One Bad Day Followed By A Good One!

The first day of December started much like every other day. Keith quietly gets up and reads the paper on-line while I sleep a little longer followed by showers, dressing and breakfast. Here in the Hotel Castelar in Mendoza our breakfasts are very simple yet quite fattening- coffee & media lunas, sweet little croissant rolls which we stuff with dulce de leche or marmalade. After breakfast we return to our room to gather our things for the activity of the day.

Yesterday, December 1st, we had planned to visit Maipu, center of winemaking here in Mendoza. As I checked my bag from the night before, much to my dismay, I discovered my little wallet was missing from its zipped pouch within a zipped and secured pocket of my backpack! We searched everything before sitting down to go through the events from the time I last remembered touching the wallet. The wallet always holds my credit cards, driver's license, and health insurance card as well as whatever cash I am carrying at the time, usually a small amount. Unfortunately, yesterday it was a larger amount, about $200. US in Argentine pesos which I had pulled out to pay our hotel bill.



Let's trace our steps from the beginning of Tuesday, November 30th...
At breakfast we met Jason, a young man from Iowa who has been studying in Buenos Aires for the last six weeks after teaching English in Korea. We invited him to join our little tour for the day to two museums here in Mendoza. He had spent the previous day touring the vineyards and was willing to let me be the tour guide for the day.


Plaza Independencia

We walked through Plaza Independencia on to Plaza Italia adjacent to the Museo Cuyo housed in a post-1861-earthquake mansion filled with period antiques and items from the fight for independence for Argentina, Chile & Peru which was staged from Mendoza. The private tour was in Spanish led by a young man very interested in history but not overly knowledgeable. Because we were the only people in the group he was led around by us which made it impossible for him to follow any prepared script he may have had.

Plaza Italia

Keith & Jason had Mexican food on their brains for lunch so we walked many blocks to track down the two restaurants suggested by our hotel, neither of which opened for lunch. We headed back to one Mexican place I had discovered the day before and enjoyed simple tacos & quesadillas, Jane would have been happy with my choice!

Keith needed to rest after lunch so Jason and I headed out to the second museum of the day. We walked left instead of right out the hotel door and made a long trip of it but the museum was reached in due time. Outside were beautiful modern sculptures, inside we enjoyed looking at dioramas of pre- and post- earthquake Mendoza. There were many displays of pre-Hispanic life in the area, the influence of the Catholic Church on the first peoples and some archeological digs preserved under a plexiglass floor. Jason & I were hot and tired when we returned to the area near our hotel to buy a Sprite Zero for Keith.

And that is where the mystery of my missing wallet resumes... We went into a dark corner market one block from the hotel. A young man asked to help us find the soda of our choice and though it didn't seem like he worked there, he was on friendly terms with the storekeeper. I bought two Sprites and put away my wallet where I always do zipping up both pockets and returning the backpack to my back as Jason bought his Coke.

While I waited just a moment for Jason the man who had offered to help us asked me if we had been 'in the mountains' which was a wierd comment. I asked him "Que?" what? He repeated, again in English, if we had been in the mountains. I answered in Spanish, no why would he ask? He pointed to my green metal water bottle which always hangs from my backpack filled with water. I told him that and we left, opening the soda and taking big gulps as we walked the block toward our hotel talking about what a strange interaction that had been. I didn't think about it again. After we returned. Jason went back to his room and I went to ours, reading for a bit before falling out for a little nap. Jason came by later inviting us out to dinner, but we wanted to stay in because we were expecting a Skype call from Lyndz later in the evening and didn't want to miss her. So it wasn't until the morning until we discovered my wallet was missing.

Of course I was upset and confused...did I somehow lose it between the store and our room, only one block, or did that person in the store somehow take the wallet. I'm afraid we'll never know! Luckily we had our passports in a different place along with Keith's copies of the same cards. We pulled out money to tide us over until new cards are overnighted to our next stop in Salta. The sweet Senora at the hotel was very sympathetic and ordered one of the young men who works at the hotel to walk us over to the police station to report our loss. The police officers barely withheld their laughter until we left. Keith went back with me to the corner market three times throughout the day until the same shopkeeper returned and I was able to ask him if my wallet might have been found. Of course he didn't have it, it's gone.

Lessons were learned and self-esteems ruined, but we are fine and a day later, we are remembering again to ~
Always look on the light side of life...

Some things in life are bad
They can really make you mad
Other things just make you swear and curse.
When you're chewing on life's gristle
Don't grumble, give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best...

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...

If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
Don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.

And...always look on the bright side of life...
Always look on the light side of life...



On, now for something completely different... the Good Day's tour of wine making and tasting.
We took a local bus to Maipu and walked down a quiet country lane shaded by trees to the Museo del Vino, San Felipe, Bodega Rural. It was a pretty setting filled with antique wine making equipment and transportation. The tour was bilingual and informative. We took a rest outside under the trees after the tasting enjoying the smells of honeysuckle and lilacs, listening to birds and reading our Nooks before heading back to the bus stop.







A very funny thing happened on the bus on our way home from Maipu. The bus driver stopped for a couple of people to board and a yellow lab jumped on with them. The dog was a stray and nobody could convince the dog to get off, not even the police officer that hopped on after the animal. The dog found a place to stand and look out the window right next to the bus driver. There was quite a bit of laughter for several blocks until a passenger wanted off and the dog followed. I asked Keith if he was enjoying the day and he responded that he was just like a dog, happy to go for a ride!



All in all, we have recovered from the bad luck, happy once again to be traveling together!