Mendoza, Argentina

After another crazy long bus journey I arrived in Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina. The region around Greater Mendoza is the largest wine producing area in Latin America . As such, Mendoza is one of nine cities worldwide in the network of Great Capitals of Wine, and the city is an emerging wine tourism destination and base for exploring the hundreds of wineries in the region.

Given this city's reputation my short time here was always going to be centered around alcohol. On my first day in the city I took a bus out to the nearby suburb of Maipu. From there I rented a bicycle from a bike rental shop named Mr Hugo's. The purpose of the bike? As a means of transportation from one winery to the next. The concept is something I found very strange - head to a winery, taste various types of wine, then back on the bike and off to the next one. A winery crawl if you will.... on bikes! Very bizarre indeed especially considering the erratic nature of the local drivers but it is the done thing over here. After sampling the various wines in a few different wineries I decided a change of scenery was needed. To me wine is wine and after a few tastes it all begins to taste the same and very generic. So off I went to a chocolate house. Here one could sample the various homemade chocolates as well as the locally made liquors, one of them being Absinthe, the infamous 75% volume drink from hell. Logic says I should have walked away but where would be the fun in that? The full shot was swilled and immediately afterwards I vowed never to let that tripe pass my lips again! After this I cycled back to Mr Hugo's where we were treated to numerous complimentary glasses of wine. Mr Hugo himself is an absolute gent, a refreshing change from the Argentinian culture of ripping off tourists. For just 25 peso's (5 euro) I got a bike for rent along with all the wine I wanted afterwards and genuine hospitality. I could not recommend Mr Hugo enough to anybody interested in visiting Mendoza.

After awaking this morning with a rather sore head I took off on a tour called High Andes. The tour itself was somewhat disappointing. While the views were beautiful, a lot of time was spent sitting on a bus with not enough stops to take photos and go exploring. In addition too many of the stops were at shops and markets rather than at panoramic viewing areas, the classic tourist trap. In spite of these annoyances there were some highlights, in particular Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of Asia. This giant stands tall at 6,962 metres above sea level and is a popular destination for mountain climbers from all over the world. To reach the top takes approximately 15 days, however I was informed that the record stands at a staggering 19 hours! No climbing for me however, just a nice view from far away.

Today's trip also gave me my first taste of altitude. We ascended to approximately 2,850 metres above sea level. I'm quite confident this is the highest I have ever been in my life so far. However with the Inca Trail, San Pedro de Atacama and possibly Salar de Uyuni still to come there are bigger fish to fry.

Tonight marks my last night in Argentina. Despite the fact that tourists are taken for a ride quite frequently in this country the positives far outweigh the few negatives. It really is a wonderful destination with immense natural beauty, of such different varieties. There is simply so much to see and do in Argentina. Tomorrow I take a short 8 hour bus through the Andes to Valparaiso in Chile. Another country, another crazy currency! 676 Chilean Peso's to the Euro.

Ciao