March 14th From Debbie and John:

We left Mendoza three days ago on a quest to get as close as possible to Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas. Our trip into the highest part of the Andes took us on Route 7 all the way to the Chilean border. The mountain desert scenery along the road was spectacular. We arrived late Sunday afternoon at Cerro Aconcagua. We climbed up a few hundred feet and John took some photos in the late afternoon light. The sun sets here at about 8:15pm. We stayed at some nice, mostly empty hotels since the climbing season is almost over and skiing will not start until it snows. But there was still plenty of great food and wine.

We had grilled Kid and Rib Eye yesterday for lunch, and lots of beer; we were really thirsty after walking around the National Park of Cerro Aconcagua for a couple of hours. The mountain was still a long way from us since we were at 10,000 feet and the mountain top is 22,000. It takes two days with an overnight at a mountain camp to even get to to the spot for the classic photo of the mountain. John will be posting some photos of this incredible mountain and its foothills. Last night we stayed at the Gran Uspallata Hotel, which must have been quite the place in its hay-day. Now it is a little tired, but with lovely grounds… more photos ?

Today, Tuesday, we found by good luck and networking, a lovely B&B called Lares de Chacras in Chacras De Coria, a small town between Mendoza to the north and Lujan de Cuyo to the south. It is in quite an upscale town. Our B&B has very nice rooms, large and modern bathrooms , a pool, hot tub, nice patios, and a beautiful lounge. Breakfast is included and there is internet, in fact tomorrow, they are supposed to have each room hooked up!! We may NEVER leave here.

We had an early light lunch today. John had a perfectly grilled 1/2 chicken and I had a huge sandwich of grilled Lomo (Tenderloin), cheese, ham, fried egg, lettuce and tomato, which I could not finish. We had two liters of beer $1.50 each and a coffee. It cost us $10.00, American.

Of course, after I stated that there is never any pepper on the tables…. the last three restaurants had white pepper shakers…who knows? But once again, my “carry the tissue” hint came in handy! Actually the stereotypes of the first two weeks are starting to wear thin. The last two steaks that John ordered were served very rare. The TBone turned out to be a two pound 2 inch thick Porterhouse for $7.00 American. Porterhouses work well for us because John gets the Strip side and I get the Tenderloin. The Bife de Chorizo John ordered in Uspallata came medium rare and John never even specified how he wanted it cooked. So it is an over simplification to say they always cook the hell out of their meat. Also the meat has been quite tender lately. I must confess that we both have taken a liking to their grass fed beef and the real wood barbecue cooking method. We both love the barbecued Kid. They serve a rack of ribs grilled crispy on the outside with a little lemon squeezed on it.

John Adds:

All this does not bode very well for our quest for recipe and menu ideas for Noah’s. Wood grilled hormone free, ultra fresh, grass fed beef and rack of baby goat is never going to happen in the States. One goal of travel can be to develop respect for other ways of doing things. I don’t think their food can honestly be exported./translated/recreated. We just need to be thankful for our own local specials like the fresh Flounder Michael filets for us daily at Seawell fish market. Amen.

Tags: Argentina

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