Hotel Condor Suites Mendoza

... yes, they are everywhere, we need to get more of our countryfolk out!). Bistro Anna is a fancy little restaurant where I order the trout which is delivered sans nothing, and enjoy eating bits of fin and gill along with strange vegetables. Whatever, the point of this dinner is that I get introduced to the group with who I spend the rest of my trip - Magnus (the Norwegian), John, Patrick, Mike and Felicity (The Brits), and Jason (the other American).
Finishing up dinner about 1 ...

... our veins when we realised that we had actually changed time zone when we entered Argentina and we didn't know so it was an hour later than we thought it was and we had to cycle back to the base with quite some speed. In the evening we got our first long-haul bus to Buenos Aires which was a really amazing coach with big reclining leather seats.

Anyway.....we miss you all as always and are looking forward to our ever-nearing reunions xxxxxxx

... the meat was very high and underneath the burnt edges tasted great. The King Crab starter, with spiced crushed potatoes was also good. Today I took a vineyard tour organised by Ampora Wine Tours to the Uco Valley. This is the new area for Mendoza wines, and I was reading some rave reviews before I left the UK. They are well deserved. The vineyards go to about 1700M above sea level, which gives the winemaker ...

... now back in Mendoza on lovely General Heras street not too far from our hotel waiting for 8:00 to take our bus ride to Saalta. The day started out overcast and cool. I got a great pic of our front desk clerks this morn and can't wait to post it. Sadly that wont be for another 24 hours. The bus ride to Therma Cacheuta costs 21 pesos for both of us round trip/$6.00. There was reason for this. Argentina doesn't have a regular city bus, they are all private companies with ...

... instead of drinking it!! We then moved onto a small boutique wine makers called Benventuo De La Serna, whose whole operation and vineyard would probably fit into Salentein 10 times over. They produce about 250,000 litres a year, and are doing things slightly differently to most other producers. The owners main business is in fruit preserves, so they want to bring the same ideology to their wines and ensure that the smell and tastes still have the impact of the ...

... my arm and on my leg. Yep, I got pooped on. It was sooooo gross and crazy considering we were sitting mostly under an umbrella! Talk about wrong place at the wrong time. That has ever happened to me before. Brian sat there in shock, finally getting my TP from my bag to wipe me down. I went to the bathroom and cleaned up the best I could. Ewww.
We had ordered a Caesar salad. When it came it had no dressing on it so after several failed ...

... second place we found was more impressive, like the 'EasyEverything' internet places back in London, with new PCs, no hard drives, but with a shared drive where I could load up my photos for them to burn onto disk behind the desk.

I dazzled the poor woman with my Spanglish and it ...