2/23

We left the Postales after having a morning view of the Andes. Driver took us on a short of Mendoza, the city. I say city because the Province of Mendoza is very large and includes over a thousand vineyards. We passed large orchards of peaches, pears, grapes, plums and fields of potatoes, squash, onions and garlic. There is an abundance of fruits and vegetables in the province. Also learned that Mendoza produces 20% of the oil production for Argentina. Surprisingly we could see wells and a refinery on our route. Unfortunately for the ecology there has been massive deforestation of large areas to the north for lumber production. Visionaries who designed Mendoza implemented a plan for keeping the city cool by planting sycamore trees along every street with viaducts under the sidewalks to irrigate them. The mature trees now do a great job of doing just that. A previous mayor had nearly started a revolution when he proposed to remove trees to make room for more development. The city is very clean and very much unlike Buenos Aires in that regard.

Our flight out of Mendoza was delayed by a massive downpour which soaked all the luggage as it was moved to the plane. Ran and hail do fall heavily in the area forcing many vineyards to install nets to protect their crops. One winery lost 70% of its production last year due to hail damage.

We arrived at our hotel on the shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi and spent the evening drying out our clothes after dinner looking over the lake.