Day Fifty: An Andean Aniversary

Woke up a little worse for wear today, not hung over, just tired.

I greeted simi with a Happy Anniversary kiss, before we went for a morning stroll.

We wandered the gridded, leafy streets of Mendoza for an hour or so, checking out the different plazas and parks. I managed to surprise sim with a bunch of 5 red roses for our 5th anniversary I picked up from a street florist. In the good books now! It's a good place to be.

We then headed to the main pedestrian street for a coffee - cafe Havanah. Was a cool spot. There are plenty of cafes lining the mall, creating a sea of colour with all the different colours of the directors chairs. It was 10ish so most people were coming down from their offices for a morning smoke and coffee. Was a hive of activity and made for a great couple of hours just sitting, chatting and people watching. Such a comfortable life at times it is...

We then wandered back to the hotel, along the way stopping at McDonalds to try the Angus Beef burger. We were told to eat in town before our flight, and our theory was that the beef here in Argentina is amazing, wonder what a maccas burger is like? Well the answer is, ok. Was good quality, but still maccas. The funny thing about maccas in Argentina is that it has the laid back nature of the place, not exactly fast food when you wait 20 mins for a burger, and that was typical. Kinda refreshing i guess. They dont rush for nothing... I like that!

The flight to Bariloche took us south along the Andes to the Lakes district. We got in around 4ish and after checking into our accommodation (which was pretty dodgy) we watched the football game between Argentina and Portugal, before strolling into town to check out the town.

To be honest it's a weird place, very European influence here, Swiss timber log buildings with stone features everywhere. It's mainly a ski town during the year, (reminds me if Jindabyne actually what with lake and all). In summer it's hiking, rafting and kayaking. There was plenty to see and do though - and EAT!

The Swiss influence here meant good chocolate as well as ice cream. Our walk took is to several chocolatiers and ice cream parlours. Simi was in heaven with the ice cream, ordering up a storm. The weather was quite hot tho, so chocolate seemed less inviting, but seriously the ice cream in one place in particular was amazing. Lemon meringue flavor with real meringue - yum!

We wandered back along the shore of the lake at sunset, with a fantastic subset over the Andes and the Patagonian wilderness. When we git back to the hotel, we were treated to Empanadas for dinner, savoury meat and cheese filled pastries, kinda like pasties. Really good. Was such a great day - made for a great anniversary!


- Blog from iMat