Mendoza-why are we in a paddy wagon?

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Hola all,

Well we had a great day of relaxation yesterday. We got caught up on sleep, took a great jacuzzi and had a good pasta meal. Very nice.

Today was a very different story. In case you are wondering why we rode in the back of a police car, we shall tell you in a bit, but first, our plan today was to rent bikes and visit the vineyards. Plans do not always work out. We got our ride to Maipu, just outside Mendoza, picked up our bikes and readied ourselves for our journey. Things looked promising at the start, the sky was blue and we were refreshed. We biked for over an hour to the end of the route to slowly make our way back to the start visiting the wineries along the way. The first stop was great, a nice small vineyard, good wine, friendly staff, good company, woohoo. Then we were off to our second vineyard, also nice, good lunch, good wine. As we were eating the wind picked up, no worries we said, we are strong bikers, so we headed off to the third vineyard. On our way a strong cross wind picked up, but we were stronger and enjoying the warmer weather, soon the vineyard was in view. As we peddled into the vineyard we saw two of our friends (who we met at the first vineyard) and a police officer. We were informed that all of the vineyards were closed as was the biking route. As it turns out people were evacuated and no one was permitted to continue in their journeys. So we had to wait for 10 minutes or as it turns out in Argentinian time 50 mnutes with our new British and Australian friend. In the mean time, 3 new American friends showed up. So we all got to ride in the Mendoza paddy wagon back to the bike shop to catch a ride to Mendoza. They would not let any one go anywhere unless in a police car, hence we got to ride in police car, sorry parents... We were dissapointed that we missed out on the rest of the vineyards, but ce la vie. Apparently they have these winds once a year, and today was it, what are the odds, so we ended up back at the hotel with a nice botle of wine, later we went out for a great steak dinner. Tomorrow we head to Buenos Aires. We will be based out of there for the next week.

Adios.

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