[Paisleychick-lj] Catching up - written on the way to Mendoza, AR a week ago

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Vineyards below the Andes][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

Morning Sunshine on the snowcapped Andes! I wonder how high up they go here. We took an all-night bus from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. Mendoza is a small city of just over 100,000 people almost on the border with Chile. Our plan is to spend one day and night in Mendoza to check out the place and break up the trip to Santiago, which can be done directly in one shot. I don't think it's such a good idea for me to do that though because I woke up this morning and my feet and ankles were swollen. Not fun. Right now, I have them raised up on the head of the seat in front of me. The coach is very empty, so this is not a problem for them, just for me. I need to improve my circulation somehow. Being sedentary in my life is catching up with me and all of this traveling is catching up with me. My feet go back to normal after resting them up on pillows at night and it doesn't happen very often, but I don't like it. I want it to go away.  
  
There are a lot of wineries out here. Reminds me of Napa and Sonoma, but we're not in such a narrow valley. The properties are lined with poplar trees, like in Napa. I wonder if poplars are better than all the eucalyptus we saw farmed in Uruguay. Almost all of the trees we saw in Uruguay were planted by humans - very little in the way of natural forests. All the countryside is farmland, either planted or pasture. Reminds me very much of California.  


   [1]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/186/391448528_4fc2ba6ccb_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/391448528/ (photo sharing)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/391448528/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/299879.html