Sorry for the lack of posts. Several people have already emailed wondering if we´re still alive. Things have just been rather crazy these last few days as we´ve moved from Peru through part of Argentina, but we´re working on several posts as I type.
When last we wrote, we were in Ollantaytambo, Peru for filming of the next Indiana Jones film. From there, we made our way by bus back to Cusco and caught a flight back to Lima. After several hours of delays, we finally flew a red-eye from Lima to Santiago, Chile. In our original plans, we were going to spend a few days in Santiago, but Chile requires residents of the U.S. to pay $130.00 just to enter the country as payback for the U.S. charging Chilean citizens a comparable amount for tourist visas. Thus, rather than blow that much money just to set foot outside the airport, we caught a third flight straight to Mendoza, Argentina. It was an awesome 48 hours.
On the roof of Mendoza´s city hall overlooking the city.
Mendoza is in the heart of Argentinean wine country. Argentina is now the 5th largest producer of wine in the world, with almost half a million acres of vineyards, 70% of which are in the Mendoza region. After a day spent recovering from the jump from Peru we spent a day seeing the various cultural sites in Mendoza city, whic included a run down amusement park (the use of the word "amusement" is pretty generous) called the Happy Boy Fun Park and a snake house dubbed the local aquarium, which one of our guidebooks accurately described as an "underwater freak show" that doesn´t appear to have changed at all since its opening in 1945.
Note the ride is powered by nothing more than an electric fan.
In what appears to be a whimsical display of copyright infringement, Prince Charming is sporting a South American style mustache and Snow White is cross-eyed.
A shot from the opening credits of our upcoming sitcom. It´s Will & Grace meets The Odd Couple. Look for it this fall.
The next two days we visited a few vineyards (called "bodegas" in South America), including one which had an interesting collection of antique wine making equipment and paraphernalia. By the end of it, we´d sampled (and purchased) some wonderful, wonderful wine for next to nothing, several bottles of which we now have safely stashed in our packs.
It´s winter down here, so the vineyards aren´t terribly lush and green. We´ve been assured that it´s breathtaking in the summer.
An antique barrel from Bodega La Rural.
Barrel storage at Bodega Familia Zuccardi.
The bottle cellar at Bodega Norton, with room for 500,000 bottles.
From Mendoza, we took an overnight bus to Cordoba. That´s where we are now, so stay tuned.
-Sean
1 comment:
ummmm, nice crazed out scene from snow white! i'm glad you guys are alive....so are chris's plants if you'll pass that on :)
Post a Comment