Treat Your Palate in Mendoza

That subtle sound of two-year old Malbec red wine hitting the glass as the tour guide poured enough for our long awaited wine tasting was so inviting that my girlfriend Dani and I were like two kids in a candy store. Our very first wine tasting brought us a smile and a Salud. Clink went the glasses and the smooth red wine glistened across our palate. Next, a sample of their Cabernet Sauvignon... pour, SNIFF, swirl, SNIFF, and again let it treat the palate. Leaving our first vineyard (Bodega y Cavas de Weinert), both Dani and I carried with us a satisfaction for our first wine tasting/tour, yet an eagerness to see and taste more.


We had looked forward to our Mendoza retreat since I received the great news she was coming to visit me. Mendoza is a smaller city that is a 14 hour bus ride due west of Buenos Aires. It sits at the eastern base of the Andes mountain range and is a very popular base for climbers from all over the world who attempt to summit Mt. Aconcagua, highest peak in Western Hemisphere. However, Mendoza is most well-known for its quality wine. What we didn't know was the quantity of quality wine they had, roughly 1200 vineyards/bodegas. Imagine for a second, Dani and I were only able to visit two bodegas which took about half a day, with an olive farm visit in between. You would have to visit 3-4 vineyards/day for a whole year to experience all of the wine that comes from Mendoza, at top ten wine capital of the world. In addition, this was the first wine tasting experience for both Danielle and I, so we let the wine take us in and make us feel warm as we retreated to feeling like little kids in a gigantic candy store.

Our next stop on the tour would leave us testing our patience for more vino as we pulled into an olive farm to see how olive oil is made along with tasting some of the region's finest fresh olives. I had never been much of an olive fan until I moved to Argentina and was forced against my will to try them, now I think of myself as the olive connoisseur. The powerful odor of olives greeted us upon arrival, which pre-Argentina would have made me gag but now had me salivating. We took a very brief tour to see how they converted olives into olive oil using a compression machine. The tour ended with my purchase of two big jars of olives, straight from the source. We also happened to meet another couple who were our age from San Diego (UCSD) who happened to be travelling South America together. Dani and the other girl knew a mutual friend.. (see Six Degrees of Separation post).Our departure from olive heaven meant we were going to our final vineyard, a small family winery that maintains a low profile and only specializes in red wines (vino tinto). Sounds like my kind of place. Cavas de Don Arturo was a very cute little family-operated bodega and the tour was much more intimate than other wine tours. One of the nieces, who happened to speak very good English, gave us a great tour and let us sample three of their four vinos (Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah). The Merlot was supposedly their strongest wine, so undoubtedly I bought a bottle of their Merlot before leaving our last bodega of the tour.


(Dani and I praising Goddess of Wine) (Dani standing at hut entrance to best carne empanadas!)

Just when we thought our tour was over, our bus stopped in front of a cathedral, supposedly the first built in Mendoza. Dani and I took a quick gander but quickly escaped this part of the tour to go across the street to a little hut that had a huge fireplace. Our curiosity led us inside, fortunately, where the aroma of freshly made empanadas warmly welcomed us. First we bought two empanadas each, wow we underestimated the appetite all of that wine gave us. "Dos mas por favor," mmmm. At first I thought it was our appetite, then I realized what was really happening. We were consuming the best carne empanadas I've had in Argentina. By the end, Dani had 3 and I had indulged in 4 of them, yummers.

Something about Mendoza really grabs your taste buds, it's really hard to explain. Our appetite re-gathered itself and sent us to a great restaurant that had been previously recommended called El Palenque. Wow, one of the best dinners I've had in Argentina... just one more treat for the palate to add to the tick marks in Mendoza. If you love meat and you are lucky enough to find yourself in the wine capital of South America, clean your palate with any kind of the carne on the menu. But that's not it, what seemed to make all of our meals so delicous was this honey mustard sauce that was served with it all.. just ask for '... a la mostaza.' Every meal that we consumed seemed to be the best meal I've had in Argentina. The food in Buenos Aires doesn't even compare. The Mendocinos truly know how to clean the palate to fully compliment their abundance of fine vino.


Dani and I felt it was all too good to be true so we wanted to just test one more place to 'treat the palate' on our final day. There's no better way to treat the taste buds one last time in Mendocino fashion than where else?.. A chocolate factory!! It provided the proverbial icing on the cake that was the exclamation point to our yummy Mendoza experience. Historias y Sabores is a small little shop on the outskirts of Mendoza that makes their own chocolate, licors in assorted flavors such as banana chocolate, mint chocolate and dulce de leche among many other heart-warming snacks. Not surprisingly, Dani and I found ourselves once again like kids in the candy store. We wanted a sample of everything but we cut ourselves off after several samples to avoid the over-indulgence stereotype of North Americans. However, we did leave with enough chocolate, licors and absinthe to let our friends in Buenos Aires witness how sweet Mendoza is.
Needless to say, Dani and I rode the 14-hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires with our taste buds satisfied and our tummies full of Mendocino yum yum. All in all, Mendoza was a great reminder that fresh air really does exist, Buenos Aires pollution was turning me into a non-believer of good air.. ironically enough. I thank Dani for being such a fun and outstanding travel companion and an even more outstanding girlfriend. For those of you who have never been wine tasting, you should try it, I promise it will be a worthy experience. What I can't promise is that it will be as SWEET as Mendoza!


(Sunset leaving Mendoza)

Olympic Love

Every four years, that´s it. I like to think of these two and a half weeks as a time that all nations can participate in competition without the use of arms or ¨weapons of mass destruction.¨ I didn´t have the pleasure of seeing the Opening Ceremony which is usually my favorite, just seeing all of the nations´athletes carrying their respective flag and carrying that giddy feeling which makes all of their hard work paid off at least in part. Obviously the Gold is the objective for these athletes but even to come together and share their like-minded passion is just as amazing in my eyes. I like how all of the athletes are able to visit each other in their Olympic villages and communicate about how they idolize each other or whatever, with language barrier and all. My favorite example was Kobe Bryant visiting Argentina´s Olympic Village to take pictures and show his respect to the Argentine futbol team, not to be confused with the basketball team.

Perhaps, the largest story of this Olympics has been about that one kid from Baltimore, Maryland, Michael Phelps, who should be portrayed as the next Aquaman for winning 8 Gold Medals. In doing so he immediately doubled or tripled his self-worth from sponsorships and could potentially accumulate $100 million worth in the next sevaral years, according to his agent.
Another thing that tickles my fancy about the Olympics is how the media keeps track of the medal count so closely as if it is a reflection of each country´s well-being. No kidding China has 46 Gold Medals, they start training these young athletes before they even reach 5 years old. Imagine being a young toddler and all you know growing up is one sport, day in and day out. You´re given one objective in life, to win Olympic Gold in your sport. Being the most populated country in the world and having that pool to cherry pick young athletes to train their whole lives away for this one objective, sounds like a formula for success in acheiving Olympic Gold if you ask me.

Many people ask me from back home what the Olympic coverage is like here in Argentina. First of all, I don´t have a television where I live so I read all of my news online which are highly U.S. based news companies anyways. The only actual competition I´ve seen on the television screens here have been the Argentine futbol, basketball and women´s field hockey teams. All other results have been delivered to me by espn.com (olympic section). All I know is that it seems like hundreds of records were broken in the 2008 Beijing games. Twenty-four records were broken alone in Swimming, supposedly much of this due to Speedo´s newest line of swim wear. Usain Bolt from Jamaica has lived up to his name and bolted past two world records in track and field. The majority of the publicity goes to track and field, swimming, soccer, U.S. men´s basketball (Redeem team) and of course that aquaman, Phelps. Personally, I would like to know more about all of the other sports in the Olympics; wrestling (personal favorite since I competed my whole life), judo, handball, fencing, etc. I await the year that these sports are showed some love by publicity as well. Something that I thought was most special was when I heard that Afghanistan won its first medal. That to me is more special than China´s triumphant 46 Gold Medals or even Phelps´8. In the midst of a war-torn country, an athlete can deliver some relief in Olympic form.

In conclusion, I´d like to give my own rundown and prediction on the game everyone in the basketball world is talking about USA vs. Argentina. Since I´m a fan of Argentine futbol, I can´t support their basketball team also, that would be overkill. Some friends have asked if I´m going for Argentina... heck no!! I think this USA basketball team has proven they´re ready to win Gold again at the level they´ve been playing. All of the Argentines I´ve spoken with claim ¨We´re still the Champions.¨ Well I can´t respond to that... yet, I hope the US absolutely destroys Argentina on the hardwood since they can´t on the grass. I´m looking for a 15-20 point win by the US team. Now, let´s see if my words jinxed the U.S. team.

Congratulations to all of the athletes who graciously represented their country for their love of the sport.

One Escape... A Little Footie!!

I've been intending on writing a post about futbol, or soccer as its known in the United States. A conversation I had with one of my students spurred me to finally write about the world's most popular sport. Rodrigo and I were talking about living one's lifetime in Latin American countries such as Argentina. He briefly explained how playing futbol is the greatest escape to living in times of political or economic uncertainty or instability. Many of the people here and around the world have grown up playing futbol since they were able to walk. Ahhh, it all makes sense, thus the explanation to why I'm being crossed-up left and right on the field. For those unfamiliar with futbol lingo, being crossed-up refers to being beat or being "schooled." It happens to the best and worst of us. (Note: futbol is an international sport and I'm not directly correlating it to 3rd world countries).

The most experience I had with the sport was as an eight-year old playing in a little summer soccer league, essentially a way to get me out of the house and run around. To be completely honest the most I remember about my infant soccer career was how much I looked forward to halftime for the orange slices, the next Pele right? Since that time in my life until my arrival in Buenos Aires, I had completely lost appreciation for the sport. Then I stepped into my first pick-up game here and immediately began kicking myself, figuratively and literally.. eeehhh. I'm decently athletic as I played three sports in high school and love to play any sport in time when the opportunity has arisen since. However, I do enjoy the challenge of being the worst to step on the field.

Now it's been nearly three or four months since Mike and I have begun our ''out of retirement'' futbol career. When we step on the field now, we're about the middle of the pack in talent, feels good to actually out play someone else on the field... anyone else. Though I must be honest and tell you a little secret, those who I usually out play are other yankees. I've yet to step up the game to an international level, so to speak. Rodrigo was speaking some truth. For that one hour of competition nothing else matters but staying afloat on skill level against players from Brazil, Ireland, England, Argentina, France, Germany and Norway. It's become a weekly affair as Mike is the only one gracious enough to organize the games, thanks Mikey! Just that thrill of competition, even simple pick-up games, truly does provide a quick escape.

What's also very interesting to observe is the difference in styles between players from different countries. These are my short-lived observations: Brazilian players have style and are very flashy; English players play good defense and are intense; Argentines are very good passers and maintain possession a lot even if it doesn't result in a goal; and the beloved yankees play like its basketball without hands, however, usually lack much effectiveness to their style... like myself :).

Of course, there are exceptions, our friend Camara from Washington D.C. is one of the best forwards on the field. The best all-around player would be Marcelo, Argentine, who is that guy who makes everyone else better on the team. He's like the Michael Jordan of Argentine pick-up footie... and I, I'd like to say Scottie Pippen of the field but I think I'm still fighting my way out of "waterboy" status. What does your status matter when you're escaping the madness of everyday life anyways?

Below are two pics of just some of the guys we play with:

Left to right clockwise: Josh (England), Keeger (Ireland), Camara (Wash D.C.), Mischa (England), Etienne (Germany), myself, Marcelo (Argentina), Dave (England), Mikey (San Diego, CA).

Poo Poo en Mi Cabeza

I was taking my usual stroll to work yesterday with the usual Monday morning mind haze. All was well as I approached Plaza de Mayo when all of the sudden a huge rain drop plopped me on the head. How rare, there isn´t a cloud in the sky on this cold morning.

Oh no, as you could have guessed, this was no raindrop. This was a pigeon´s way of welcoming me to the week ahead. I know this may have happened to some of you but this wasn´t just yesterday that it happened. This was the second week in a row, both Monday mornings, that a pigeon gave my red hair some character. I was in disbelief. Last Monday when it happened it obviously hit me as a surprise but two weeks in a row, not only the timing, but on the same block. This leads me to believe that it could have been the same freaking pigeon. Now you know why this story is somewhat blogworthy. Now this is probably the fourth time in my life a pigeon has let one loose on my head, I now believe that pigeons play target practice with red heads.

The first incident didn´t throw my character off too much, I was almost too tired to care and simply strolled into the next kiosko I saw to gather some napkins and comically explain ¨Una paloma hizo kaka en mi cabeza,¨ literally saying that a pigeon crapped on my head. The laughter and joy it brought to the kiosko workers was worth the Monday morning hair-dressing. Then came week two, when I had finally overcome the past and was no longer concerned about dodging pigeons´target practice.

PLOP right onto my head in nearly the same location as last Monday. This couldn´t be, I was in such shock and a strange form of anger came over me as I stepped out to the street and looked up to the building ledge and started cussing in Spanish. (For some strange reason its more entertaining to curse in Spanish than English for me, it feels more effective). Suddenly I realized that I must have looked like I was the one flying over the cuckoo´s nest since I was looking up to the skys muttering ¨hijo de puta, me cargo, la puta que te parió¨ In a nice way of saying it, I was telling this damn pigeon what I thought of it since it managed to crap on my head two weeks in a row. Note: It very well could have been another pigeon but I like to think it was the same pigeon and it has taken a liking to me. I then calmed myself after feeling like an idiot for looking up and cursing at a damn bird, I entered the same kiosko and it was like groundhog day with Bill Murray. There I was, once again, explaining how the pigeons have it out for me. The ladies at the kiosko explained how its good luck when pigeons drop a deuce on the cabeza. I then questioned whether it was good luck for the pigeon (crapper) or myself (crappee).

The rest of my day was filled with expectations for all of the good luck I have coming my way. I then started to think about being that pigeon, oh yes, I put myself in the pigeon´s world. There has to be some kind of cool award in the pigeon community for hitting the same target two weeks in a row in the same spot. I am still awaiting my invitation to the pigeon-crapping target awards ceremony, afterall, I am that target who somehow magnetizes bird poop. My route to work has changed slightly as I´ve learned my lesson, for now. I am almost tempted to walk the same way next Monday just to find out if this is a message from the pigeon gods.

Afterall, I could take the other side and believe that it was all just a huge coincidence, but hey at least I have luck on my side!

Los Campos Prevail... Victory or Defeat?

The end of a four month national struggle comes to an end, by one vote! Since March when President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner increased export taxes on all major Argentine food exports without Congressional consent, the country has been in major unrest. Weekly protests and demonstrations from both sides, the farmers and the government, had become a regularity slowly boiling with rising tensions. I was truly beginning to question whether all of the farmers' protesting would change anything or have a major affect on whether this law change would materialize.

When President Cristina finally sent the decision to congress, most thought it was a small victory for the farmers. However, speculators like myself thought this was just continuing an inevitably long conflict that would end in misery for the farmers. Judgement day in the congressional building was last Wednesday, the 16th of July, which would end up being a 20 hour day from 8am to 4am the next morning. Rallies began on Tuesday from both sides, so much so that I was sent home from work because we couldn´t even hear ourselves think from our downtown office building amidst the shooting cannons, whistles and chants. One distinguishing difference between the farmers´supporters and the government supporters is the incentive behind their demonstrations. Some of the government supporters who gathered in front of the Congress building were paid by the government for their support. The supporters of the farmers gathered in Palermo, a neighborhood to the north of the Congress building, many of whom were holding signs saying ¨We weren´t even paid to be here.¨

The clock struck 4:22 am on Thursday in the Congressional building as the country desperately awaited the vote of one man. The vote count up to this point; 36 in favor of the tax increase and 36 opposed to the tax increase. This is a true representation of how divided this country really is but like any good democracy, it came down to a deciding vote, that of the Vice President Julio Cobos. He is head of the Senate and Cristina´s right hand man... or was. He then went on to give one of the best speeches before casting his vote, so powerful that I youtubed his speech several times which nearly provoked me to watch some of William Wallace´s freedom speeches in the movie Braveheart. Cobos delivered his vote against the tax following a sincere, heartfelt speech on why he must follow his heart and go against his government. Perhaps, he summed it up best by saying ¨I agree with the distribution of wealth, I also know that one has to see a reasonable profit. To redistribute wealth, one has to create it.¨

Well done and well said in my opinion. Now the country sits in surprise that all of the farmers´cries actually made it through to the government, this democracy actually works, wow. Even so, this was a microcosmic illustration of how divided this country remains politically and economically. At least, for time being, Argentina can do its part in providing even some relief to a world very much in need of its resources. Should the vote had been cast in favor, this country may be remembered as the one country who missed on seizing an opportunity to improve its own economy by helping the global food crisis, due to its own internal conflict.

Was this victory or defeat? The jury is still out. We shall see if the country can actually rebound from this crisis and put the economy on a long-term upward swing. However if you ask the people who have lived here their whole life and if history is any indication, don´t count on it.

Passin' Time in Colonia, Uruguay

"Why would you ever go to Colonia, Uruguay?" This is a question that is most often answered unanimously by ex-pats by, "to renew my 90-day tourist visa."
Yep, that's it. Then the conversation usually continues about how little there is to do in this po-dunk, nothing town. For a person who grew up in a very small town, I was actually looking forward to getting out of the huge metropolitan zoo of Buenos Aires, even if it was only for 5 hours in the afternoon/evening time. It was that time for Mike and I to renew our 90-day tourist visa. Since we don't have work visas, neither do most ex-pats working in Buenos Aires, we must comply by the 90-day rule and leave the country every three months to get a little stamp on the passport that lets authorities know we wouldn't dare overstay our welcome in Argentina.

After a quick one hour boat ride from Buenos Aires, we were welcomed to Colonia by a confused climate. For one minute it was sunny, the next it was foggy, which actually transcends a beautiful array of colors in the rapidly changing sky. We began our journey through this so-called town of nothing by walking through a big construction site which signified at least they were trying to add some buildings to this town of nothing. We finally arrived to the main highway where our choice was simple, go straight to the center of the city or go right on the main highway towards Montevideo.


Although we would have loved to take a quick detour to Montevideo, we only had five hours to discover all of the nothing there was to do in Colonia. We arrived at the main avenue that passes through the town just about 50 meters after the sign. By the time we exchanged our Argentine pesos to Uruguayan pesos, the fog had begun to set in heavily eliminating any possible return of the sun. Our rather brief exploration of the main avenue reminded me very much of little towns I had grown up going to on the eastern plains of Colorado, where life is very simple. Our appetite kicked in and we located the most cheerful looking restaurant on the main avenue where the vibes were perfect. Jazz-like music played during the foggy, cold afternoon which somewhat put us in a Christmas spirit. I can't fully explain what provided this Christmas sentiment, maybe it was the jazz music or maybe it was the small-town atmosphere in a thick fog that reminded me of the winter clouds as a child waiting for a peaceful snowfall.

Our meal was more than plentiful, the first meal that I haven't been able to finish since I moved to South America. The afternoon had escaped us and the day had turned to night without notice. Keep in mind this was in the end of June when the days are the shortest of the year in the Southern Hemisphere. We had two hours left to kill in a calm, foggy evening. So we did what anyone else would do in our situation...... we rented little motorcycle scooters to drive around and fully explore what Colonia may had been hiding from us. Total cost? A whole $7 usd for one hour to ride around our sweet new rides. It was actually a thrill cruising the streets and highways of this little town since traffic was very scarce on this foggy evening. At one point, it felt as if we were the only people in the town, driving through the foggy night. The hour of exploration via motitos (little motorcycles) reminded me somewhat of all of my bike tours through Europe, for I had forgotten how riding bikes through an unknown place provides a rare liberating feeling.

The hands and face were frozen to numbness after the short-lived, Uruguayan version of motorcycle diaries. At this point, our time was up in Colonia. I think 5 hours was perfect to explore the town of nothing. So the next time they ask, "what is there to do in Colonia, Uruguay?" I'd like to do justice to the answer and replace the whole "nothing" talk, those little motorcycles are freakin' sweet! Ok, so maybe there was nothing to do, but I'd rather be doing nothing on a scooter than on foot.

Below are some more photos from the trip. Mike took all of these pictures, so give him the credit. The first photo is of a little park we saw right when we arrived on the main avenue. The following photo is of me on my motito. The final pic is a great nighttime shot in foggy Colonia... enjoy!

What is Buenos Aires Really Like?

Skimming the the NY Times today especially caught my eye since I found a perfect description of my current home. I couldn´t have explained the city I now reside any better. The author of this article does write for a living and has lived in Buenos Aires seven more years than I have. Everything she explains in the article seems to be a microcosm of my short-lived seven month hiatus in Capital Federal (Buenos Aires). If you are genuinely curious about what this city is truly like, please take 10 minutes of your day to read this article.

She mentions in one part of the article how it takes a while to settle down in an eternally unsettled place. This is exactly how I felt attempting to settle myself into this city that is never really settled itself. Buenos Aires is truly a place which keeps you on your toes, I still see things here that surprise the hell out of me. The only certainty seems to be that nothing is certain from the government to the economy to the citizens.

With all of this said, this city has surprisingly grown on me in the last few months and I´ve developed an unfamiliar pride in the country itself... especially the national futbol team. I´m riding Argentina all the way to the World Cup in South Africa 2010!