Back to Mendoza

Woke up about 7:30 and quickly headed out to catch some shots of the pink light of sunrise on the "nearby" peaks. I think I caught some good shots, but it's kind of hard to tell from the camera's screen; too many trees and man-made stuff in the way.

I returned to the room and started packing. Afterwards it was off to the newer net café. The systems were much faster than the one across the street. Caught up on some email and then had to hit the bank up the street because I needed my AR$100 notes broken into something a bit more friendly. I wandered around town for a little while taking some miscellaneous pictures.

The Lonely Planet guide book recommended a certain type of sandwich called lomo: thin sliced beef, ham, cheese, tomatoes, and sauce on French bread. I wandered into a local cafe and ordered one. That is one excellent sandwich. I felt strangely out of time here because while I was eating the proprietor locked the door. Many places close between 1pm and 5pm, for the weekday siesta. It's kind of eerie to be on a street that was bustling with activity only a couple hours earlier, now essentially deserted.

My bus to Mendoza departed on time. As we rolled through the literal desert scrub I could see odd parallels with my own country. Some live in the depths of poverty in literal mud brick homes and others in modern structures, in some cases within blocks of each other. What I found particularly distressing was how everything, glass, paper, plastic, was all thrown out. I wasn't expecting a coherent recycling program but seeing what we were like a couple of decades ago, it is quite frightening how far the eco/recycling movement has yet to go. Plastics permeate the landscape, everywhere.

My last night in Argentina I thought I'd splurge for a real non-tourist, upscale, restaurant-grade slab of beef. However, about 10 minutes before I made my order, the kitchen ran out of steak. So I thought I'd try the oso bucco, but they had also run out of potatoes. The alternative was sweet potato, something I detest about as much as liver. So instead I had pork with beets. An interesting though tasteful combination.

It's been an effort to remember to order beef down here. I'm so used to eating chicken in Canada, and the occasional serving of fish, that the option of steak rarely crosses my mind. (Sorry Jeurgen)