Mendoza - Wine tasting & Skiing

Mendoza is located centrally on Argentina's far western border with Chile. It took a semi comfortable 8 hour night bus to reach from Cordoba. Dave & I caught a quick taxi ride over to perhaps the nosiest hostel in the world & Alex joined us looking hot & tired having chosen to walk from the bus station (with ruck sack) after his own night bus trip in from Buenos Aires.

2 hours later we were out on bikes touring the area's Bodegas (wine yards), maybe not the most sensible combination, but a fun experience all the same. The Malbeck wine was Ok but nothing much to write home about - Backpacker quality I guess. We toured around the local area dodging cars & trucks while Dave moaned about everything because he had a touch of man flu!!!

After a noisy night's kip we caught a 7am bus, 4 hrs up into the Andes, to Los Pentitentes ski resort. The 3 of us checked into a tatty but warm hostel & shot up onto the slopes. Dave & I skied all day while Alex checked into ski school. There wasn't too much snow, mostly ice, so Skiing looked more like Bambi on ice for the first few hours. The resort was small & family focused. The best thing was that due to the super snow dump in Bariloche everyone was skiing there, meaning our runs we clear & there were no lift queues.

2 days skiing were enough, so we came back to Mendoza & a far more pleasant hostel. Dave & Alex went off to Sky dive & I hada lazy cathc up day booking myself into a BA language school for my final week in SA.

Dave & I then headed back to Buenos Aires by night bus & left Alex to horse trek in Mendoza (with potential snow forecast). The fully reclining "executive" seats with leg rests that formed a flat bed for our 12hr journey. The 1st class airline style seats cost just £30 each & that included dinner + drinks! 2 large Scotchs later we were sleeping like babies.

Anyone for Polo?

Pictures speak a thousand words, but yes we did................
& we surprised ourselves with played 2 won 2, not only that but we both scored & won a wager placed by the Irish to wait upon us for the evening!!!




After about, oh I don;tkno, 15 minutes instruction we were up in the saddle, practicing the basics of ridig & hitting the ball. an hour later we were playing our first match.

Gaucho riding - Los Potreros Estancia, Cordoba

Our night bus arrived into Cordoba at 8am. The first class airline style reclining chairs meant we'd slept all night & were fresh from a ride soon after we arrived. We had a short taxi ride out of town & up into the surrounding hillside. Los Potreros estancia (ranch) appeared 30 minutes after we'd lost sight of civilisation & the quite, unsigned entrance off the main road helps keep the place idyllically quiet.
We arrived in time for a quick unpack, breakfast & a chance to meet our fellow guests. We then threw caution to the wind & saddled up. Neither Dave nor I have ridden much. I've slightly more recent experience (Malawi) but not much more. Our 1st ride was a gentle trip out over the vast 6,500 acre ranch so a close by waterfall. The ride gave us the chance to get our balance, chat with our English guides Gordon & Tracey as well as our hostess Lou.
The waterfall's are a gorgeous place to swim in summer but it was just a little chilly for a dip so we posed for a quick photo snap with Margaret (US) a fellow guest before returning back.

Our next few rides were a little more challenging as we moved up through the gears to Trot & then to Canter. Our balance & control started to improve but the bouncing started to take it's toll, with Dave suffering bruised plums & me some painful inner thigh chaffing.


Video of Dave post riding........v.amusing



Evening times are a chilled out time to relax & unwind. A roaring log fire warms the bed rooms ^ lounge aras from the cold winter temperatures outside. There's a selection of books to flick through & CD's to play (blissfully there's no TV). However we mostly sit chatting with our new Irish & American friends, swapping travel stories & reliving our days experiences.

Last night we had a local wine tasting evening, it started before dinner, carried on through & wrapped up with desert wine after ........ everyone felt a little tired this morning!! Good Marbeck Merlot here :)

Little fella arrives in BA

I picked up Dave from the airport later than expected as his flight was delayed a good 3hours. The delay gave me time to book a cycle city tour for the next day, so after a night out in the central part of town (to help him over any signs of jet lag) we headed over to the Santa Fe park to see the city.

We met up with a 2 Irish lads traveling South America & Alex, who'd just arrived in from London to follow my southern route back north towards Lima.

We hopped on sit up & beg bikes & headed down through the central area, passed the Falklands war memorial to the regenerated docks area & then on to the Boca.

The Boca is famed for the Football stadium, but has equal charm & tourist pull for it's Tango & art. We stopped for coffee, photos & a chance encounter with a Maradona look alike... must be tough having to put on all that weight to keep your day job!!!

The tour took a good 3.5hrs. Our guide, a local student called Ana, showed us the sights & sounds of southern BA, told us about the Political situations past & present & gave us her opinions on differences between our countries.

We wrapped up our tour with a beer just off the Plaza Major. The group had gelled well over the day & whilst the Irish boys were unable to come eat with us due to a Tango show Alex joined us for some grub down in the arty San Telmo area. After a few beers & a lot of putting the world to right Alex decided he wanted to join us skiing in Mendoza; so we're looking forward to catch p with him next week for a few more laughs.

Tango in the night @ El Querandi

My last night with the Exodus crowd was a Dinner & Tango evening in central BA.

The 2 hour show of singing & dancing told the story of the dance. It progressed through from the seedy roots, in the red light areas of town, to it's national acceptance & modern day Tango in more recent times.

The dancing was colourful & infectious, but disappointingly we didn't get to joining in.

I've got some Tango planned in for when Dave Wall & I return from the Argentinian mountains . Think we'll get us a few lessons in before trying to embarrass ourselves on the floor!

Buenos Aires bound 1400kms & a sore bum !!!

The Argentinian Pampas are by far & away the most dull counrtyside I've had to endure recently. The stunning mountain scenery subsided to flat plains of ..... well nothing really. We set out to BA from the Valdes peninsula in an attempt to break the back of the distance in one go.
Unfortunately we hit a few technical challenges, firstly, after about 2 hours driving, the truck horn started to sound......& sound & sound until we stopped & Tubbs disconnected the plug! only then did I notice we'd chosen a hotel to stop outside of, it was 7.30am !!! Then, later on, in the middle of no where the accelerator had had enough of working & some road side repairs we needed.

The result was a night's rough camp en rout to BA, instead of a late arrival & evening of beers watching the final of the Cupa America between Brazil & Argentina.