After we ate at that splendid Zonta restaurant Layne, never backward about being forward asked about the source of their cheeses. They gave us his WhatsApp number and with a shrug said he may or may not answer. “He’s a lawyer really but he’s not always home.” Nothing daunted Layne sent a WhatsApp message and sure enough he replied.
It took a while but we zigged and zagged across the suburbs and through vineyards on some atrocious pavement until we got to his gated community. The guard was surprised to see a couple of foreigners in a delivery van but he took our license plate number and in we went.
Usually speed bumps are used to slow traffic but this place used a rather innovative series of slalom barriers and as there wasn’t much traffic it was much smoother drive than lumping over those wretched speed bumps.
Octavio met us at the entrance to his yard, went round the back to get changed and reintroduced himself to his Yankee visitors suitably adorned in a hammer and sickle t-shirt.
He grew up liking cheese so he has a cheese making room on his property and stores a whole variety of them in his fridge.
The thing is that in Latin America European style cheeses, the kind we are used to eating at home are almost impossible to find. Even in Chile, home to everything good in my mind, commercial cheeses lack the spice and flavor of properly made cheeses.
So yes, we went a little nuts and bought $60 worth of cheese. That would be eleven pounds of the stuff including raclette, Gouda, Caciocavallo and two types of pungent spicy blue cheese.
It was slightly absurd but we have a fridge and cheese is not impounded at the border like meat and fruit.
If you think you know cream cheese you should try this sweet smooth version Octavio makes:
We got it all home in one piece and into the fridge it went:
I guess we will be eating stylish cheese for a while. I ca. handle that. Downtown Luján, a suburb of Mendoza:
This is a more upscale neighborhood with lots of shops and tree lined avenues.
A historic olive oil factory.
Irrigation ditch at the hotel with water running freely from the Mendoza River.
