Hotel Niventus Mendoza

... our make shift Africa! I had a bit of an elephant shower when I got too close - but I’ve moved on!!
That’s it for Mendoza, a very pretty city - full of young lovers kissing in the beautiful plazas oblivious to the outside world. We spent 3 nights there and found it pretty hard to leave (literally) - with the help of our friend Herman from Puerta del Sol - we will hopefully make our mammoth trek to Iguazu falls.

... them do. Day after that we went white water rafting with a group of rastas next door who kept screaming 'forward!' when we were heading straight for the river bank. This made a bit more sense when half way down the river, they told usa that this was actually the first time they had taken a tour before and raised their oars in celebration!

After a few days relaxing in the mountains we caught a bus back to Mendoza and headed for Buenos Aires.

... name of a constellation which they can see only at the time of year when the grapes are being picked so they have the constellation printed on the labels which was cool. The vineyard is owned by a French couple who had always dreamed of running a winery so they retired to Mendoza and refurbished one that was in a state of bad repair. They had to learn everything about wine when they started so they grow Cabernet, Malbec and Syllah grapes which ...

... 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 ...

... taste-testing. It was incredibly depressing to realise how impractical it would be to buy myself a bottle of olive oil and take it with me.. but oh so tempting! And in other news i did randomly run into Guy (yes thats his name) at the factory, who i had met way back when in El Bolson, and whom i had only found out was also in Mendoza that morning, and will probably run into again in Salta. You can`t be completely anonomous for long it would appear! It`s definitely a small world!

... Finalement, le dernier soir l'auberge organisait un grand asado, le barbecue local, qui était a volonté. Ça faisait des années que je ne m'étais pas empiffré de viande rouge comme ça... Mais qu'est-ce que c'était bon! :) ---------- After two weeks not doing much in Santiago, it was time to get back on the road. The easiest to cross over to Argentina is to take the bus to Mendoza, a 6h-ride away on the other side of the Andes. That's what I did, to my delight: this ...

... routes. There are only flag stops and this bus was quite old and rickety. The brochures for the area include an "agua park" and the hotel as well. Kev showed him the brochure and asked if he was going to the hotel, the driver replied "si". The drive was beautiful on a paved road out of town into the Andes. Steep, hills really, that were brown and covered on the lower flanks with cacti and smaller trees. Once we stopped in the middle of nowhere, at the end of ...

... on the floor below, the barrels are set out in a similar fashion all centering on a tiled compass design floor, they use gravity and not pumps to move the wine from the vats to the barrels, as they feel this causes less damage to the finished product. There are symbols where ever you go in this vineyard, and I am sure Dan Brown will write his follow up to the Da Vinci Code in this place, perhaps the Malbec Mystery! We tasted 4 different wines, in an amazing ...

... too tasty. There are train tracks everywhere but no trains except for tourists. The airline system is in a state of financial collapse and not always easy to get seats. Demand seems to outstrip supply was my experience on the couple of occasions I tried to book. My time in Argentina is coming to an end and after 7 weeks I shall be sorry to leave. I have made many friends and hope to keep in contact with them.

We had planned originally to go to Bariloche to catch some winter sports action but as our time was drawing nearer to an end in South America and as it was middle of winter we decided to kill two birds with one stone and do our skiing from Mendoza, we had planned on going there anyways to see the wineries.

Wineries - never happened - we had all intentions of doing it but either rain or a hangover stopped us - cant remember which.....

We did however go skiing for the day - we ...