Greetings from Mendoza! And what an eventful few days its been....

Travelling overnight in the most luxurious coach imaginable was without doubt a very welcome surprise. Admittedly, we did pay a little extra to get seats that folded flat, but only the likes of British Airways Business Class could have rivalled it for comfort; padded leather seats, a choice of "in flight" movies, plus we had our own dedicated waiter who continuously plied us with meals and red wine... Well, it was 1200km and we certainly felt very refreshed when we arrived!! Nevertheless, to say we felt spoilt would be an understatement and as Faye has rightly said - this is NOT something we should be getting used to! If we did we'd be broke in a month, dragging our sorry behinds back to the UK begging for our jobs back... No thank you!!

From here on in I could say it's been plain sailing but I'd be lying through my teeth - We weren't in Mendoza five minutes before we left Faye's camera on the coach!!! Sadly we didn't realise until we left our hostel that evening so after a frantic scurry back to the bus station we were greeted by the inevitable phrase, "No sir, the cleaners didn't find anything, honest!" The bright side is that all the pictures have been backed up so no harm done apart from the inconvenience (and cost) of having to replace it! But, another seriously lesson learned: Always check you've not left anything behind! Including each other!

There's been the the usual shenanigans of course - Forgotten clothing followed by the search around the local supermarket for a replacement. The curse of cracked and blistered feet (both of us that is). Leaving my SD card in the hostel with beautiful scenery to photograph, knowing full well that I would have the lug a heavy SLR bag around with me all day because you're miles from anywhere! It may as well been full of bricks for all the use it was to me!!

We also go lost in Maipu after taking the wrong bus to hire bikes for a tour of the local vineyards. we even recruited a whole pharmacy full of locals who tried their level best to help us, but they soon realised that the only thing for it was to call us a taxi, who (yes, you've guessed it) also got lost and eventually dropped us off in the rear end of nowhere! We then had to walk another mile through an area which resembled war-torn Bosnia before eventually finding our desired location! We really must learn that the locals really do know better than us and we must start following instructions more carefully if we are to survive for the next year!!! Nevertheless, our troubles were soon forgotten once we were on our bikes and out in the open air, heading for a vineyards. We spend an amazing afternoon being show around what have become very well respected wineries and has also been the highlight of our trip so far. Well... spending an afternoon sampling the best wines Argentina has to offer!! How could we not??? Although I must say, riding a bicycle on the roads of Mendoza when you're slightly inebriated is something we could not wholeheartedly recommend; as fun as it was!

So all the mishaps aside, Mendoza is a beautiful place to spend some quality time. It's charming and the people are very friendly. A stone's throw from the mountains and local vineyards it's certainly somewhere we will be staying for a few more days. There seems to be much more emphasis on each other so we're very much at home with it's relaxed way of life. Things certainly work differently here, but for us that's completely the point. We've spent a lazy afternoon in our hostel, sunbathing in the beautiful courtyard garden then a quick dip in the pool before eventually getting ourselves ready for dinner at 11pm. How often can you be eating a steak at midnight and the streets are still overflowing with locals, either selling their wares or also enjoying the nightlife! And only yesterday, after a day of strolling through parks and seeing spectacular views, we were greeted by our hostel with free red wine, people swinging in hammocks, girls hula-hooping, and a young man playing the mandolin. Suffice to say much more red wine was drunk and many stories were shared. So, if you ever find yourself in Mendoza, then you can not got far wrong staying at the Empedrado - was a great place to be!

We were both slightly out of our comfort zones in Buenos Aires (me especially), but now we're coming in to our own and feel our trip is well and truly under way. Next stop - trekking in the Andes. Once the feet have healed of course!!

PS: Why is it when you're trying desperately hard to grow a beard - which is sadly showing itself as patchy at best, more Scooby Do's Shaggy rather than David Bellamy - does every guy you pass have the most immaculately groomed coat! I'm suffering from a seriously case of beard-envy that's for sure!!