The Journey is the Reward (ancient Chinese proverb)

The main target of this trip was travelling to Antarctica, which would be our 7^th continent since retirement. But as we have learned in our worldwide adventures, it is not so much about the destination but rather the journey. The unexpected experiences that occur along the way (mostly good), the friendly people that you meet and the knowledge you gain about other cultures and regions, leaves everlasting memories. Our travels south through Patagonia and the Salta region were an excellent example and now more good fortune is falling our way in Mendoza.

It wasn’t part of the initial plan but we arrived in Mendoza just as the annual week-long Grape Harvest Festival (Vendimia) was getting underway, one of the largest wine festivals in the world. In an area where Malbecs made Mendoza one of the top wine regions in the world this is truly a time to celebrate and they have a lot of fun with it. One evening we walked to Plaza Italia where the square was filled with Mendecinos listening to live music and the surrounding streets were closed to traffic allowing for food and drink stalls to satisfy the evening appetites of the revelers with lots of wine flowing. The next evening we took in a parade that didn’t reach our end of the city until 11 pm. It featured 18 ladies on decorated floats (nominated by every community within the Mendoza province) hoping to become the Festival Queen. The following morning the parade started up again but in addition to the wannabe Queens, who along with their princesses were tossing fruit (usually grapes) to the crowd as the parade moved along, there were gauchos (cowboys) on their horses (hoofprints rivaling the Stampede numbers), marching bands and native dance groups. It was fun to see especially watching the young people use fruit capture baskets at the end of long poles reaching up to the floats to easily collect their rewards. Saturday night’s main event, The Central Act, was held at the large amphitheatre in Parque San Martin (seating 22,000 patrons), and beyond selecting the Festival Queen there was a choreographed music and dance show with hundreds of performers paying homage to Mendoza’s history and wine cultivation. The show was sold out months ago but fortunately for us it was shown on national TV so we were able to watch the 10 pm start in the comfort of our living room. We both fell asleep though before the crowning of the Queen and the massive fireworks display which both took place after midnight………we have obviously not yet adjusted to the late night Argentinian way of life where even the restaurants do not open for business until 8 or 9 pm. The whole week was a wonderful re-introduction to the beautiful city of Mendoza for us and we will continue to ride the wave.

Our Mendoza apartment......tiny but with everything we need.

Plaza Italia.....a lovely setting for for music and street food.

The Grape Harvest Festival (Vendimia) Queen's Parade

The princesses would have been waving like this for over 2 hours while the rest of us would have been sipping on wine. Where would you rather be?

Leading off the Saturday morning parade with the Virgin of Carrodilla, the patron saint of Mendoza's vineyards.

A princess in her own right, with hopes to be a queen some day.

Native dancers, still fresh at the beginning of the parade where we were.

The district Queen and her princesses doling our fruit to the masses. Note the homemade pole baskets which were very effective in obtaining more than their fair share of the treats.

Our haul from the parade standing near the back row. The raisins came with an attached photo of the La Paz queen hoping to source some extra votes. We also caught a clump of grapes but they were consumed at the parade.