Andino Apart Hotel Mendoza

... 8220;Ski Portillo” poster in one shop)!! For anyone looking to ski at Portillo from Mendoza, the minibuses and coaches from Mendoza to Santiago will drop you off at or near the Portillo hotel. Book in advance at the bus station. However, in the event that the road is closed due to snow conditions, the hotel will only refund/credit the money for your booking if you travel from Santiago and not from Mendoza. Only the minivans use snow chains and not the coaches ...

... to the roof terrace for, yes, more drink. The sun was setting over the vineyards and we enjoyed some wonderful Malbec before heading back to drop off our bikes (and have another bottle of wine with the owner at the bike rental store!) Tomorrow Chris and I leave the others as they head back to Buenos Aires and we make our way to the Iguazu Falls on a two day bus journey.

... up the mountain to the brewery. Cerveza Jerome is probably the most challenging brewery to ever find and I well worth the trek. I would have climbed the entire mountain just to find it. When we arrived at the brewery we were greeted by Eduardo, the owner and brewer. He was very friendly and spoke great english. He gave us a tour of the brewery and let us check out some projects of ...

... all meant that instead of taking the 6 hours as advertised, the journey took closer to 11; so we had to change our plans for Santiago. The following day, we decided to get up early to make the most of Ellie's last day. After the arduous journey the day before I was not in the mood for a day filled with complications. So when we got to the bus stop, and waited an 45 minutes for the bus, I was not happy. We walked around to see if there was ...

... off saying he was going to the toilet. however never returned!... he has become known as my criminal friend.... Booking an early bus back to santiago left mike and i with a choice, either we save on hotel bills, make sure we are tired for the bus and stay up all night. or do the sensible thing and go to bed... obviously we stayed up.. there was a gang of about 10 of us, with promises to all keep in ...

Mendoza = Argentinian for wine. Over 70% of the country´s wines (a lot of which is pretty bloody good) is produced around here. Mainly known for Malbec, it also produces some decent Cab Savs and Shiraz´s (or Syrah´s as they are known here) and the sometime good Rose or Sauv Blanc. We arrived at a hotel which was accommodating the contestants of the Miss Northern Argentina competition (damn, thought Brad and Sichy, we´d better move to a different ...

... to stay in the region without spending anymore money. We approached probably 10 different farms and for a guy who just started learning Spanish 2 months ago he was having 15 minute conversations in each place. Unfortunately while they were all open to his desire to do hard work in exchange for food and a bed they all either said they didn't need anybody at the moment or come back in 3 weeks. Regardless Tooli is out as we speak trying to find somebody that will ...

... era un desert, amb vegetació molt seca. Doncs, tot aquest parc és artificial. Fan servir un mètode per regar força interessant ja que utilitzen l'aigua de les muntanyes i en tenen prou per tot l'any. Tenen un sistema especial de canalitzacions i l'aigua la utilitzaran també per regar les vinyes, jardins, etc. Ens aturarem durant 15 minuts al "Cerro de la Gloria" que és el punt més alt del parc, una muntanyeta on tenim unes vistes de la ciutat. Després, passem pel ...

... crash between Oceanic and Atlantic plaques millions of years ago makes possible that you can walk in a place with millions of history under your feet, the inexistent rains and the strong winds provoke a very peculiar landscape in a deserted area. If you check underneath you are able to find different fossils, the perfect round shape of some of the rocks in different part of the park also catch your attention pretty easily.

... br>
We then headed back to the hotel via another internet session to try and get some buses booked further south and to secure our accommodation in Valparaiso tomorrow night.

That's all good, so we now have one last 'The Vines' wine tasting evening ahead of us tonight (a bargain 20 Pesos or US $5!) and then hopefully an ...