Tag archives for Festival
Posted by We boarded the Buquebus (the modern ferry) excited for Argentina but completely in love with Uruguay and sad to say goodbye.
The boat ride was beautiful. The sun was setting over the city when we pulled in to Buenos Aires. After a short stay in Buenos Aires we moved on to Mendoza, a smaller city 14 hours away in the foothills of the Andes Mountains.
We arrived in Mendoza for the start of Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (National Wine Harvest Festival) the biggest event of the year. There were all kinds of activities each day. There were concerts and wine tastings and shows, all of them giving thanks to God for the wonderful harvest. The water supply in Mendoza is very small so the harvest is a big deal.
Candombes (Uruguayan drummers) filled the streets pounding tribal rhythms on their drums and colorful singers and feather topped dancers followed. It was Carnival time!
On our way to Carmelo we found a cute little wine and cheese shop with a fun patio and garden. The owners let us tour their cheese storage. Incredible smells of blues, brie and their most famous parmesan filled the room. We sampled an enormous fruit and cheese platter. It was amazing and yummy.
Namaste is the traditional Nepali greeting where they bow and put their hands together and to show respect. It always makes me smile. Our first stop in this beautiful country is Bhaktapur, an old village close to Kathmandu with amazing architectural buildings and stone streets. Our hotel here is great and the staff was beyond nice, especially Martin. Our first morning we drove up to the village of Nagorkot and saw the tip of Mt. Everest and other Himalayan mountains. It was amazing, the mountains were stunning!
While we were in Punaka, the home to one of the most beautiful and important Dzongs (spectacular forts or monasteries), we got to see two elephants that were brought from the south of Bhutan for the royal wedding. Everyone was crazy about the elephants because they don’t have elephants in Punaka, so these were the first elephants most of the people had ever seen. People were giving the elephants bananas and some were even giving them money. What made the experience even cooler was that we got to pet the elephants. Their trunks were really hairy.
