Wine and fun in the hills - We´re in Heaven

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We were promised wine and fun in the hills......and they kept their promise!

On a common theme - it´s like being in Europe. Mendoza is the main wine producing region in Argentina and it feels like it. The town is beautiful, the surrounding hills are beautiful (off into the Andes) and the wine is beautiful! The area´s people must have benefitted greatly from the wine production because the houses around the centre are fabulous. Not traditional so you have to like modern houses but there are such a variety of designs you´d have to find one you liked. In addition in 1861 the place was flattened by an earthquake so now the streets have been built very wide - giving plenty of room for pedestrians and trees to line the avenidas.

We arrived on a Sunday and so the wineries were closed. We hired som bikes and pootled off to the park.
- 420 hectares. The weather was soooooo much nicer than Cordoba - hot but nice breeze so very maneagable. The park seemed to rival Richmond Park (not quite I´m sure but once you were in it you couldn´t see the town). All families were there. They just rock up in the car, set a fire and cook meat! it´s fab - oh for the lack of rules. It was nice to see lots of people having fun.

We searched our way around the different routes and Gordon insisted on finding every puddle and ditch (a 10 year old in a much old body I now think!) At one point Eammon said we have to wait for Gordon. I though this a bit strange since I´m usually the last in line, so I cycled back to find him. As he came into my view (not that far away given I wasn´t wearing my glasses!) I realised that he was walking - oh dear. My first assumption was he´d come-a-cropper and hurt himself. But no. He´s come-a-cropper and hurt the bike! The wheel was so bent I thought he´d been run over and panicked but it was ok. He´d jsut decided to try and bunny hop into and out of a ditch and crashed into the updside of the ditch. We set about trying to stand on the wheel in strategic places to straighten it out. Without much success I must add! Then I decided to press on both sides and once and it just popped back - phew!! that was a cost and explanation saved on return.

Monday wineries opened so off we went! We hired bikes again (Gordon was a good boy). It was a hotter day and we made the wise choice to ride to the end of the trail and then cycle back stopping on the way (so we didn´t have a 12k ride home after it all!). Glad we did that, but 12k to start off left us extremely hot and quite saddle sore (esp after an afternoon on bikes the day before). The wine tours were very nice and nice tastings. In the end we only did 2 wineries, one place for lunch and a chocolate/liquer place (yyuuumm). This was because some were closed and we ran out of time for the last one. Not so bad though as the day got hotter as it passed and so we were more in need of water than wine. Luckily that meant no silly zig zagging down the road to return.

Tuesday started the fun in the hills. The drive to the hills was a bonus too - all activities starting from a reservoir (looked just like a natural lake to be honest) at the foot of the hills. It was beatiful.
In the morning we hiked up a small hill (about 45 mins) and then reached a water fall. At the top of the waterfall was a ledged.....we rappelled down it - 18 mtrs. So much fun we did it again! and then walked back down. We had a very tasty lunch and then set off for our afternoon activity...CANOPYING..like Indiana Jones escaping from cliff to cliff sliding down a rope. It was BRILLIANT! We thought we´d just do one but we actually did six. Building up to the last, biggest one, across the river.

We Loved it so much we came back the next day to do someting else - White Water Rafting! Another morning of great fun - our guide told us at the start you either watch the show or you are the show. Despite best efforts Gordon managed to stay out of the limelight and just held on as he was hit by a wave lost his footing. Some other poor guy wasn´t and we had prime seats in the cinema as we watched him get tossed out of the side and under the boat. He was fine and they pulled him back in. As we down stream the drama of it all seemed that much less as we watched a boat practicing falling out and being dragged back in one by one.

PHOTOS OF CANOPYING AND RAFTING TO BE ADDED IN A SEPARATE BLOG WHEN WE CAN USE CD ROM!!

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