After a pleasant journey on the bus, watching movies and being fed and watered, although the lady behind me was snoring all night so I didn't get much sleep, 17 hours later we arrived in Mendoza! It was definitely warmer here and the sun was shining. Eimer, Jen and I, the Irish girls I met in Bariloche all checked into a private room we had at chimbas Hostel, with ensuite in a quaint traditional house, looked at all the tours we were interested in over breakfast and all jumped in the shower and freshened up before going off to explore the town.
After navigating the local bus into town for lunch we headed towards St Martins Park and had a walk around the lake with a beautiful view of the mountains as a backdrop. The park was huge with fountains and statues and pretty gardens all around! We chilled out here for a while before making our way back to the hostel via the supermarket to find some food to cook up for dinner. This proved most unsuccessful as the supermarket did not really have much choice, so in the end we settled for beef stir fry and some sandwich and cereal stuff for breakfast.
I chilled out in the room and rested most of the following day before we made our way to the horse riding which we had booked. I have to say the riding here has generally been most disappointing. The horses are all well maintained and very well behaved for a beginner, but the rides are definitely catering for the tourist that cannot ride and are pretty boring, even the scenery on most of them has not been that great! I will wait and try some more in Bolivia. However it was fun riding with Eimer and Jen and we stopped for a rest and drank mate which is the local tea everyone drinks here throughout the day, they carry flasks of hot water and are always drinking it constantly. I believe it is good for the digestion, gives you energy and is a bit addictive! It just tastes a bit like a bitter green tea. When we arrived back at the ranch they happily showed us the collection of puma skins (as above) they have. Many ranches have these hanging up around Argentina, as well as other animals like hares etc.
Nicola was arriving today after about 3 weeks of being apart so I was looking forward to catching up again and hearing all her news!! The Irish girls and I were booked on the white water rafting, which was level 3/4 so was a bit excited to see how that was going to be. I have only done this once before in Thailand a few months back, but really enjoyed it and was keen to try it again. When we arrived at the centre, we were disappointed to hear that it was only actually level 1/2, as the water level was so low at this time of year. Well maybe we should have been told that and we would not have booked it!!! We got changed into the wet suits and headed down to the river. When we arrived we all carried the boats down, which weighed a ton and were not easy to carry over the uneven rocky ground, but we struggled down and then launched off into the water and away we went. It was really tame, more like a boating trip down the river, we paddled and were carried along by the current until we reached a small rapid which they made us stop by. We were not sure what was going on because of the language barrier, and wondered why we had stopped as we had just got going! Well we soon found out. It seemed that this was an ideal spot to take a photo for them to try and sell to us later. They placed the boat into the small rapid so it looked like we were actually having some fun, and took a load of pictures. I was not happy at all as they seemed to be trying to capsize it. This was not what I signed up for! Then 1 by 1 they made us get out to get back to shore and as people got out they pushed them under the water for "fun"!!! The water was bloody cold and this was certainly not fun and pretty dangerous I thought! It was my turn to get out the boat, I made it quite clear to the guy helping people out that I did not want to be pushed under the water and he understood what I said, but as I got out he still thought it was funny to grab me and push me under the shallow water where i bashed my leg into the rocks on the bottom and cut and bruised it. I was absolutely furious!!!! The pain shot through my leg and I hobbled out of the water, he asked if I was ok and I just looked at him and told him in no uncertain terms that I was not bloody ok!!!! Someone helped me out and I looked at my leg which was swelling into a lump and was cut right on the shin bone!! I was so pissed off and just wanted to finish with this whole fiasco which was not white water rafting, but some money making spin off as the conditions were not really good for what we were supposed to be doing….next we got back in the raft and carried on down the river, my leg was agony and throbbing, and soon we stopped off again to go "swimming"!! Why would we want to swim in the cold water in our clothes, apparently that was supposed to be fun and you could get carried down by the current, and bashed into more rocks. No thanks!! I refused to go and stood my ground this time, just ignoring them…I was really ready to go now and just hoped this was the last time we had to stop. I just wanted to rest my leg and warm up. Thankfully it was the last stop and we carried on for a while and then all got out and went back to the centre to eat our sandwiches we had bought with us. The guy who pushed me in was sorry and I think felt really bad now. So he should!! He came and found me once I was changed and took me to put some antiseptic and a bandage on my leg. He said sorry and I felt he had suffered enough so accepted his apology and then we headed back to the hostel and met up with Nicola.
The following day the girls all went shopping while I just relaxed at the hostel as my leg was sore and I just wanted to rest! That evening we decided to go into town for dinner and got the bus in and enjoyed a steak and wine meal for about $10!!! It was about 9pm and it was really quiet as we were so early for Argentina. Most people don't eat until at least 10pm, by then we were ready for bed as we had our wine tasting tour tomorrow which was the highlight of our trip to Mendoza and what we were all waiting for!!!
We were up by 8am and ready to leave by around 9ish, sandwiches made and a full stomach, ready for the consumption of alcohol, we checked with the guy at the hostel which bus we needed to get to do the Hugo's wine & bikes tour. We should have known better though then to listen to him, as he seems not to know anything about any of the tours and constantly gets it all wrong! Oh well surprise surprise, while trying to find the number 8 bus he told us it was, we soon discover it is the number 10 we need!! We jump aboard and we are on our way!! The bus is full of tourists all looking for the wine tours. About 30 minutes later we arrive, choose our bikes and relax into our first glass of wine for the day. We were initially going to ride a tandem bike, but after giving it a go before we left we realise that it is actually quite difficult and we cannot even get started!! We choose a normal bike and follow our maps we have been given to the first destination. We go to the museum first to learn a bit about the wine and get a free glass. Unfortunately the tours are all in spanish today so we just wander around looking at all the old equipment used and take some pictures. Next stop is a place where we can try the olive oil and other locally made produce. The chocolate dulce de leche was to die for as were the pestos and liquors! We sit outside in the sunshine and enjoy our sandwich before heading on to another vineyard, Trapaiche, for more wine!! We meet other people along the way and get chatting and drinking and decide to buy bottles of wine and all share them as it is cheaper and buy 2 get 1 free. We stay for a while and then head on to another place, biking through a tunnel of trees with the Andes as a backdrop and vines as far as the eye can see. We stop off at the oldest vineyard in Mendoza, where we get in amongst the grapes for pictures, and have some food and yet more wine….then back on our bikes, for yet more wine…..before heading back to Hugo's to drop the bikes off and have yet more wine!!! Everyone is back there and gathered drinking and swapping stories, the music is playing and as the sun goes down it is the perfect end to a perfect day!
The next day Eimer and Jen went off to do their skydive they had booked, while Nicola and I had a lazy day chilling at the hostel by the pool and doing not a lot!! We booked our spa day we had decided to do, despite the price of about $60, but Nicola decided against it because of this. I really needed a massage though and just wanted a pamper day, it had been too long, and the girls were leaving the next night so would be our last day together!
We were up and ready by 8.30am for the journey to the spa which took about an hour and a half by the time we had picked everyone up. When we got there we found it was in a beautiful setting, surrounded by mountains with a river flowing by. The weather was perfect so we hoped to top up our tans as we had not been in a bikini for a while now. We booked our massage first for 4pm to finish off the day, and picked up our robes and towels and headed for the pools!! The water was warm, between 27-34 degrees and we sank down into it and felt all our worries melt away as we enjoyed the warmth of the springs and the sun shining down upon us. We sat around for a couple of hours, moving from pool to pool, before heading down to lunch. This was magnificent!! A huge buffet consisting of meats, salads, pasta, a whole array of different dishes…it was an absolute feast!!! We gorged ourselves for the next hour, going up twice for main course and twice for desert. We then decided we definitely needed a siesta!! We found a couple of loungers and lay in the sun for a while waiting for our food to go down.
It was then time for the mud bath!! We covered ourselves from head to foot in the warm mud and went outside for 20 minutes to let it dry, whilst having fun taking photos of ourselves looking so funny. As the mud dried it was hard to smile as it became so tight on our skin. It was a weird feeling, but as we eventually rinsed it off I have to say my skin has not felt this good for a long time!! It was not that easy though to remove and we had to stand under these high pressure jets of water. As I did so I realised when I opened my eyes again my bikini top had been pushed right down by the water…how embarrassing!!!
Next we went off for our massage. An hour of pure bliss!! I was looking forward to just lying down and having another sleep and was so relaxed bey now that is exactly what I did. It was all just over too fast. Although it was by now 5pm and we would be leaving soon. We lay out in the sun for another half hour and then made our way back to the bus which was waiting to take us back. Eimer and Jen are leaving tonight and I will miss them a lot. We will stay in touch and I hope to meet up again one day in the future. We say our farewells and Nicola and i get packed and ready to leave in the morning ourselves to cross the Border into Chile!!!
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