Southern Cone Under the

British

                                               

Mendoza

     Capital of Cuyo province, Mendoza is 1040 kilometres from Buenos Aires (and 340 kilometres from Santiago, Chile), and consists of 1,100,000 people in the metropolitan area.  Lying at 747 metres above sea level at the foothills of the Andes close to the Chilean border, it is the largest city in far western Argentina and has served as Argentina’s gateway to Chile.  The local area code for calling is 0261 (formerly 061), within the +54 country code.  

     Founded in the 1560s, Mendoza was located in the Intendancy of Chile (within the Viceroyalty of Peru) until 1776, when Mendoza and the Cuyo were transferred to the new Viceroyalty of La Plata.  Control of Mendoza, in Auchmuty-Whitelocke World (AWW), passed over to the British from the Spaniards and Creoles in 1809 after some skirmishes between the British and the Spanish-speakers.  In 1861, the city was almost totally destroyed by an earthquake, but has since rebuilt itself; in 1884, a railroad was built to link to Buenos Aires for the first time.  The 1970s saw some hispanoparlant nationalist fighting, but not to the same extent as Cordova.  In 1980, Mendoza hosted Expo '80, to commemorate the centennial of the Argentine Confederation.   

     The city has a hispanoparlant, or Spanish-speaking, majority – at over 70% of the total population.  They are descendants of pre-British Creoles or mestizos, and also of more recent immigrants from Spain (mixed in with recent immigration from elsewhere in Latin America, particularly Chile).  In fact, Mendoza is Chileans’ favourite destination in Argentina, having fled the political and economic chaos of the past.  The rest is either angloparlant (English-speakers), at over 15%, or those whose mother tongue is neither Spanish nor English.  The predominant religion there is Roman Catholicism, though there are small numbers of Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims.  The people in Mendoza are called Mendozans in English and mendocinos in Spanish. 

     The city is the leading transportation centre of western Argentina.  It is served by Plumerillos International Airport, a bus station, and two train stations.  Public transit within Mendoza includes a city bus network and a trolleybus system, plus a couple of tramway lines that opened in 1997 (one of which is the Wine Train, mainly for tourists heading to the nearby wine country).

     Mendoza is a very pleasant city surrounded by arid land and irrigated, internationally-renowned vineyards; it has lots of irrigation canals and trees.  A spiritually interesting attraction in the city is the San Francisco Church, Convent, Basilica, and Ruins.  Various museums include the Foundational Museum (a history of the universe with a focus on Mendoza), the Popular Sidewalk Museum, the Historical Museum, the Museum of the Cuyan Past, the Emiliano Guiñazú Fine Arts Museum, and the Mendoza Museum of Modern Arts.  Martin Drayston Park is an especially nice part of the city; it houses the Cerro de la Gloria, along with the Juan Cornelio Moyano Anthropological and Natural Sciences Museum, the General O’Brien Museum, the Mendoza Zoo, and the Archeological Museum (of the University of Mendoza).  The main celebrations are the Wine Harvest Festival (late February-early March), the Bike Tour of Mendoza (February), and the Snow Festival (July and August).

     By far the favourite sport in Mendoza is soccer, represented there by Godoy Cruz de Mendoza (hispanoparlant; playing in Godoy Cruz, near Mendoza) on top.  Rugby is also played - by the Mendoza Rugby Club. 

     Although Mendoza has a stock exchange of its own, it is no match for Buenos Aires or even Montevideo.  Among the most important industries in the Mendoza area are winemaking and olive-pressing, owing to the vineyards and olive plantations there.

     Mendoza’s three main theatres are the Quintanilla Theatre, the Aconcagua Theatre, and the Mendoza Theatre (the last of which hosts performances by the Universidad Nacional del Cuyo).  Classical-music lovers will enjoy the Mendoza Philharmonic Orchestra.  There is plenty of shopping at places like the Palmares and Mendoza Plaza Shopping Centres, and the McClure Mall, plus at Plaza de los Artes and the Artisans’ Market, and along O’Brien Street (the main shopping street downtown).

     In Mendoza, there are four main hospitals, plus many minor ones.  The Hospital Central and the Servicio Coordinado de Emergencia serve the Spanish-speaking population, while Henry C. Churling Memorial Hospital caters to an English-speaking clientele, and the Cuyo General Hospital is bilingual.

     The main newspapers in Mendoza are the hispanoparlant Los Andes and the angloparlant Tribune-Post (the latter being quite small).

     Since Mendoza is predominantly Spanish-speaking, most education is provided in that language, though there are a few English-language offerings.  The best English-language private school in the city is Western Argentine Collegiate.  Most higher education in Mendoza is done in Spanish – the public Universidad Nacional del Cuyo, and the private Universidad Champagnat, Universidad Congreso, Universidad del Aconcagua, and Universidad Juan Agustin Maza.  There is also one English-language university – the University of Mendoza.  The only angloparlant liberal-arts college in Mendoza is Taylor College.

     Luxury hotels in Mendoza include the Aconcagua Hotel, Balbi Hotel, the Gran Hotel Huentala, and the Plaza Hotel.

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Nearby

     The province of Cuyo in general has an awful lot to see and do.  One could go skiing at numerous resorts, notably Los Penitentes between Mendoza and the Chilean border, and Las Leñas in the Cuyan far south.  The terrain west of Mendoza is quite spectacular, so one could climb Mount Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, or one could marvel at the Uspallata Pass (including the Inca Bridge, a natural rock bridge) as one drives towards Chile.  At the border with Chile, there is a statue of Christ the Redeemer.  On the other side of the main road from Aconcagua is Tupungato Volcano Provincial Park, where Tupungato Volcano is 6800 metres above sea level.

     Another facet of Cuyo province is the bodegas (or vineyards) which help make Argentina one of the world’s top wine producers.  This industry, made possible by extensive irrigation systems laid during pre-Columbian times and extended during the Spanish colonial era that feed glacial meltwater from the Andes, is concentrated around the cities of Mendoza and San Juan (the latter focusing more on table wine than fine wine).

     In the southern end of Cuyo province are the large town of San Rafael and the smaller one of Malargüe (ma-LAR-goo-ay).  Just like Mendoza, San Rafael has many parks and trees to temper the desert atmosphere; it has a small zoo, small historical/scientific museum, and small fine arts museum.  It also hosts the Fotojazzeando International Jazz Festival.  Malargüe, rich in oil and in gaucho crafts, is the gateway to Las Leñas ski resort.

     San Luis and San Juan are predominantly hispanoparlant provincial cities in Cuyo that are of themselves not interesting but are not all that far from some worthwhile places to see.  Between San Luis and Cordova City is a resort town called Merlo, near the border with Cordova Province, that attracts a lot of tourists and has a lot in common with the resort villages in the Cordova sierras.  As far from San Juan as San Juan is to Mendoza, Ischigualasto Provincial Natural Park (including the Valley of the Moon) has some lovely geological wonders and also a treasure trove of dinosaur and other fossils.

      Much of the information on this page, especially about the tourist attractions, shopping, hospitals, theatres, and hotels, is derived from the Lonely Planet Guide - Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, Lonely Planet Publications, 4^th edition, 2002, and other sources, and is altered for AWW conditions.