Hotel Ibis Mendoza

... the winter skiing is very good and draws many visitors. The wine industry is a favorite with it's annual festivals and fun for the entire family. <br>We have a rich history in that Mendoza was the first city established in western Argentina. It served as the first major route through the Andes to the center of the ...

... taste which we probably won't be acquiring. Churros, Alfajors and other caramel-filled traditional delights.<br><br>Most useful item: The warm clothing we packed finally made an appearance and was worth its weight in gold! Apologies if we look exactly the same in every photo.<br><br>Most useless item: Sunblock.<br><br>Most useful Spanish phrase: Actually, our spanish is coming along nicely and we have a few good phrases now.<br><br>Tan Status (0-10): 0. ai shame ...

... at about 10,500 feet, where I am really glad that they let me through. I am not sure what happens to people without the proper documents--they sit in a shed in the desert until someone picks them up? The bathroom made the toilet on the bus seem luxurious, and I wouldn't want to have to use it. We all met with a nurse (?) who evaluates us for swine flu. After we enter Chile, we go D O W N the mountain. Switchback after ...

... road, turned them in and caught the bus back to town as this would be our last night together. The following night, Apr 7, Mary would leave on an overnight bus to Santiago and spend the next four weeks or so back with Sarah in Chile and on a pre-booked tour in Peru. I would spend more time in Argentina and break north to Bolivia. Mary and I planned to reunite in the beginning of May in La Paz, Bolivia. Our last night together was a bit ...

... and Stars") were coming back. I'm certain that almost 80 years ago, the fragil planes of the Aéropostale wre following the same valleys, in the wind and the snow of the winter, in the heat and the air pockets of the summer, trying to keep the link between Mendoza and Santiago up whatever happened. For one Guillaumet who came back, burnt by the bitter cold but supported by an exceptional character strenght, how many never stood up again and faded away body and ...

... to get a good view of the valley. Also visit the puente del inka (inka bridge) called so as myth goes the inkas got to the river and to help the inka prince cross the inkas made a human bridge ad then became petrified and formed the bridge that is there today. In fact its a bridge made of sulphur, salt and copper possibly through the movement of ice pushing the minerals over the thermal waters beneath. The warm waters that drip from the edges of the weird ...

... of the famous Torres del Payne, called the W trek. Border control for Chile was quite extreme (reminding us of Australia) everyones bags were searched- we heard tales of someone being caught with an apple being fined 200 USD on the spot. We hired camping gear in Porto Natales but the weather started to look ominous... forget the fact it is summer- this part of the world has a climate of its own- and from El Chalten's sun here was dark clouds, non stop rain and ...

... double so for Ben and Natalia who are vegetarians. We then set out to do some wine tasting in the highly touted Maipu wine district. <br><br>You may remember our post from Provence which went into (perhaps too much) detail on the wine tourism infrastructure of various worldwide regions which is always interesting coming from an area where we take it for granted that almost every winery has a tasting room - usually ...

... nearly an hour before giving up and heading back to the hotel just before midnight, which was still early by local standards. The bar was a bit of a dump so we didn't want to stay there all night, plus we were a bit surprised that Kelly hadn't called her own bar to pass us a message that she would ...