Everything goes well in the morning...sleep late, make coffee, enjoy a cigar. And the rain is just a drizzle today. I asked around yesterday and found out that most wineries here are open on Sundays. So...I figure that I'll visit one or two, taste some wine, have lunch. I pick a winery called Vistalba...very good wines, and they have a restaurant. Their location is in my Garmin's memory, plus I see the location on my winery map.
So...at around 11:00, off I go. About 45 minutes later, my Garmin announces that I have arrived at Vistalba. The only problem is that I'm surrounded by open fields...no buildings, entrance roads, etc. I see people on the side of the road, so I ask them if they know where Vistalba is located. They do not. I drive a few miles and stop at a gas station...the folks there don't know either. It's as if an alien spacecraft “lasered out” the winery, beamed it up to the ship and took off.
I see a sign that says “Bodega Norton, 5km”. OK...Norton is not my favorite wine but, hey, I'm hungry and thirsty. Another 45 minutes of driving, and I can't find the Norton Winery either.
I do find a grocery store where I pick up beer, milk (in a box off the shelf), meat, cheese bread, some cookies. There is a bit of confusion at the check out...I think that the cashier wants another 25 Pesos when he is asking for .25 Pesos. The guy behind me finally hands the cashier a coin, people clap, everybody is happy.
By now, it's well after 1:00, and I am absolutely starving. I head back to Mendoza and drive around until I find a street with several outdoor cafes/restaurants. I park and pick a nice little place with a 120 Peso “fixed-price” lunch...appetizer, main course and dessert.
I get a half-bottle of Zuccardi Malbec and order Empanadas, a small Pizza and ice cream for dessert. Everything is good.
After lunch, I find an ice cream place on the way back to my car. I stop and get a cup with a scoop of Passion Fruit and a scoop of Dulce de Leche...it is excellent ice cream.
Back at camp, it's raining (still), so I open a bottle of wine and watch some Channel 23 on the television. One little “Orwellian” thing that I have noticed...the government of Argentina has an awful lot of advertising on TV. And all of the ads remind people of all the “free” things that the government provides. And they really tout something called “Precios Cuidados”, which is the system whereby the government sets the prices for basic food items...milk, bread, meat, etc. So...even with “hyper-inflation”, the price of food remains the same. They even have “price police” that check prices...if yours is higher that the “Precios Cuidado”, you get a hefty fine.
Around 9:00, I'm a bit hungry, so I finish off the last of my quiche from yesterday's lunch. At 11:00, I finish my wine...off to bed. I dream that wine gets added to the “Precios Cuidado” system.
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