A "Souther" Blew In...Brrrrrr!

A "Souther" Blew In...Brrrrrr!

Monday, Feb. 27, Merlo, Argentina

Yesterday was a day for traveling starting in the mid-afternoon. Earlier, I just went to the park and read to pass time. I age back at the same Italian place that is so popular. Every place else in town was empty, and it was full. I just couldn´t convince myself to go elsewhere.

We went straight through the main Argentina wine areas on the bus trip from San Rafael to Mendoza. We passed the wineries I had visited in San Rafael, but we continued to pass more as we went the 150 miles between the cities. I saw names I knew from bottles I have bought at stores or from reading about them.

Essentially, the land is flat desert between the two cities. There are mountains just to the west which provide a beautiful view. It was cloudy yesterday, so rays of sunlight coming through the clouds enhanced the view. Every town along the route tends to have vineyards around it.

There was a huge dust storm that occurred just about an hour out of Mendoza. We were stopped at a small town when it blew in. The leaves were whirling around in the air, then the dust started blowing up. When we drove out into the countryside, the mountains could no longer be seen. The sky was just a dirty look to it and visibility was like there was a light fog.

That dust storm was caused by a "souther" coming through. The air got much cooler. We stayed ahead of it or just at it as I changed buses and continued to Merlo from Mendoza. About 10 minutes after arriving in Merlo, it hit here. The doors to the bus station blew open and the cold air came in. Brrrr. That was around 3:45 a.m. I stayed there in the station trying to sleep, but the doors kept opening and the cold air was blowing so hard that it was just too uncomfortable to rest much. There was also a lot of noise from kids playing pool and electronic games on a mezzanine above the waiting room. When the tourist desk opened at 7:00, I got a map and suggestions for where to stay and went looking for a room.

I had a nice seatmate last night on the bus to Merlo. He was a young student named Martín. He was going to another small village here in the Sierras west of Cordobá for a vacation before starting school in one week. He didn´t speak English, but we communicated some. He is still a high school student and his favorite subject is geography. I could tell he would have liked to visit more, but the language gap was just too great.

Merlo is right at the edge of the mountains. It is bigger than I expected. It´s more of a small town than a village. I am staying just a block from the main plaza. There are hiking trails that go along streams into the mountains. I plan to hike one of those tomorrow. Today, I will just stay in town and relax. I´m hoping the temperature will be better tomorrow, too. It´s not bad today, but there are occasional sprinkles and a strong wind that make it less comfortable to be out.

One interesting thing I noticed yesterday and had seen a few days ago and meant to comment about was the roadside shrines where there have been accidents that have killed people in the area around San Rafael. The shrines tend to have LOTS of empty bottles around them. Apparently, friends or relatives of those who have died there take drinks to the site and drink and "visit" with the departed. Then they leave the bottles as sort of a physical proof of how loved the person was and how much he/she is missed.

I´ll spend two nights here in Merlo. Then I will go to Mina Clavera, another place in the Sierras and spend one night. My time is running short, so from there I will have to go to Cordobá to try to arrange a bus to take me back to Iguazu. I am hoping there will be one bus for that whole distance (about 20 hours). If not, I will have to take a bus to Resistencia one night, and then take another bus from there to Iguazu. I must be in Iguazu on Mar. 6, because my flight to Mexico City is early in the morning on the 7th.