Days 52 - 55 Mendoza

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We had a very exciting bus journey from Cafayate to Mendoza. The first half was 6 hour ride to a place called Tucuman where we waited for 2 hours before we boarded the overnight bus to Mendoza. We managed to find a steak and beer in the bus station which was all very civilised. We had booked a suite on the overnight bus which meant a seat that became a flat bed, we were given some fizz and then some red wine and more beef! National Express could learn a thing or two from these Argentinians. We both managed to sleep and after 18 hours on a bus we made it to Mendoza. Mendoza town isn't really what we were expecting, it's a big bustling city, again with leafy squares and tree lined avenues with not a vineyard in sight in the main town. We settled into our hostel and had had a wander round the town. We managed to hire some bikes and cycle through some of the town and a big park. We also booked some bikes for the next day so we could go exploring the bodegas of Mendoza.

Richard's birthday was spent cycling around bodegas in the sunshine tasting delicious wines which is not a usual birthday activity for someone born in January in the northern hemisphere. We managed to find our way to the bike hire place in Lujan on a public bus which took about an hour. Then we visited 3 bodegas, one very small Italian influenced place which supplies church wine which we got to taste. Then a very impressive boutique bodega which has won lots of awards and was full of very sophisticated looking folks, we fitted right in with our trekking shorts and sandals. The last was by far the most impressive with incredible views over the vineyards and a huge wine cellar, They gave us wine from 3 different stages of its production which was very interesting and we also managed a glass of their fizz to toast Rick's birthday.

Funnily enough the only day so far in Argentina that we haven't had steak and red wine for dinner was Rick's birthday dinner. We both felt a bit unwell after the day of cycling in the heat drinking wine so we had cheese and ham sandwiches and water for tea!

We were booked on a tour of the high Andes the next day but because we still weren't feeling so great we decided to stay in Mendoza and had a bit more of a look at the town in very hot sunshine. Fortunately we both felt much better by the end of the day and managed to find some more wine to taste and some steak for dinner.

We are booked on a bus to Santiago tomorrow (Saturday 8th) to see a bit of Chile for a couple of weeks before coming back into the south of Argentina.

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