Mendoza... where Malbec replaces ham and cheese

So after pretty much the worst journey so far we end up in Mendoza with high expectations, we had heard from a lot of people that it is a great little city with lots to offer.

Well, we were not dissappointed....

... We had a hostel in mind, Hostel Laos, we catch a taxi there and see whether they have any rooms available, no says the chap but we do have a roof terrace with a matress that I can let you sleep on for free for the night, however tempting a free night seemed we kindly declined and found ourselves another hostel, a prviate room this time, so no snoring and farting for a night, well for me anyway, Jo may tell you differently...

Mendoza had been devastated by an earthquake a while back which meant when they rebuilt the city they allowed for extra wide roads in the event of another quake that the buildings would not cave in on eachother. This means that Mendoza is perfect for restaurants and bars to flood all the customers onto the wide tree lined pavements, giving it a good vibe all round.

The first night we took it easy and went to treat ourselves with a proper 'hot dinner', to our surprise and delight our steaks arrived with veg, actual fresh veg and best of all no cheese in sight. Wolfed down comes to mind thinking back about this meal! It was around midinight when we finish our food and the streets are getting more and more full with people wanting to have a beer or two, so we did too...

        

We had to move hostels again the next morning as the one we were staying at was full, my brief to Jo was find a cheap hostel with a good crowd. We arrive at 'Backpackers Mendoza' after having found a 4 for the price of 3 nights offer, we're lead to our room, open the door and 2 bunk beds are crammed into the smallest room, barely room to open the door! Hey it's cheap so what do expect..

A few winny moments from Jo later we've packed our bags in the lockers and we are off out to explore Mendoza. We walk around seeing the city which is really beatiful, everyone seems very relaxed and chilled, maybe it's because the whole of Mendoza is surrounded by nineyards!

We head to the park, again very nice, full of cyclists, rollerbladers, runners and various other fitness fanatics. With me and Jo being exactly that, fitness fanatics, we head straight over to the bike hire for a 2 hour work out....

Us at the park, we havent mastered, can you take a pic please in Spanish

Jo Wiggins - see the shadow struggling to keep up...

.... 30 minutes into our bikeride and a small incline, I'm wet through with sweat and Jo is having a fit throwing her bike to the ground with shear hatred of the poor equipment we had been loaned. Tempers calmed and fits out of the system we head off round the park, and hand our bikes back 2 hours later!

Jo with poor equipment hiding behind tree in shame

Park gates

Not a bad view

So we get back to the hostel and decide to have a kip after our extensive work out, the room was hotter than the sun so we diceded to have a beer at the hostel bar. We met some great people here, two three Yanks, two of which were wine makers from California and the other a student studying in Chile, accompanied by Mariana and Diego from Argentina on their holidays....

A couple of beers later, Mariana decides to cook on the BBQ some chicken and chorizo sauasages, perfect to accompany the beers...

Chicken cooked Argentina style

Bloody excellent was the food and we were all pretty pissed at this point. Diego from Argentina who could not speak a word of English, asks politely whether he can take his top off with Jo being the only lady around, Jo of course has no problem with this and off he goes and takes his top off and straight away at the top of his voice starts chanting his local football team River Plates songs. What a legend this guy was, als the first supported of Christina Kirschner we had come accross and when asked why he said in Spanish 'She is the president for the people'.

Diego

We had agreed that night to do our own tour of vineyards in the morning, as Anton the American chap had lived in Mendoza before and he would take us around.

9am my alarm goes off, hungover to shit from the night before, I look at Jo and hope that she calls the day off so that i can stay in bed recovering, but no we still went and i am glad we did.

Half an hour on a local bus and we head to bike rental, this time higher spec ones, and off we go. There are 11 of us all great people and all hungover from the night before!

Half the gang, notice thumbs up from Jo, a happy customer!

We spent the day cycling around gorgeous vineyards, with the first giving us a tour of where the wine is made and best of all the tasting, Malbecs, Cab Savs and blah blah.... I'm no expert so they all tasted bloody good to me. If you ever buy Malbec from Argentina, it is likely to be from this region Maipu Mendoza.

5 vineyards later and over 20 wines tasted each we are all pretty sozzled at this point, with the last stop a beer brewery. Exactly what I needed so we all had a beer in the sun with some empanadas, served by some ladyboys, 100% man dressed as woman serving us all beer. A nice way to finsih off the day!

2 nights on the piss and day 3 now a right off, the 4th day we decide to go to Potrillios Dam, an hours bus ride away. The dam supplies the natural water to Mendoza, obviously a result of the dam is a stunning lake set in the beginnings of the Andes. Not a bad way to spend the day in the sun....

The only cold drink in the small local shop - cheap fizz