gathers no moss: headed south

We felt a touch of sadness after leaving Mendoza, which is such a warm and interesting city filled with lovely big-hearted people. But the plan was to learn Spanish for a couple of weeks and then depart for points elsewhere. With a two-hour plane flight south, and a three-hour drive in a rental car, we made it to the town of San Martin de Los Andes last night. It's a tourist center in the Andes foothills, perched on the end of a fjord and in the shadow of a ski area called Cerro Chapelco. It's late fall here, so the town is pretty sleepy. It's a bit cold and drizzly, but very pretty.

Last night we went down the street to eat dinner at a restaurant. We were able to get a table without a reservation because we got there so early -- around 8:30pm. We both had steaks which were eye-wateringly tasty. You can get a steak with papas on the side, or just the steak unadorned on a plate. Salad is ala carte if you want one. You can put salt on the steak if you like seasoning, although it comes with a touch of salt from the grill. If you asked for A-1 sauce, someone might think you were from Mars. Argentina is a celebration of meat.

Since the weather wasn't so nice for being outside, we struck out in our tin-can rental car for a drive around the area. There are frequent police checkpoints, although they took a look at us and just waved us on through. I think it has to do with only being a few miles from the Chilean border.

We took a gravel road up a valley through ranchlands. The remnants of autumn still exist, with some red leaves on the trees. But we're headed into winter, so most of the trees and grasses have gone dormant. In a while, several miles from anywhere, we came upon a big delivery truck on the side of the road with some guys huddled around the engine. The driver waved us down and asked us for help. It turns out he had a dead battery or something wrong with his starter. We tried to jump his truck with our rental car. but no luck. Eventually it was decided that we take one of them back to town so he could get some help. The fellows were really thankful and gave us a nice bottle of wine for our troubles. I'm not sure why they had a bottle of Malbec handy, but maybe that's called 'being prepared' in Argentina.

To end the afternoon, we drove up to the ski area near town. There wasn't much going on and it was hard to see much because it was very cloudy. But I would really love to come back and ski one day.

We are continually amazed by how nice, cheerful, and helpful people are here. It's a great country, and I hope to learn more Spanish for next time. I do believe our two-week course in Mendoza was really helpful. We can stumble through most situations. It's easier when you know what the subject is going to be. Buying something at a shop is easy because they want to make the transaction happen. Or, say, buying gas or asking directions... you just wait for key words and try to fill in the gaps. It's harder when someone walks up to you on the street and asks a question. But we're making it happen -- it's a lot of fun.