Mendoza

We arrived early and headed to our next hostel the Chill Inn which was on one of the main streets crammed with restaurants and bars. First impressions were of the lovely wide and leafy avenues of Mendoza, created this way after a brutal earthquake a few years ago. We wandered through the city and its many plazas, the main one, Plaza Independencia, is huge with more than a few water features. We found a lovely spot in one of the sidewalk cafes and had a delicious lunch of caesar salad, chips and vino blanco… One of my faves!
Once back at the hostel we made the most of our pool and the hot weather with a beer and began the Airbnb search for our Buenos Aires home, we were keen to find a place for a week or so to stay still and enjoy the city.
We ventured back out later that evening in search of blue rate once again and it was nice to see the city at night, the plazas and streets really come alive after dark, presumably the locals are refreshed after their long siesta.
In an effort to save cash we went to the local shop for some breakfast goodies, which it turned out were included at the hostel, and some pasta for tea. After a small boiling water incident Dan had to go back for some more pasta, so not exactly our most successful trip! Anyway off to bed as we had a big day ahead.

After a rather long but beautiful bus ride through the bright red mountains and past vibrant blue lakes, we arrived at the very plush base for our next white water rating adventure! Nick, our Canadian guide took us down the Rio Mendoza which was certainly more treacherous than our Peru trip but really good fun. After several soakings we made it back to camp and warmed up by the pool where the DJ was playing some questionable tunes for that afternoons pool party.

It was a quick turn around before jumping on another bus to take us horse riding. At the foot of the mountains in the early evening light it was a beautiful setting as Carlos our guide introduced us to our rides. We set off up the mountain and reached the top as the sun began to set and afforded us a stunning view of the Andes and valley below which is filled with vineyards. Mendoza produces 80% of Argentinas wine.
Back down the very steep hill our horses behaved fairly well although Carlos was thrown off by his very stroppy mare! Once back at base we sat down to an asado which is a typical Argentinean BBQ. The steak was delicious, the wine was flowing and our group was getting on famously, including 2 very affectionate Latin American chaps and an American mum and daughter duo. Next thing Carlos whips out his guitar and starts singing. Some English classics and traditional Spanish numbers finishing with the ultimate medley, 4 chords and 37 song lyrics! We, all on our way by then, joined in with great enthusiasm and demanded an encore which led to us dancing around the table to Twist and Shout! This revelry continued on the ride home and we moved on to Christmas songs, as you can imagine I gave my usual gusto to an appreciative crowd, yes I admit they were drunk. All in all one of our most epic days!

After a very sweaty night we awoke with more bites than the jungle! We set off to a local spa/water park which is set in the middle of the valley and makes for a dramatic setting. After a rather long nap we made our way around the various thermal pools and down a slide that was clearly too small for us!
A picnic lunch, more sunbathing and relaxing in the warm waters was about as much as we managed surrounded by many locals, most of whom were making the most of the DIY BBQ facilities. One lady nearly got decapitated by a flying parasol, which really would have spoiled things.
That evening we decided on Mexican and had some pretty good fajitas which came with about 10 different condiments, awesome.

On our last day after a leisurely breakfast it was time to finally end the great debate over where to stay in BA, so we played rock/paper/scissors. After a bit more pool time we had a wander around the huge park complete with lake before jumping on the overnight bus to BA. Oh and Dan still has the shits.