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.