time of eclipse totality

The Mistral pisco distillery is very proud of local poet and Nobel Laureate Gabriela Mistral. They were also very proud of the eclipse, and offered two eclipse cocktails (Sun and Moon), made with the special eclipse pisco mentioned above.

Statue to Gabriela Mistral as a schoolteacher in Paihuano

This teeter totter (balancín) is inscribed with words from a children's song. See the full song and translation here

The people of the Elqui Valley also show pride in their home 

through the display of colorful public art 

Even this map of  tourist attractions in Monte Grande was both useful, and artfully done

"I came from Temuco just to try Pisco"

This one Google map records the important sites for both parts of our adventure -- where we stayed, where we ate, where we toured vineyards (and the like) and where we were when we saw the sun blink out for 2-1/2 minutes.



Also see Pam's StoryMap featuring photos of our trip.

To read about the Argentina portion of our explorations, see Malbeclipse Part 2.