Cultural Center, Ice Cream, and Other Fun in Santiago

Today, we visited the Cultural Center housed in the basement of the President's Palace. It contains a weaving and woodcraft gallery, a couple of photographic art galleries, and an activity room for kids. (There is also some sort of movie theater, but it was closed for a private event.) It was a great way to pass some time on a rainy day.

Centro Cultural La Moneda

When the museum closed for lunch at 2:00,  we walked over to Heladería Emporio La Rosa, seeing lots of interesting things along the way. The shop claims to be one of the 25 best in the world, and there were some unique flavors to choose from. I tried two new-to-me flavors: rose and honey made from the ulmo flowers that grow in Chile.

(Side story: Upon arrival at the ice cream shop, Clay decided he had never needed to go to the bathroom so badly in his life, and of course, the shop didn't have a bathroom. The nearest public bathroom was a block away, inside a museum. I trotted him over there and sent him into the restroom, and he promptly returned to tell me he wasn't tall enough for the urinals and that all the stalls were locked. I then took him into the women's restroom, and completely scandalized the janitor, who quickly kicked us out and told us we had to use the bathroom "para niños." That turned out to be a locked room, and we were supposed to call someone on an intercom to have it opened. My Spanish intentionally became very poor at that point because I wanted the lady to just let us in since Clay was hopping around doing a crazy potty dance. Instead, the janitor went to get the security guard, who went to the desk where there was supposed to be, but wasn't, someone to answer the intercom for the locked bathroom. The security guard gathered up the key, left his post, and finally opened the bathroom door for us. It was really a wild time, but thankfully Clay was able to hold it, and we didn't cause any more of a scene in the museum!)

Sights of Santiago:
The President's Palace,
Bandera del Bicentenario,
lovely street art, pop-up bookstore,
animated soldiers selling Moscow Mules,
the national library's columns covered in lifejackets
to honor refugees, the entrance to the museum where
I took Clay to the bathroom, and a graffitied sculpture

Heladería Emporio La Rosa

After eating our ice cream, Jeff and I wanted to go see the fish market. The kids weren't interested in that, so we brought them back to the apartment before heading out on our own. On our way to the market, we shared a Chilean "completa" (hot dog with "everything"), just to say we had tried one. We saw (and smelled!) the market, and then we wandered through a big park, catching sight of a beautiful rainbow. We stopped briefly at the National Museum of Fine Arts since it was right there in the park. Eventually we ended up in a very fun area, with lots of patio restaurants, and had a wonderful dinner at Quitral.

Completa, rainbow over a monument,
Mecado Cental--outside and inside

National Museum of Fine Arts

Date night at Quitral

Our last week in Mendoza

It's hard to believe we've already come to the end of our month in Mendoza. It has been amazing, and we are sad to leave. But new adventures awaits, so the sadness certainly won't linger, and we will always carry a fondness for this city in our hearts! Our goals while we were here were to eat beef and drink wine, and we were quite successful at both! But there was so much more to our time here--from the people we met, to the personal growth we each experienced, to the laid-back pace of life here, to being literally surrounded with nature's beauty. This was an important stop on our life's journey, and we are so glad we had the chance to be here! We hope to visit again.

This last week has mostly been about the World Cup. We have become super-fans and have watched as many matches as we've been able to work in. We've also set up a friendly intra-family bet, picking teams to support basically at random. I can tell you my teams are generally not doing very well, but it's been fun to cheer them on at various bars and restaurants around town. We also visited the Mercado Central, participated in a going-away dinner for one of our new friends, enjoyed time at the park, played at the house, experienced another national holiday (Flag Day), and ate some great food.

"Speed" Demon

Cheering for England

Our personal collection of wine bottles from our month here in wine country
--from least favorite to most favorite--

World Cup viewing at a sidewalk cafe
(The sign says, "Eat Healthy, Live Better, and
I can tell you we did one of those while in Mendoza!)

This little inventor made all sorts of gadgets this week

Mercado Central

Lerot was our favorite venue for World Cup watching
because of the big screen, but the decor was also pretty interesting.

Dinner at El Club de Milanesa

Many happy hours at the park

Our last night in Mendoza
--Sunset view from Mirador,
City view from El Faro Bistro,
Dinner at La Florencia--

A sunny day in Mendoza

Jeff's school had a mate class this afternoon, which I walked over for, enjoying seeing and feeling the sun for the first time in a week. We learned some very interesting things about this tea and how to drink it, which you can read more about on my Year of Firsts blog.

When Jeff and I got back to the house, the kids were ready to go out and enjoy the sunshine as well, so we headed to the park. Ruth and Weston went for a run and worked on some other strength exercises while the little boys played in their special grove of trees and Jeff and I sat on a low tree branch visiting. It was a gorgeous day, and I'm so glad we got to get out and enjoy it!

Later, we all agreed that we had a craving for sushi, so we headed over to Sushi Club, which is just a short walk from our house and which had good reviews online. It was wonderful and really hit the spot. We just love Mendoza and are so thankful for the time we have to spend here!

Mate

We saw the trash truck on our way home from the school.

Happy boys in their happy place!

Getting our sushi fix at Sushi Club

I'm not saying this happened tonight, but it might have. 😉

School Outings and Such

We have really been enjoying the outings planned by Jeff's school and have been trying to take advantage of as many of them as we can. Yesterday, Jeff and I visited one of the museums in town that is dedicated to the town's founding. The original seat of government and adjoining plaza were buried by an earthquake in 1861, and the Museo del Area Fundacional sits right atop the excavation site. I wrote more about the experience on my Year of Firsts blog, if you want to check it out.

Museo del Area Fundacional

The entrance to the museum , showing the excavation site

This evening, the Australian owner of the school invited the students (and whoever the students wanted to bring) to one of the bodegas in town, Wine O'Clock, for a wine tasting and some Spanish/English conversation. The boys didn't want to get out in the cold and opted to stay in watching a movie and eating pizza rolls, but Jeff and Ruth and I went and had a wonderful time. We got to try a couple of wines--a Malbec, which we loved, and a Cab that was good but not great--while also enjoying a cheese board and some nice conversation. (I didn't get any photos while we were there, so I borrowed some from the Internet.)

Wine O'Clock tasting room

Ramanegra is our new favorite Malbec!

After checking in with the boys after the tasting and finding them perfectly happy and safe, Jeff and Ruth and I went out to grab some dinner at El Club de Milanesa, which is a very cool restaurant dedicated to chicken fried steak (though not the way we think of it in Texas). We ordered the sampler and got to try seven different milanesas plus a big basket of "loaded" fries. And, for dessert, we had the flan volcano filled with dulce de leche, which was wonderful. We really love Mendoza and all the fun things to do here!

Fun night out at El Club de Milanesa

Milanesa Sampler

Flan Volcano

Wine, Olive Oil, and Chocolate Tour

Jeff's school provides all kinds of opportunities for the students to get to know the city and continue practicing their Spanish even outside of class time. And many of these activities are open not only to students but also their families and friends. Today's activity was a tour that visited two wineries (out of some 1200 in the area), an olive oil factory, and a tiny chocolate shop, which was right up our alley, so we signed up right away. Wine is Argentina's second-largest industry (after petroleum) and olive oil is the third, so the tour was a great way to become more familiar with the heart and soul of Argentina, particularly the area around Mendoza, and it was also a delight for our taste buds.

The first winery was a pretty large one called Baudron. In the tasting room, they served us one white wine (a Chardonnay) and one red (a Malbec, for which Mendoza is most well-known). Jeff and I are never much for white wines, but the Malbec was truly wonderful--the best we've tried since we've been here...And we've tried a few!

Baudron Winery

My favorite room on the tour!

For reference as to how big each of those barrels is

The two wines we got to taste.
That Malbec is amazing!

From there we headed over to Pasrai, an olive oil and raisin factory. The name is a blending of the Spanish word for raisin and the English word for raisin because raisins were their first product and first export. They have since added the olive oil component to the business, which is the only part we visited today. We got to see the olives being processed, and then we got to try some of their lotions and sample many of their oils, everything from straight up extra virgin olive oil to many different flavors like lemon, garlic, rosemary, oregano, basil and aji. Our favorite was the aji oil, which is made with a red pepper for a little spice (or a lot of spice if you're Argentinian). We were also able to try some of their raisins, both golden and regular. We thought everything was wonderful!

Pasrai

A batch of olives ready to be processed

The making of olive oil

So many wonderful goodies!

I loved the beautiful murals that lined the entrance.

Then we visited another, smaller winery, Cavas de Don Arturo, that only produces red wine, which is not sold in stores but is only available to purchase on site. We tasted three of their wines, but we did not particularly enjoy any of them, though we did enjoy the experience.

The tasting room at Cavas de Don Arturo

My favorite feature of this winery

The final stop on our tour was a tiny artisanal shop, which could barely hold our entire tour group. It was like someone's grandma had just set up shop selling all her goodies out of a spare room in her house. You had to be going there to get there, so I imagine someone in the tour company knew the owner and made this arrangement. The owner, who claims to use old family recipes for most of her items, was very enthusiastic and charming and had many products for us to sample, including some savory things like balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and spreads, as well as some sweets, which was definitely the focus of the shop. The most unique for me was the spaghetti squash jam. There were all kinds of jams and chocolates and a whole selection of liqueurs. Everything was delicious, and it was such a fun experience!

Sweet treats and liqueurs

Jams, jellies and sweet spreads

Liqueur samples

Final samples at A la Antigua

Argentina's Independence Day

We spent the middle part of this gorgeous day participating in the Independence Day activities going on at a nearby plaza. It is always fun to get involved in local festivities, and doing so helps us appreciate how similar people are no matter where they come from. Later, we had a picnic and played at a small park in another, quieter plaza. It was a wonderful day, and we are so glad we got to be a part of it!

Meat upon meat
(And locro, a traditional Andean stew,
which is the main dish on this special day.)

Lots of sweet treats

Joining the crowd in the plaza

Marching Band

Dancers

Enjoying the Bubble Man

Clay was chosen from the crowd of eager kids
to put his arm through a bubble.

When National Wine Day corresponds
to Argentina's Independence Day

Picnic in the park

Big fun!

Round and round....

...And up and down

The boys found this dilapidated soccer ball and
gave it several hours of new life.

Any good Independence Day deserves a good BBQ.
These two were the fire starters.

And this one was the head chef!