"Mendoza, Argentina" Mendoza by guydaley1398

When I got to Mendoza, the first thing I did was go buy a bicycle which was an ugly experience by itself. I bought from a local bicycle shop because I wanted my money to go to the locals but that was a mistake. I should have bought from Walmart instead but that's a different story.

Whats really odd, is that in all the reviews I've read about Mendoza I've never once seen anything mentioned about garbage. I guess its one of the unwritten rules about reviews, that your not allowed to say anything negative? because its rude? Well I say it like it is. Mendozans drop there discardables on the ground as soon as they are done with it. Wouldn't matter if there was a garbage can nearby (which there aren't). Mendoza has a storm drain lining every single street and they are open. Shopkeepers sweep sidewalks with a big branch and push everything into the open storm drain and the streets. I pedaled all over that city for three weeks and garbage was a constant reminder of how little Mendozans respect there environment. There is no provision for recycling either except for the cartoneros that go around and collect cardboard, but there are so few of them, they can't possibly keep up with the tons of garbage discarded into the streets every day. I pedaled down some neighborhoods and they just take there garbage and dump it in the empty lot across the street. There is a big wash and a big rain left the wash looking like a landfill. I saw countless times people just dumping there trash on the ground as soon as they were done with the containers or wrappers and it truly is tragic. Mendoza could be a beautiful city as all the streets are tree lined with mature trees. There is some fine architecture there. But the entire place is heavily soiled on a daily basis.

Argentina recently passed a law that prohibits smoking indoors in public places so that shoves all the smokers onto the sidewalk and Argentina LOVES to smoke. I can just imagine the torrent of lung related ailments in there hospitals 20 years from now. Big Tobacco is laughing all the way to the bank in Argentina. Its really easy to con the Argentines into the addiction. But that's the tip of the iceberg. The diesel buses spew clouds of smoke as well as the two stroke motorcycles and the huge variety of vehicles missing there catalytic converters. There are a small number of electric trolley buses that are quiet and clean which I could have kissed but they are a distinct minority. The city streets are narrow, all buildings are built right up to the sidewalk, so you are constantly breathing concentrated emissions plus passing a smoker every few seconds on the sidewalk. Now I can hear the protests, they can't afford to have clean burning vehicles. That would be an exaggeration. A lot of vehicles in Mendoza are fueled by natural gas which is supposed to be very clean burning. A huge percentage of buses and private vehicles are burning diesel and that is where the problem lies, not old cars that need a new motor (although that is a contributing factor). The Ford Ka is a very popular subcompact there. There are a lot of NEW cars on the road there as well.

Noise - Apparently it is very macho to modify your vehicle, whether it is a car or motorcycle to have the noisiest muffler available. So they have plenty of money for that modification. They remove the stock mufflers and put on one that is supposed to have more performance BUT it also triples the noise output if not more. Muffler wasted, no problem, just bypass it because the whole emphasis is to leave as much noise in your wake as possible. Traffic jam? No problem lay on your horn, that will clear the traffic jam is no time.

Riding my bicycle around town was a bit of a nightmare. I did most of it on the sidewalks rather than compete with vehicles that outweighed me by tons. But I did a mixture of both. In Argentina, every business and home is responsible for the sidewalk in front of there place. Argentines love tile sidewalks but the problem is its not maintained. Tile comes up, then you have big holes that grow, also there are little drainage ditches between sidewalk sections and of course you must keep an eye out for the open storm drains. Also the sidewalks are very uneven, so you have a constant series of speed bumps and/or bumps to trip on while your walking. It is survival of the alert in Mendoza. If not, your primed for a fall. Riding my bicycle on the street was dicey at best, vehicles like to see how close they can come to your elbow. Except for the bus drivers, they are EXTREMELY professional and courteous. Kudos to mendozan bus drivers.

One thing I didn't bring to Mendoza but should have was a checkered flag because there are thousands of races being won on the streets of Mendoza everyday. There are no speed limits, no radar detectors. The macho Argentines step on the gas until there is an absolute need to start braking and not before then. The wear and tear on there vehicles must be incalculable there. The waste of fuel, unbelievable. Driving in Mendoza and environs is a prime example of driving without any restrictions. There are lots of traffic deaths there.

Eventually if I stayed there long enough I would be throwing my bicycle through somebodies window because of their attempt on my life. No telling how many bicycles I would go through in a year.

Mendoza has a reputation as a tourist city because of its wineries, outdoor activities (horseback riding, trekking, rafting, mountain biking, parasailing), the gateway to Aconcagua, etc. There are a million places to stay from cheap hostels to the Park Hyatt and yet there are very few in the tourist industry that can speak passable english. Go to Andesmar one of the biggest bus companies and did they have anybody that could speak English? No. Tour agencies, No at least the one I went to. Central library at the University of Cuyo, No, airline ticket agencies, No, Finest buffet restaurant I've ever been to, No, real estate agencies, No, no, and NO. Mendoza is very slow in understanding what it takes to cater to tourists. BTW I never went to a winery tour. I've been to plenty in the past. I bypassed the wineries and just bought wine from the outlets which are very common.

But the cocaine dealer in the park said to me, "Welcome to Mendoza" in very good english.

Maybe I was unlucky and constantly visiting businesses that didn't want to cater to tourists. Keep in mind I wasn't visiting the deepest recesses of Argentina, I was spending all my time in the middle of a major city that is building there reputation on tourism.

Local charm? Then there is siesta where businesses shut down for several hours in the afternoon. A LOT of businesses don't post hours on the front door and siesta hours vary from business to business and even then a lot of them don't adhere to there posted hours. The businesses that do well in Argentina are generally the foreign owned and operated businesses like Carrefour the big grocery/department store which is packed like Christmas every day. So apparently good business is appreciated by Argentines they just don't necessarily want to operate the same way. Another business I frequented, that did not need to post hours was the 24 hour cybercafe and that business had over 250 modern computers in it and it was generally PACKED. It was funny how the streets became eerily quiet during siesta and then afterwards it was like floodgates being released.

So basically Mendozans don't know how to conduct business or cater to tourists. I went to one parilla (barbecue) near my hostel because I didn't want to travel far that day. That restaurant probably broke almost every single health provision known to modern health codes. My sandwich came out on a wooden platter, etc, etc. I'm quite certain the place was a typical restaurant. I ate at Las Tinajas on Lavalle street often. It is the best buffet I have ever been to in my life in terms of selection, quality, service and best of all price. Lunch was about $5.50 plus drink. Funny thing about that place, I wanted to award them a medal I had for culinary excellence. Its a huge facility, but only one person spoke passable english. I asked him when I could award the staff the medal and that he would be present so he could translate. He said next day at 12:00 before they were open to the public. I was there promptly at noon, he was nowhere to be seen and I was promptly kicked out because the restaurant wasn't open yet and nobody there spoke English. So my attempt to reward them got me a kick in the teeth. The restaurant is owned by foreigners which is why its a class act facility except for the lack of an English speaker. Also there hours of operation were covered and it took me three attempts before I got to eat there but it was worth it because there facility was clean and the food was great plus I didn't have to struggle through reading a menu in Spanish.

• Pros:Mature landscaping, nice parks, enormous police and private security presence
• Cons:Filthy city, no animal control, horrendous air pollution, not bicycle friendly, does not cater to foreign tourists, indications of rampant crime
• In a nutshell:Not yet ready for prime time tourism - has potential