Meat and Malbec in Mendoza

It’s no surprise that splurging in Mendoza, Argentina is going extremely well for us. We’re really good at it. Eating out is still a little out of our budget and I’m totally over searching for deals. So, the kitchen in our condo is getting a ton of use. A filet mignon here, pesto pasta there….and don’t forget the wine! When a bottle of vino and two filets cost a total of $4, you do what you have to do. We’ve been making a lot of sacrifices like this. Did I mention the temperature hovers around 85 degrees every day? Like I said, sacrifices.

We’re also in our second week of Spanish classes at Intercultural Language School. They are going well, although the early start time does interfere with the previous night’s wine consumption. We’re doing our best to make the 8:30 start time. Four and a half hours later we have lunch break and then sometimes come back to school an hour later for more activities. They have free activities in the afternoon such as pronunciation class or watching an Argentine movie.

We’ve also participated in inexpensive pay activities offered by our school. One activity was a bike ride with a guide to Parque San Martin, a park that makes up 1/4 of the city of Mendoza. We made our way through the enormous park that consists of a zoo, a lake, tennis courts, a country club and the stadium where Mendoza’s soccer team plays. There’s also a small mountain to climb to get a good look at the city and surrounding mountains. We had already made two attempts to find this place and failed, that’s how big this park is. Third time was the charm thanks to our guide.

Another activity that is muy popular in Mendoza, and probably all of Argentina, is attending an asado. An asado is what we call a bbq, but not with hamburgers and hot dogs. No way, this is Argentina. It’s basically a big meat fest. Our first asado was at school. It consisted of grilled steak, chicken and chorizo sausage accompanied with grilled vegetables, rolls and salad. Don’t forget the wine, of course! Afterwards, we acted like locals and took a much needed siesta.

Later that night we attended the Megadegustación. That’s Spanish for mega wine tasting. For under $10 we could taste six wines. I am ashamed to admit that we failed. Our siesta earlier hadn’t helped as much as I thought it would and we went home after only four. We were all wined out. Can you even imagine?

Details

Intercultural Language School

• We are doing 4 hours of class per day: 2 hours with one instructor, a coffee break and then 2 hours with another instructor
• 1.5 to 2 hours of extra learning activities or classes such as interchange with locals and pronunciation class
• Inexpensive pay activities such as cooking classes and excursions
• Placement test taken upon arrival which helps group you with others of the same abilities

We highly recommend Intercultural. The instructors are great and we really enjoy having different ones throughout the day. It helps to get accustomed to different voices and teaching styles. We also enjoy the extra activities as they help facilitate learning through different techniques.