We had to be up early to get to the bus station for our 7:30am departure to Mendoza. It was Sunday and the metro didn't start until 8am so we asked guy from the concierge desk to call us a taxi. He said he would take us for the price of taxi so that worked out perfectly.

We were travelling with Cata Internacional and the bus left on time. Not long after leaving we were brought a cup of tea and brownie, very nice apart from the tea being overly sweet. We were napping on and off in the bus and watching the nice mountain landscapes with snow, rivers and ski centres (now closed of course) pass by.

We were beginning to think we might have crossed the border into Argentina without getting stamped out of Chile. After another 30 minutes we drove into the border control building that had Chilean and Argentinian passport booths right next to each other - get stamped out Chile, take one step to the right and get stamped into Argentina. Our luggage was x-rayed while we were sorting out the immigration. All in all, a very painless process.

We passed a very nice blue lake that was full of windsurfers and kitesurfers. The lake was quite close to Mendoza and judging by the solid line of traffic going in the opposite direction, it was definitely a popular spot to visit.

The bus arrived in Mendoza well ahead of time, 1.5 hours early. The ATMs were not working though and there were no money changers to be seen. So without any local cash in our pocket we were forced to walk to the hostel, about 15 blocks away. And they turned out to be big blocks too.

Luckily, the tourist information office was open and we got a map so it was easy enough to find Hotel Geminis even if it was a bit of a hike. The hostel was old looking but very clean with cable television.

We dropped our bags and headed out into town in search of an ATM. Most of them were not working, saying our cards don't work, but after a couple of hours we eventually got some money.

We asked around in couple of agencies about wine tours and apart from being expensive, many vineyards were going to be closed on Monday because it was a public holiday. It seems that because of the holiday tomorrow most people from Mendoza have left the city.

The streets of Mendoza were particularly quiet, more so than during siesta. We did find a few restaurants open on Avenida Samiento, the pedestrian street. We chose a restaurant at random and unfortunately its steak was very average to say the least but as a consolation the wine was good.