El Calafate - Mendoza

---

We caught the bus out of El Calafate without any problems, and after an unpleasantly brief sleep arrived in Rio Gallegos. The bus that we were planning to get to Mendoza left at 11am, only a 3.5hour wait, however the service had been cancelled the day before, leaving us only two options, get a bus at 9am without any food for 48hours, or wait until 6pm. So we spent the day in the bus station and the supermarket across the way, picking up supplies to keep us going. Eventually we boarded the bus and started our 41 hour journey north, the longest bus ride yet! The journey wasn't too bad and after many films, intermittent meals, sleep and bus bingo we arrived at our destination.

We arrived in Mendoza on Monday morning and after the usual headache of finding a hostel ended up in a slightly scabby room near the centre. Mendoza, a very quiet city, is full of very beautiful, grassed plazas, and so we spent most of Monday recovering from our exhaustion by simply sitting and watching the world go by. On Tuesday we had arranged to meet, once again, our friends Dave and Ollie, and spent most of the morning trying desperately to find a hostel that could accomodate five of us for a few days, problems arrising due to Easter holiday makers. By the time they arrived we had a hostel sorted and all went out for dinner down the Peatonal (pedestrian street), where musicians gathered to play. The following day was again spent looking around the town, us not wanting to do too much of the sight seeing before Danis sister, Kim, arrived, knowing that she would want to do it as well. Kim arrived from Buenos Aires on Thursday morning, and not leaving her much time to freshen up, we headed out on a winery tour, in total a group of seven of us. We got to Maipu, the vineyard district, and rented bikes of a man called Mr. Hugo, heading off with a map of the vineyards and a small bottle of water for the 12km ride to the furthest winery. We arrived all very hot, having really enjoyed the ride along the tree lined lane with the fields of vines stretching in every direction and quickly arranged a tour of the production facilities in this very modern winery before settling down to some tasting. The famous Argentinian Malbec grape played a large part of all the wines tasted, and some self confessed red wine haters of the group were converted somewhat. After the first winery we headed across the road to an olive farm, solely for the purpose of some pickies before lunch, which we enjoyed back at the winery with a few bottles of a very nice rosé tasted earlier, the winery owner then supplying us with a huge bowl of grapes to enjoy as we drank up.

We managed to take far longer than expected in the first winery, and despite high hopes of seeing several only made it to one more before they all started closing. Luckily this second tour provided with a more historic approach to wine making, and once again, after the tasting session, settled down on a table outside to drink the few bottles purchased there. The ride back to Mr. Hugos was even more spectacular than the ride to the wineries, the sun setting behind the vines, and the wine in the system seemed to produce more speed as well! On returning the bikes we were all sat around a table and given as much red wine as we could drink, only leaving the pleasant atmosphere to get the last bus back to the city. That night Dave and Ollie left to go back into Chile, and we three moved to a different hostel that had spaces left.

The following day we went to a huge park near the city and decided to go into the zoo there, which was a frightful affair with big cats crammed into tiny cages, grizzly bears in stark cages, polar bears in the dry, dusty heat and an enclosure full to bursting of baboons, one of which was clutching her dead baby. All feeling a little upset we were glad to escape the zoo and that evening went out for a steak meal, me opting for the mixed grill, including intestine, sweetbreads, kidney, chicken, two cuts of beef and two different sausages, an absolute mountain of meat. All feeling very satisfied we headed back to the hostel and once again just passed out in bed, shattered from a long day walking and all the good food.

We left Mendoza the next evening, spending the afternoon eating fantastic ice creams and watching couples get up to dance in the street as a musician played tango.

---