Carollo Mendoza

... so we decided to go with her as we were exhausted and didnt feel like hacking around town looking for another hostel. The price was good and the offer of unlimited free wine on tap was what sold it! Turned out to be a good decision as the hostel is lovely.<br><br> Mendoza is far bigger than we expected and we miss Bariloche already. Mendoza is noisy and busy (except during siesta) and a little grubby to be honest. The Lonely Planet painted a much better picture than ...

... virgin and extra virgin is simply the amount of olic acid in the oil...less is better. Best part of the tour was a yummy tasting session of fresh bread drizzled with olive oil and topped with sun dried tomatoes. There was one winery left to visit, and only 9 minutes to get there...1.1 km away. With butts screaming in agony, we zipped back up the road and got there just in time. This winery was brand new in 2007, and had ...

... valleys surrounding Mendoza that are wine growing areas and we opted to visit Maipu Valley. We hailed the local bus and rode 45 minutes to the small town of Maipu. Once there, the typical thing to do is to rent some bicycles and pedal your way leisurely through the area. There is one main road, called the Ruta del Vino, that splices through the town and every single bike rental shop gives out a map listing all of the wineries and olive ...

... de tout les côtés. J'imagine que de l'intérieur on devait avoir l'impression de prendre un métro... Le long de la voie de temps à autre on traverse des villages fantômes, reliques de l'époque dorée de ce mode de transport abandonné. Les carreaux sont brisée, les portes qui n'ont pas disparu ne ferment plus, tout cela baigne dans une atmosphère années 30 et 40. En passant par tous ces cols hauts dans les Andes, toutes ces vallées, les images de "Terre des Hommes ...

... was gettin pretty merry, a couple of guys sang a song each and another couple played the tin whistle so it was really good craic. There must have been about 30 people sitting together, mostly Irish. Then at 5:30 we all headed to San Martin to meet up with the parade, the first ever St Patrick´s Day parade in BA. We met up with it a bit before it arrived in San Martin Plaza where the bears are. To be honest it wasnt much of a parade but it was good for the first one. It ...

... qui est un peu difficile à croire. D'un coté, j'ai l'impression d'y être depuis longtemps, vu la façon avec laquelle je me sens à l'aise ici, tant avec les gens qu'avec la routine du voyage lui-même (passer d'un endroit à l'autre tous les 2-3 jours). Je suis maintenant dans la partie du voyage que je n'avais pas planifié à l'avance et le faire au fur et à mesure fonctionne plutôt bien. D'un autre coté, j'ai quand même l'impression ...

... jumped between a record three different accomadations before we found one bearable. I highly recommend pounding the pavement for an hour or two in Mendoza before you book anything, fellow traveller. A shame we had so much trouble getting settled, I´d rather have been exploring the incredibly fertile (due to irrigation systems) and pastoral landscape surrounding the city proper. This is unequivocally a Meditteranean climate, searing heat from ten to ten ...

... maybe 30 kilometers". Phew! We drove in a southerly direction past the suburbs of Mendoza. The city is situated at the foot of a range of low, barren mountains (about 2000m high) which quickly make way for the magnificent snow-covered peaks of the Andes, the highest of which is more than 6,500m high, providing a pretty spectacular backdrop. As we drove on, the suburbs gradually ceased and switched into row after row of vines: wine country! The landscape here is flat ...

... which look a little something like this... <br><br> <br><br>See how they're much fuller and often elipsed, rather than rounded.<br><br>We were shown the sorting vats were they chuck the raw harvested grapes and vines... <br><br> <br><br>...which removes the vines and leaves, then the grape ...

... by a tunnel-like canopy of trees that extend as far as the eye can see...leading to one of countless plazas covered in spanish tiles and fountains and filled with lazy mendocinos during each day's siesta. <br><br>And if all this still isn't enough, the nighttime certainly will satisfy! Heading out for dinner at dusk results in a 500g carnivore's dream and a spectacular bottle of malbec or three...all for little more than a McDonald's extra value meal ...