WanderingWhy…

I think I can now draw the conclusion that buffet restaurants are almost always the same–everywhere.

We spent some time in Mendoza, before busing over to Buenos Aires–I say that like it was down the block. The bus trip from Salta to Mendoza was 18 hours, then 14 hours from Mendoza to BA. Let’s say it took some time, money and effort to get to Argentina’s wine region.

This little “side-trip” was my idea. I had heard you could could do a bike tour through the vineyards and again, my imagination took over. After months of so-so meals, and cheap beer (don’t get me wrong–it was damn good beer) I had visions of cycling through beautiful scenery from bodega to bodega and not being able to pedal in a straight line by the end. Of course this would be topped of with an amazing meal before collapsing into bed exhausted, drunk, fat and happy at day’s end. So, I insisted we go to Mendoza.

The city of Mendoza is not where the vineyards are located. “Maipu,” the wine region, is about 45 minutes outside of town. Not a big deal but it did turn out to be a bit of a disappointment I thought. Admittedly we did have crummy bikes which did not help matters. But the bike route just winds through a drab little town with the wineries tucked down the occasional side street. If you have the overactive imagination that I do and expect scenes of France or Napa Valley–forget it. I pedaled along to hear Dawn cursing a blue streak behind me as she battled her bike, traffic, and diesel smoke. And the wineries… well they were nice when we got there but we gave up after 2 or 3. I guess some folks did have the “pedal in a straight line problem:

Mendoza itself is great for restaurants, shopping (if that’s your thing), and our usual wandering curiosity. I was doing my version of window shopping and was drawn like a woman to a jewelry store when I came upon this:

I fell for the above marketing tactic and did not realize this was a glorified buffet until I sat down. Sometimes a salad bar can be good in a nice restaurant but this was not one of them. Buffets are almost always full of mediocre food and big hungry people looking for their “money’s worth,” which could be why I seem to find myself in one when I am starving, broke, or both.

I went straight to this amazing looking grill and loaded up. My Spanish still sucks but here I could be a caveman and just point and grunt to fill my plate. I then told Dawn to go check out one of the five different stations as the restaurant was filling up for lunch. I tucked into the carnivore dream and was seriously disappointed. No matter how many return trips I made it did not improve–raw sausages and overcooked beef, lamb, or pork were the order of the day. Dawn came back cowering about 5 minutes later with an empty plate. “These people are crazy! they act like the place is going to run out of food.”

Survival of the fattest! Looking around I don’t think anyone in the room was under 200lbs.–including the kids. Dawn pointed out a women who had taken her arm out of a sling so she could plow it in with both hands. I think there was minimum weight requirement at the door that we somehow slipped by. Really, someone Dawn’s size could get hurt competing with these hungry linebackers.

I finally convinced Dawn to visit the pasta bar since there were only 5 people around it and I could keep an eye on her for safety reasons. After standing in some resemblance of a line and finally getting some food, she turned around and almost got her lunch splattered down her shirt by a well-fed 9 year old with his plate tucked under his arm like a football charging for the front of the pack.

I laughed out loud at her nearly getting leveled and she snickered as she sat down at our table. “I don’t know what’s going on. Why the sudden urgent lunch rush?” I said. Dawn wordlessly pointed out the window to two huge double decker coach buses.

Oops. I sure know how to pick a place.