I took my first ever night bus from Santiago to Mendoza. I sacrificed the views of the Andes so I didn't have to spend all day on a bus which I seemed to be doing a little too often. We set off at around 11pm but seemed to spend around three hours from 2am till 5am at the Chile/Argentinean border, so the sleep pattern was slightly disrupted somewhat. All bags came off the bus and into a van for X ray and the man at the customs looked like the spitting image of Gabriel Batistuta.
I arrived in Mendoza at 9am and I tagged along with two French Canadians from the bus and walked to the hostel. I said my goodbyes to Chile, and here I was, walking the streets of Diego Maradona country. It all looked a lot more European than the other South American countries.

Mendoza itself was a lot bigger than I imagined, and is extremely famous for its wineries. Other activities here which seemed popular were tours through the Andes, horseback riding, and White water rafting. The main attraction though was most certainly wine. The hostel was selling wine tours all day every day, and I'm all one for trying new things, but I just do not like Wine, so it would be utterly pointless for me to do it (especially as I endured it a few days before in Elqui Valley, northern Chile). There seemed to be a popular tour where people ride a bike and then do there own wine tasting. I am sure by doing that some people over the years have gone head first into the bushes over the handle bars after one too many. If ever they have a tour like that for pints of Bitter though, can someone somewhere in the World please let me know? Thanks.

Buenos Aires for the big football derby was the next venture.