Sooo out first stop in Argentina was Mendoza. The place of wine tours and cow boys. We arrived after a shocking night bus where we has to get off the bus at 3am for the boarder crossing and stand in the cold. Yet when we arrived the sun was shining, the streets where pretty avenues wih a tunnel of trees and we all knew that wine and steak would soon be in our bellies.
After checking in and having a fantastic breakfast of egg and crepes we went off for a wander. Turns out Mendoza is bloody lovely, not a cowboy town in the middle of the out back like I had imagined but a pretty town with many plazas with PINK FOUNTAINS!! And a bloody lovely massive park where we had a 'who can swing the highest' competition on the swings and blared some old school tunes from ma phone. That night it turns out the hostel have unlimited free red wine between 8-9 so we gulped that down like it was water then had an empanadas cooking class with an cute old lady in the kitchen. Mine looked nothing how it was meant I but tasted delish.
The next day we made some mates and our possy went on a vineyard tour on some bikes. One of ma crew turns out had been to Tiffs- lucky boy! I was very excited and the thoughts of big man spinning the decks and sweaty squadies but weirdly he was less impressed by Tiffs undeniable charm. Aannyyewaayyy we got on our bikes and off we went, wind in my hair again feeling like a film star. The ride was sooo pretty, passing lots of picturesque vineyards as we cycled down roads with trees each side creating a tunnel. We went really fast too and me and another guy had a comp of who could go no handed for the longest- he won and I nearly got hit by a lorry.
We arrived at the first vineyard (very sweaty compared to the others) and a man greeted us then we had a tour of the winery and where told how wine was made- very interesting fact that Rose is not red and white grapes combined- it's actually the same grapes used to make red wine but they remove the skin and other stuff so it's not as red. Then to the good bit- TASTING! We where sat down and given 3 Red Malbec's to try- he described the tastes like "oh this one is woody with hints of black pepper and chocolate and goes with Fish" ect but personally I couldn't taste any of those flavours they jut all tasted slightly different but equally as lush. But turns out the taste is just subjective anyway as no one can make a wine taste a certain way other than by using different grapes so as he said "your favourite wine is just the one you like best"- I know deep s***.
We then cycled to another vineyard for lunch, this time we are on a terrace so it over looked the whole vineyard and it was absolutely beautiful- felt exactly like I was a 13 year old drug free Lindsay Lohan in Parent Trap. Again we tried 3 more wines with our lunch- 1 Rose and 2 Red- again have no idea what was what but they where all equally delish.
After lunch we went to a distillery and dabbled in some absinthe/ liquor like the bad ass gentle men we are. I tired one absenthy one then a triple sec and finally Dolce De Leche Liquor- oh em gee! You needed a spoon to eat:drink it and it was heavenly. The guy who ran it was rather odd though and his 4 year old daughter was being DJ so as we sipped our shots we listened to B I N G O and Mary Mary how does your garden grow along with many other nursery rhyme jams. Next we took our bikes back as finished in a wine bar with yet MORE wine- safe to say we where all pretty damn bolloxed. We also gathered around 8 bottles of free wine from various vineyards which was fantastic. Theennnnn we went back to the hostel and made full use of the free wine and left over rum- we then sat in the garden doing 'salad fingers' impressions and watching a couple having a domestic on their balcony until about 5.30 am.
NNEEXXTTTT we had to be up before 9 to shower get ready and go to our next excursion- horse riding through the Argentinian Andes. During the mini bus ride to the ranch I felt like death and sang along the wrong words to the radio- much to lous dismay. However when we got to this ranch which was right at the foot of the mountains and I clambered onto the best horse in the world - Witch- the hang over was soon forgotten and as I galloped up the track I was completely ecstatic and in my element. C Ya hangover. We trekked for a good 2 hours through the mountains and the views where breath taking. Felt like such a cool cow gal or 'gouger' as they call it here. Me and my horse really hit it off, I sang to her and chatted to her and she listened with pricked ears the whole way- a bond to never be broken. After the ride we headed back to the ranch where we had a BBQ of steak, chorizo, steak more steak and other veg plus lots more red wine which went down surprisingly well. The ranch looked exactly how you would imagine a ranch to look in the movies- wooden railed fencing, western saddles hanging off them and a dusty mountainous back drop. We then just hung out at the ranch for a while as the sun set leaning in the wooden fenced paddocks of horses and cows and across to the Andes in the near back ground talking about country life and sipping on red wine. Absolute bliss. Until the cow boys started herding up bulls from the bush which came stampeding towards us an I shat me self.
Overall Mendoza was absolutely epic and the horse riding was something I will never forget- as well as the biking round vineyards but due to all the wine it might be easier to forget lolz.
NNEEXXTTTT an over night bus to Buenos Aires and good god did this city love up to it's reputation of being cray cray. So we arrived on the Tuesday (my bday eve) and stayed in a rank cheep hostel to pamper and save some money. Then we woke up anndddd ITS MA BDAY b****EZ!!! 20 bloody 3- Christ. Had a fantastic FaceTime with the fam followed by being surprised by the Scots buying me Champagne and OJ for BucksFiz and a choc bar which I dipped in Dolce Del Leche for breakfast. We then checks the wether and classic it was pissing it down! Thunder storm style. But we braved the weather, checked in at the party Millhouse hostel and ventured out into the rain in the search of a succulent bday steak. My god we found it. A really cute steak house with red brick interior and wine bottles decorating the walls. We had the most delicious red wine and the biggest most amazing steak that I think has ever existed in the history of man kind. Damn it was a good day. We then made our way back to the hostel and PAARTTAAYYYYRD the night away- until I decided to go and find Mc Donald's as got utterly lost but luckily some lovely policemen stopped and gave me a lift home- I then filmed it and put it on Facebook whilst I was rather drunk which was a big mistake. Woke up to many messages from family asking if I was still alive and that I was an idiot. To be fair it was a very silly move to go off by myself and even more silly I put it on Facebook but hey ho I'm here now and what a way to end ma bday.
The next few days consisted of more partying, sleeping, visiting the crematory which was as big as a small town! So creepy as all the cities elite are buried there in these grand tombs. Some were immaculate and beautiful yet others where broken, dusty and seemed to have been forgotten about. The coffin inside where stacked up covered in dusty cobwebs which although was bloomin creep it gave a beautiful sense of abandonment. We also visited La Boca which was full of vibrant, multi coloured buildings with creepy statues on the balconies. I left all my belongings at the hostel in the morning as La Boca has a dodgy reputation so didn't want anything stolen. Yet the ironic thing was when I got back to the hostel all my cash had been stolen out of my locker due to my locker being faulty. Classic. The staff where rude and unhelpful but they did give us a free bar tab which we made to full use.
The next day I had to wander roun to find a police station to report the theft to claim on insurance. So I went off by myself and after ages of wandering around not being able to find it- I went up to a women I ask for help and burst into tears in a confused, frustrated, hungover state. The poor lady couldn't speak English and couldn't help me so I was by myself again crying. Luckily I then (stopped crying) found the police station only to be told I was at the wrong one and the other was on the other side of town. Soooo off I traipsed again and treated myself to a Mc Donald's on the way (could only afford a happy meal too which was just not enough and I left my toy on my tray). I FINALLY FOUND THE STATION!! All by myself feeling very proud. While I waited of the interpreter to arrive I had a lovely but very broken English convo with the police chief. He told me he was angry at England due to the Falkland war but I pretended his English was to bad to understand to avoid an awkward war chat. I then showed him my house on google maps and then Liverpool and he showed me his house and I taught him the word 'PoPo' as slang for police which he loved and I filmed him say it. He asked me I I felt safe walking around BA (I lied and said yes) to which he replied "don't feel safe, this city is not safe" FANTASTIC. He was a babe. When the interpreter finally came I made my report whilst chatting to them about food and clubbing. They then gave me a lift back in their police car. But not before I had to explain to them the difference between desert and dessert and show them how to spell both words. I forgot how to spell them though to made it up the poor lads. I also taught them PoPo so as thy drive me they kept shouting out the window "IM DA POPO". Absolutely fantastic.
To sum up Argentina so far I have had far to much steak and wine, been in a police car twice, in two police stations, had all my cash stolen but it was still pretty fantastic. Now off to Iguazi Falls to take loads of beaut Instagram pics.