Menodza.........

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So we get to Mendoza real nice and early (29/01).........7.30am and yeah the hostel rooms as expected are not ready til about 10ish.........Leslie manages to kip on the sofas in the common area but I am jsut no good at that at esp when there are a lot of people milling round as they are waiting for trips to start and stuff........so I do important things - find out about the eine tours and when to go ;-) excellent there is one starting at 2.30pm today, if we choose to do teh Spainish version its cheaper by AR$5, you get an extra wine tour and they still talk English in the wineries just not on the bus - well I know what I am going to do thats for sure!!! There are soo many activiites to choose from I think I need to think about it - its still early after all!!! The funny thing is that Karen (my FB friend) is in Mendoza as well today so I have sent her an email to meet up later - feels pretty odd, just like a blind date hee hee!!! Will be real cool to finally meet up though...........

So we get to our room and just chill for an hr or so then just wander around the town to get bearings and all that, oh yeah and some food - well the wine is coming soon!!! hee hee!!! So there are 6 of us girls going to the tour from the hostel so should be a real good laugh. We get to the first one, Cava De Don Arturo and get taken around the whioole vineyard and told about the making of Malbec and how the French started it all...........I think I need to move here though - they get just 7days of rain a year, how cool would that be!!!! The wine was pertty good as well we had 3 different reds and a white to try - I got myself a AR$20 bottle of Shiraz (dad we are ment to share this - its not great bu hey its good, bu if it ges too heavy I will drink it and tell you about it!!!) that is making my back pack even heavier but it will make it home, its keeping my Pisco company!!! I will have a bag of alcohol to bring back :-) We then head to Pasrai which is an olive oil place it was cool and they had the nicest sun dried tomatoes there, love it!!! This is alos family run by 3 generations and the oldest still does the odd tour at the age of 83, bless him ;-) On to the last winery Baudron, this one was more of a mass produced wine as the place was pretty large and the actual grapes are not grown there but imported!!! Odd never seen that before - but after the wine tasting here we did all get a bottle of AR$6 red wine (OK that is just over a pound!!!) well we were eating at the hostel so it sort of made sense!!! Our last place was a chocolate and liquor place which was just he best way to wind up the day for sure was sooo good and from this one I got a picante salsa - hmmmmm that was fab and had a real good kick to it!!!

So we finally get back to the hostel at 8.30ish just an hr late hee hee Karen came o the place at about 9ish and we had food and the wine - it was actually pretty drinkable - we were all shocked!!! hee hee!!! So it was real nice to finally meet Karen, she is pretty cool and we actually spoke it was pretty funny to be face to face!!! We all headed to the main strip of bars - I am sure I should be sleeping bu hey thats tmw´s job!!! It was real lively there and all the places where bustling on the street and inside......Got chattign to a load of Argentines man they are all a bit forward all a bit much but they are funny!!! The silly waitress brought us the wrong wine at AR$12 more exp and wondered why we did not want to pay it - well seriously what do you think...........so def an adveturous first day - sort of loving it already!!!

Today we are planning on a pretty easy one, loving the sunshine around the place it just makes it all great and happy hee hee!!! So Leslie and ! meet up with Karen in town to go and book some ours for the stay (I am def staying for 4nights now and not the 2 I had originally planned) found a pretty cool place and went through so many different ideas of trip but as there were 3 of us all willing to book they offered us a 20% discount so we had to do it (it did work out cheaper than the hosel this way as well). So the 3 of us all booked up for white water rafting, trekking and absailing for the day tmw - sooo excited as I have wanted to do white water rafting for ages!!!! OK so on the way back to the hostel Leslie and I go on the hunt to get 3 tickets to see the footie tmw night (Boca v Riveria - local derby - friendly my arse!!!). Oh my goodness seriously I have never had such a mission to get the tickets we went to 3 different places as we kept being told differnt things and finally in the back of a shop int he dodgest looking place we end up getting them at AR$90.............We met up with Lara and Patrick (from the last hostel) for dinner tonight and we had our first argentine steak - it was pretty good I think although poss not the best I have ever had, roll on BA!!! We stopped by at the hostel I was moving to tmw and where Karen is at the moment as there was a BBQ and drinks there and we were just picking her up and off to a few bars.........it was real loverly in the hostel and everyone was dead friendly so no worries about moving there thats for sure!!! We stayed around for an ikle while and then headed out with a few Irish girlies, I was pretty sleepy and we were off out dead early tmw for our White Water Rafting, Trekking and Asailing adventure and not to forget the footie!!! Quite a few of them decided to head out to the clubs but Leslie, Sanne and I stayed at teh local bars - man I am getting old hee hee!!! It was all a bit quite out and about not like last night, Leslie and I just headed home, for an early night of about 1.30am!!!

Well today was a day of mixed emotions thats for sure...........be patient you will see............hee hee!!! So firstly I totally mucked up the tour pick up point as I had moved to the new hostel, who was to know that there was not just one bus picking up the full group...........well I was menat to be on different one but hey we all fitted they just had a bit of an issue with it all. So the first stop is white water rafting, oh my goodness what a fantasic experience we had sooo much fun and the bonus was that no one fell in - well I think it was a bonus anyhow hee hee!!!! According to our guide (he probably says it to everyone) we hit some real good rapids and rowed through them really well as a group - yeah - good skills on us!!! Like I would know but hey it was a laugh so I not too fussed, now looking to see where I can do it next!!! Hee hee!!! The next part of the day was the 'trekking' yeah it was not real a trek we just went for a stroll up the cliff face for about 45mins ish, there were some cracking views but a bit badly advertised - still pleased the rafting was good or I would be a tad annoyed!!! ;-) we then have to climb back up another part of the cliff to do the absailing...........so here I go first one down - never any pressure on the first one and thats how I like it, I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself no stalling at the top I just went straight into it all........was a pretty good one as it started a bit bumpy and you had to move around a bit and then it was pretty much a straight fall.........I got down in one peice and that was good enough for me!!! Karen and a Brazilian lady followed and then Leslie, I did not realise at the time of booking how scared she was of doing it, but she made it down with no assistance and in pretty good style - good skills on her as its not hard when you knwo everyone is watching ;-) OK now for the bad part of the day we were all talking about the Boca game and we are told that its not tonight but tmw night as all big games are.........bugger Karen and I are doing a horse ride into thw sunset that we are really looking forward to and cannot change it and Leslie is on a night bus to BA, she is going to try and change it to monday night. Well I did not think it would be a problem and we sold them on to a few guys at the hostel but it still annoyed me as we asked when booking them ;-( oh well not a massive issue I s'pose and hey hopefully I will still see Ecuador v Brasil!!! So we head to dinner with a few friends Karen met in her last part of her trip, was a real good Mexican and such good value we were all really impressed, I know its pretty easy to do!!! Hee hee!!! Met up with Leslie back at our hostel and basically chilled there a bit with some wine and hit the bars just for a low key one aswe were all a tad knackered after a fun filled day we had and was up real early after all!!!!

So we are off tonight at 6 to go ride horses - I am a wee bit nervous about this as I have not even sat on a horse before let alone ridden one, I just hope they are well looked after and I dont fall off as I dont believe that I will have a hat at all............so we have all day to waste basically and what do you do on a real hot day in Mendoza........you chill by the pool until its time for the footie!!! Yup that is exactly what I did and although it took then quite a while I was very pleased that Liverpool beat Chelski 2-0!!! We then walked to the supermarket to get lunch - yes a pretty late one I know!! Well we are in a bit of a rush as its now 4pm and we are being picked up at 6pm.........so what do we do we come out the supermarket from another door and get real lost, not really fit into the plan so we jump a taxi back which is good as we had no idea where we were!!!! Hmmmm Hee Hee!!!! So off we go to find the horses - yes that means a bus - well its been a few days after all hee hee...........the horses are loverly so I am pleased as I have heard that some of them are not looked after well. So I get to ride a big stallion of a horse and yes I do need a step to get up on him - you can all stop laughing there thank you!!! He was very gentle though and really easy to ride, so tell me why do people pay a fortune to learn to ride when it was so easy?? Ok it did help that the horses were very well trained and did not really need a lot of riding ;-) We went up into the mountains and it was fab, we got a full view of the whole of Mendoza at night and it was all so clear and the views at sunset were pretty incredible, I am pleased that I went and another first to add to my collection from this trip, its getting to be a list!!! The BBQ at the end was pretty fun to there were a lot of people that were from different parts of Argentina and was helpful that some could speak English but it did help with a bit of my Spainish as well............Got back pretty late so we just chilled in the hostel with a few drinks and some of the American guys as they had just finished watching the Super Bowl Final!!!

So today is my last day in Mendoza before I get a 22.51 bus back to Santiago tonight..............so I head back to the last hostel where I meet up with Leslie and Sanne to do a bit of shopping in the town, not sure I was suposed to spend quite as much as I did but hey got some cool new havianas forgot to take all sizes with me so will have to get the rest in either BA or Brazil, but they are cheap which is great or not so as I may end up getting too many pairs!!! Hee hee!!! We headed into the square and chilled for a bit then off in separate directions to hostels so my last gap travel buddy so it was a bit strange but hopefully we will catch up in Rio!!! So after chilling in the Plaza for a bit and traking in the last of Mendoza I head back to the hostel to sort out ready for dinner and then to leave - I will def miss Mendoza I have loved it here............So Karen and Colin came back from the wine tour on bikes totally unscathed which is good and we head off for final dinner.............ahhhhh back to Santiago and the next trip.............

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