At 3pm we arrived in Mendoza, Argentina after our bus from Chile. On first impression the city was brilliant; quite european in appearance yet everything was relatively cheap. We briefly explored the city in the evening before cooking and getting to know some argentinians who were staying in our hostel. They were cooking an Asado (Argentinian BBQ) on the hostels indoor Asado grill and offered us some of their food which was delicious.

The following morning we walked to the city park which was huge (apparently the second biggest man made park in the world). The majority of the day was spent exploring the park grounds admiring the statues, lakes and old buildings and climbing over fences to get insde a disused football stadium! In the evening we bought some ridiculously cheap wine (£1 a bottle) and a selection of meat to cook our own Asado on the grill.

On Friday we caught a bus out to a vineyard with the intention of taking a tour but upon arrival it was closed along with everything else around as it was workers day, a may bank holiday. The Argentinian governments decision to make all bus ticket machines coin operated in a country with minimal coins in circulation meant that we had to walk to the nearest open shop to get some change for the bus. As it turned out that shop was a good 2 hour walk away on the road back to Mendoza! Once we were back in town we spent the afternoon exploring the city centre surroundings before heading back for another BBQ with our leftover meat and of course, some more cheap wine.

On our last day in Mendoza we went back to the vineyard to have a tour and taste some of the wine that they were making. During the tour we explored a wine museum which had lots of old stuff including a leather wine press that was made out of Ox skin in which peopel used to stand and squash the grapes. After the bodega tour we had a few hours to kill in town before our overnight bus to Buenos Aires.