Steak and Wine

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A new blog post!



After a good night sleep we were up nice and early to go cycling around some of the local vineyards. And by nice and early I mean about 10. Following the advice of Maggie, the lovely Argentinean working at our hostel, the four of us headed to the bus stop. With us were Rosie and Lottie who we had befriended the night before. It may sound like a silly idea to be cycling whilst drinking wine however the roads were reasonably quite and it turns out we could all still remember our cycling proficiencies avidly. Now experts in a variety of different wines, especially Argentinean Malbecs, we headed back home to cook our own steak to make up for the disappointment of the meal eaten the night before.



We did contemplate a night out however after a few drinks in a bar we remembered that the England game was on tomorrow and with that came the team's last real chance of qualifying from the group. So up we got the next day at a similar hour and first came the usual faffing and making of breakfast before we were off to find a recommended bar to watch it. As usual we left ourselves too little time to find our destination and ended up missing the first 5 minutes. Fortunately given the nature of England's play it was very unlikely that anything exciting would happen in this period. Ultimately we were once again disappointed (except for Welshy) which encouraged us to find solace in another round of homemade steaks. Of course this anguish led us to drown our sorrows and the three English boys ended up on a night out in a local night club until six the next morning.



Because of the night before checking out at 10 am proved to be hard work but the four intrepid gringos managed it and found solace in a showing of Toy Story on our favourite channel (mainly due to its English speaking nature), Warner. Then we were off for some more cambio (money exchange) before parting ways for the afternoon. The two Lukes were left to watch football and buy food for the night bus whilst the two Toms went off for one of their favourite experiences of the trip so far, paragliding. Known as parabente in Spanish, this involved a trip into the Andes before meeting our jumping partners. Little instruction was given, mine being "Just run, no sit, no jump, just run!" and then we ran off the edge of a cliff. A surreal 20 minutes followed involving a surreal flight through the foothills of the Andes giving incredible views and heart-stopping heights before an uncertain and nervous landing.



Once the group was reunited a quick taxi was taken to the bus station before another 9 hour bus journey to Cordoba, this time in the lower "semi-cama" class. This wasn't as bad as first feared and the overnight nature of it allowed for some sleeping. And with an early morning arrival in the second biggest city in Argentina we were pumped for another few days involving more asados, wine, and horse-riding!



TP out

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