Monument to the Army of the Andes, Mendoza

The summit of this hill is crowned by a gigantic monument of granite and of bronze erected in 1914 by the Argentine Republic in commemoration of the Army of the Andes which crossed that giant barrier and defeated the Spaniards at Maipu and at Chacabuco in Chile. It was unveiled on the centennial day on which the army left Mendoza. The monument is a Goddess of Victory looking northward. (It was northward through Villavicencio that San Martin's army went.) The granite pedestal formed from three huge blocks of massive rock has embedded in it a bronze bas relief, depicting the cavalry, artillery, and infantry of that time with the famous general and his officers and also a reception given to the liberators after their victory. On top of the bas relief is shown the number of men comprising the conquering army, classified as follows:

Superior OfficersOfficersSoldiers
Artillery416241
Infantry91242,795
Cavalry455742
Militia1,200
Engineers120

Total 5310 men including 212 officers. There were 9191 mules and 1600 horses. The names of the heroes dear to the Argentine and Chilean public are engraved on one bronze plate in order as follows:

As to hotels, Mendoza can boast of none that are first-class according to the standard of those of the average European or North American city of its size, although the Jewish hotel of Emilio Lévy which tries to be international and neutral (but which is not), is the best. It is named Grand Hotel San Martin but in colloquial conversation the suffix San Martin is usually left out. Lévy is an Alsatian Jew as well as are his immediate entourage of hirelings and some of the printed sheets of German atrocities in this European conflagration that his clerks distribute on the dining-room tables and in the corridor are evidence to show the wandering Briton or Frenchman that his money is solicited even though he may receive kosher food for it in return. The rooms are large and clean, most of them opening on to a patio as is the custom of the hotels in provincial Argentina. The food is good but I am sorry to say that it is lacking in quantity as well as in variety. Three years ago, while I was in Mendoza, this same hotel set a fine meal and a large one but one must take into consideration that the greater the variety of food as well as the quantity, the greater is the cost, and Jews are always out for the money. The Apulian bartender knows how to draw a nice schuper of Quilmes beer, but I am told that the barman of the Hotel Bauer across the plaza on the Calle General Necochea keeps his draught beer better. The only serious objection I have to the Grand Hotel is its middle class Yiddish clientele of all nationalities who stare rudely at the other guests and while eating, wave their forks and knives as they loudly explain some anecdote.

The Hotel Bauer, patronized by Teutons, runs largely to café and barroom which are the only departments of this institution in evidence from the street. The dining room and the bedrooms are in the rear, but the bedrooms are small. The Hotel Italia is "free and easy." They have a regular rate but if a person brings a woman companion to his room who is not his wife or of any consanguinity, he is charged double.

Mendoza is no smokers' paradise. Cigars dry up in the dry atmosphere and become as crisp and brittle as tinder and as dry as powder. As to amusements, there are none save a few cinematograph shows and a bagnio named Petit Eden. One of these moving picture shows was showing films of the Willard-Johnson fight. It was such an attraction that the place was jammed. I had seen no moving pictures of the fight as yet, although I wanted to, as I had witnessed the genuine article in Havana. I was dumbfounded at the finale after the twenty-sixth round to see my visage conspicuous in the foreground displayed upon the white canvas, as I did not know that I had been within range of the camera while at the fight in Havana.