Exploring San Rafael

Exploring San Rafael

Friday, Feb. 24, San Rafael, Argentina

I did a lot of waiting on the way to here. I waited 8 hours in the bus station in Nuquén on Wednesday after arriving there by bus from Zavala. Then I arrived here in San Rafael at 4:30 a.m. after the long bus trip where I managed to sleep some, but not much. I went into a waiting room there and continued to wait until 7:30. I was able to sleep some by putting my backpack on top of my suitcase and then placing my arms and head on top of that. The tourist office still wasn´t scheduled to open until 8:00, so I thought I would explore the neighborhood within 2-3 blocks to see if I could find any of the streets with hotels I had listed. I found one hotel right across the street, but kept exploring. Two blocks away, I found another hotel that looked nice. When I inquired, they said they would have a room at 10:30. It was an awkward time there, because the only employee was just beginning to serve breakfast to their guests who were coming down. He asked me to wait. At one lull, I tried to ask if I could put my luggage in back and return at 10:30. He didn´t understand, so I ended up waiting again for another 2 1/2 hours!! I was so tired by the time I got into the room, but I was glad to have a room. If I had gone away without him understanding, I might have returned at 10:30 to find that others had come and rented all the rooms. (One family came while I was waiting and went away, maybe because nothing was available; I wasn´t quite sure whether it was that or if they didn´t want to pay the price.

While waiting in Nuquén, I finished reading Caesar by Colleen McCollough. It was given to me by Robert when I was in Copenhagen. It´s not the kind of book I would normally buy and read, but I enjoyed it. I would give it 2 1/2 stars out of 4.

There was a nice young lady who spoke English beside me on the bus. I gave her the book I had finished. She has just finished a degree in tourism and was going to Mendoza to seek a job. With her English, it shouldn´t be difficult, since so many here working in tourism positions speak no English at all and she spoke it well and spontaneously with no problems.

The waiting room at the bus station here in San Rafael was interesting during the early morning hours I was there. A homeless man was sleeping in the corner and was covered by a blanket. The other people seemed either like people waiting for buses. But another guy who seemed to be homeless came in and sat two seats down from me. He smelled terribly. My guess was that he had been wearing the same clothes for ages without washing them and without bathing. He hunched down and went to sleep. He left later, but the smell of his return woke me up again at one point. Later, when mobile phone started ringing, I was surprised to see he was the one to pull it out of his pocket and answer. I hadn´t thought about it, but I guess a mobile phone is an ideal way for a homeless person to remain a part of the world in general. Since you can buy prepaid cards for them, there is no worry about needing an address for billing purposes.

Yesterday, after cleaning up at the hotel, I went out exploring the center of San Rafael. It´s similar to Mendoza as my guidebook had said, but it lacks the modernity and sophistication of Mendoza. The shop signs and displays give me the impression of being far behind the times--maybe like going back 20-30 years, whereas in Mendoza everything was trendy. But San Rafael is a nice town. There are some very nice bakeries, good shops selling local wines and other products, a few stylish shops selling items to tourists, etc.

I went to an Italian restaurant for lunch. I picked it out, because it had far more people eating in it than anyplace else I had passed. I originally thought I would have a mixed salad and lasagna, but when I entered, I saw their flaming open wood fire and decided their pizzas would probably be best if cooked over it. I had a napolitano pizza with mozzarella, tomato sauce, black olives, ham, onions, and strips of pimiento. It was good, and the crust was nice and crunchy. I wanted to have a local wine with it, but the only half-bottles they had were expensive, and they didn´t sell wine by the glass. Instead, I had a beer.

When I returned to my room, turned on the TV but found myself nodding. I turned off the TV and fell into a deep sleep. I didn´t awaken until 5:30. I forced myself to get up then. I watched a movie on TV. Then I went out looking for someplace to get a sandwich. It was still too early; all the restaurants were empty. So I stopped at the supermarket and bought some supplies for eating in the room--a great package of sliced dry ham (very lean and with a slight garlic flavor), a package of green olives, a chunk of local cheese, some crackers, a bottle of Suter (local) wine, some nectarines, some plums, a couple of small packages of cookies, and a big bottle of water. I ate half of it last night and will have the other half tonight.

This morning, I went to explore wineries. The ones here tend to be rather small, but several have good reputations. There is one road going westward that has 4-5 wineries lined up along it. I walked out that way, knowing that it wasn´t far. (I had walked almost out to the first of them yesterday without knowing it. Later, when I stopped at the tourist office and got them to mark the locations on my map was when I realized how close I had been.) I passed the first one without noticing it, but it wasn{t one I was really aiming for. I had been told that Bodega Rivier was one of the best in the area, and it was the second in location down the road. I stopped there and saw their wines they offer. They don´t provide tastings, but what all wineries do here is offer their wines at a discount for tourists. I bought a bottle of their best Malbec Reserva to have in my hotel later. It normally sales for about $8.50 U.S., and I was able to buy it for $5. They export to the U.S., and my bet is that the same bottle sells for $15-20 in the U.S.

From there, I went to Suter, the next winery down the roadway and the one that produced the wine I had bought and drunk last night. It is a bigger operation making more kinds of wines (including sparkling wines which are known to be quite good from here). I was able to enter their sales/tasting room along with a group that was finishing a tour. I didn´t want to take a tour, since I know from other tours how wine is produced, and because I knew it would be in Spanish only. They gave us a taste of one of their white wines. I asked about exports to the U.S., and they export only to Italy and Spain.

I returned to town rather than visit any other wineries today. I am walking southward toward a river that leads to a canyon. I may not go as far as the canyon; I´ll see how far I go. It´s almost lunch time, and I stopped at this cyber cafe to pass the time so that I could then go to a restaurant before I leave town behind.