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Published: February 14th 2006
Mendoza
Kath and KateGetting to
Mendoza involved a 16 hour overnight trip back from Igazu to Buenos Aires an 8 hour wait then a 14 hour (overnight again) journey to Mendoza. Luckily Kath & Kate were also doing the same trip and we arrange to meet at the BA bus terminal, which is actually more like a chaotic airport than bus station. So 3 Brits with 6 hours to kill, what to do? see some of the sights I should have seen over xmas, maybe relax and enjoy cosmopolitan Buenos Aires....
No No No we get a taxi to the nearest bar in San Telmo and spend the day drinking
Sangria! Even though we´ve had all day to get back to the bus station still only manage it with minutes to spare.
After another overnight bus journey with
Bingo & Champagne we arrive in Mendoza mid-morning and check into the Itaka hostel. After two nights on a bus the first job is a shower the second a wine tour for that afternoon.
Toured two vineyards and an olive factory (why olive aswell I don´t know). Soon got pretty bored of looking at casks and just wanted to cut straight to the tasting. Not
Mendoza
Hardcore raving mid-avo in BA as much freebie vino as we had hoped, bought a few bottles of
Malbec for good measure though! The vineyards use water channeled directly from the Andes to arrogate the land (interesting stuff).
The next few days followed a
similar pattern, hanging out with K&K consuming plenty of local produce, vino + steaks. We had alot of fun
swapping stories especially Kate´s fun in Monaco and Kath´s tales of the pleasures she had travelling in New Zealand. Two top Amigas, who gave me plenty of help with my Spanish pronunciation,
Siiiiii! In an effort to break the cycle of early mornings and inactive days we booked a days
rafting and horse riding. Fun was had by all rafting, even Kath who spent alot of the morning convinced we might not make it back alive. In a nice party trick the guide got us all to stand up in the boat and span us in circles! I´ve never riden a horse before the closet I´ve came to one was a nice horse steak once.
The training was as follows, there is your horse, get on it, off you go, follow the guide, I´m sure it´ll all be ok!! The
Mendoza
Taxi journeys are always more fun after a few drinks first thing to get to terms with was the fact your not actually completely in control of this particular type of vehicle.....Luckily Kate knew what she was doing and gave lots of advice. After a while I mastered left, right and stop no luck in getting speed up to work though. We spent a couple of hours walking, trotting and even a mild gallop at one point! Our Goucho guide every now and then gave my horse a crack across its rump which caused the horse to charge off, just some warning would´ve been nice. Sometimes I thought the horse & I had an understanding but most of the time the horse went where it wanted. Kath´s horse also seemed to suffer from spells of
independent thinking too.
We all spent our final day at a
Thermal Spa on the outskirts of Mendoza. Our 'treatment' (thats the lingo, I thought we where going to sit in a few pools but I´m told its called a treatment) session consisted of a number of thermal spas & saunas. We´re kept on a strictly timed regime, being moved from pool to the next with minutes accuracy by the staff. We finish the
Mendoza
Tickets Please! session with
Mud! Great fun. You cover yourself head to toe then sit in the sun and
bake yourself dry! it took about 45mins. Your skin feels like a wrinkly OAP! I was extremely skeptical about the whole mud treatment before hand but after washing it off it gives you baby soft skin! pretty damn good.
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Markus
non-member comment
The new hair
I like your new look hair style big mouse, especially when wearing your cowboy hat. Was it for a bet? Just like the time when you had that surfer look last year? Seriously though, loving your tales and snaps. You make my trip seem thoroughly dull...but at least I am also on a trip! And I too have done some serious wine tasting here near Sydney.