Aconcagua Mendoza

... got to keep the fire stoked in these conditions.

A little further down the road just as I am starting to fly I notice a red light, water temperature!
After some investigation, topped up the water, but it didn't need any and a poke about, I was not convinced there was a temperature problem. It had not boiled up into the expansion tank and the cooling fan which is on the same level but a ...

... br>
We were picked up in the morning and brought up a mountain close to Mendoza where our guides arranged everything to start the adventure. Before taking off they gave us a security instruction and explained us what we’ll have to do while flying. A few minutes later we were ready and started our ...

... little that we had has disappeared after too much time in the snow under warm clothes. So starting from scratch for both of us I'm afraid.

What we miss: 'Normal' towels. These 'ooo-look-at-me-I-can-fit-into-a-matchb ox' shammy type towels just arent the same!

What we dont miss: Sunday blues! (What day is it again?)

We take being sad to leave a place as a good sign meaning that we've had a great experience seeing a lot of the country with its ...

... General San Martin who started his conquest for independance here in Mendoza and finally Plaza Chile, to commemorate the help the Chileans brought to the Mendocinos after the big quake. For a bit of fresh air, Parque San Martin is a huge park to the west of town on the slopes of Cerro La Gloria. To get there, you can take Calle Aristides Villanueva, a street full of restaurants and bars, with the best nightlife in town.

... is great about the $2-5 tastings in Mendoza is you get three full glasses of wine. They don't mess around. With some lounge music playing and a beautiful middle-aged Argentine woman serving up the glasses, I temporarily forgot I was at a vineyard in serene wine country! The wines here were delicious, probably our favorite of the day, particularly their malbec and cabernet sauvignon. With a good buzz flowing, we rolled our bikes down ...

... were indeed damn comfy. My most notable achievements were going on the Spanish school organised walking tour with the lively Romina, attending the nightclub she recommended (which was probably the most packed nightclub I've ever been in, albeit packed with hot Argie chicas, so no complaints there!), and reaching the top of the hill in the park, where there was a nice statue and a reasonable view. The park, which I explored on my own as ...

... drank nice wine. So my last couple of days were spent relaxing to the max...new plan underfoot, I'm moving on to south East Asia to meet up with my sister rhiannon and travel with her for the last month of my trip. bit of a mission of a journey, via UK then to thailand to get a flight to Vietnam. Very sad to say goodbye to Heidi..we've been together now every day for 98 days continously. I get a bus to Santiago and fly to Rio the next day. ciao spanish speakers....

... couldnt see the toilet bowl). The next day the weather was poor again- no visibility. The forecast for the next few days was the same. Reluctantly, we gave up and headed back to Porto Natales, having seen not much at all- The famous Torres del Payne themselves were only visible on the catamaran back.... our Dutch friends who treked around didnt even see that! The whole trip though had given us amazing weather (erm, except for hurricane Ike in Cuba....!), so we ...

... we participated in our last and final "find the available hostel-hotel" game which Jen had become expert in. Settling on a place actually took us until about mid-day, after which we took a long sunny stroll soaking up the town and some of the local malbec at an off-the-beaten-path urban oasis of a café that would not have looked out of place in LA or SF. After finishing, printing, dropping off her three years in ...

After a very relaxing and very decadent time in Santiago with Gonzalo, we headed for Mendoza, well known, of course, for its wine. Shortly after landing, we spent a bit of time working out the best way to do a tour of some wineries. We then had to sample some ice cream to help in a family dispute (we have yet to sample the other one so the jury is still out), and have just come back from a ...