A wine tour with a difference!

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Made our first excursion from Mendoza which was fantastic but not quite what we expected. Famous for its red wines, we had visions of Tuscan rolling hills or the Loire Valley. Having signed up to a wine tour with a company called Wines and Bikes, we were directed about 10km´s from town by a local bus to pick up our bikes (a loose description). We were given a map and sent on our way down an extremely dusty and bumpy road into what resembled an industrial estate, complete with road gangs, diggers and heavy goods vehicles to contend with. Whilst the scenery was to be forgotten, some of the wine consumed was excellent, not to mention the home made liquers and chocolate at one place. Having got back in one piece, we were even able to buy a t-shirt saying "I managed to drink and ride" which just about sums up the approach to health and safety in Argentina (one of South America´s safer countries.)

On the note of health and safety, bus drivers in South America are renowned for being a bit crazy. Our driver to the wine tour took us to a new extreme when some guy got on the bus with a bin liner full of dodgy DVD´S. The driver proceeded to take 10 minutes looking through the collection whilst driving before finally deciding on a nice porn movie that he transacted for in cash before waving the sales man goodbye.

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