Mendoza, Argentina: Happy trees
Upon entering Mendoza at dawn, Matt and I were in shock. This town is truly beautiful. The streets are wide and tree-lined, the parks are filled with benches and trees and lots of shade (which is good because it’s hot and a little muggy). We ate (beans! finally) falafel and mexican food and found an all you can eat vegetarian buffet that rocked (Green Apple). I definitely ate my $6′s worth.
One of the reasons this town is so pretty is because it was destroyed by a major earthquake in 1861 and the authorities decided to plan AHEAD for the next earthquake. Hence wide streets and big, beautiful plazas. Something else I thought was pretty neat was the irrigation system. All the water is directed into ditches that run between the sidewalks and the streets and it looks like a river, chugging along and watering all the leafy big sycamores.
We visited Parque General San Martín and saw even more of the irrigation canals, with each intersection having a gate to control the water flow. We didn’t see any sprinklers at all, just controlled watering of areas with this green carbon-free ancient irrigation system. The park was beautiful, too. It’s 420 acres of paths, trees, benches, a reservoir, observatory, playgrounds and a hill to climb to with a viewpoint. We definitely overused the stamina of our feet that day.
The town has a lot of Italian food and outdoor stores and we’ve just enjoyed walking around (in the shade) this fine town. It’s a nice change after all that coastal desert to find a city with urban planning that we appreciate. Oh, and it’s in the middle of olive oil and wine country, too.