We arrived fairly early in the morning at Mendoza bus station after a fairly sleepless night for Sue and I. To make things worse Maeve and Anthony had barely been awake the whole journey. Once we had got off the bus we were bombarded with offers from hostel representatives. One hostel offered free wine 24 hours a day, against our better judgement we went for one of the alternatives which was a nice little hostel with some outside seating and a very small swimming pool. Once we had dropped our bags and settled in we went wandering about looking for somewhere to eat. We walked for the best part of an hour when we came across a steak house. Obviously a steak house is never going to be great for a vegetarian, particularly one in Argentina, but when you order the soy bean sandwich with salad and it comes with a slice of ham you know you're in the wrong country. Still, the meat was incredible, I had to pieces of steak which individually would have been enough but Maeve had a steak which looked like it had been cut from a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was bigger than her oversized plate. The meat was absolutely incredible and you would think we would have all had enough to eat but there was no stopping us after lunch wandering around the city and stopping for an ice cream. Incredibly this was the first ice cream cone Sue and I had had since leaving on our travels. After our ice cream we went in search of tourist information so they could advise us on some reputable companies to do our wine tour with. The main reason for us coming to Mendoza was to do a wine tour as the region is world famous for its Malbec wines. We were recommended w***a tours by the tourist information so we sniggered our way over to their offices and booked ourselves on for the next day. After booking the tour we headed back to the hostel where Sue and I caught up with some sleep whilst Maeve and Anthony had a swim. After our nap and still feeling pretty full we decided against going for a massive dinner and instead went to the supermarket where we picked up some cheese, ham, pickles and hot peppers and had a cold buffet style dinner. After dinner we had a couple of drinks and played cards before all heading off to bed. The following morning Sue and I were up just in time for breakfast and we hung about the hotel using the internet until Maeve and Anthony materialised around lunch time. We popped to a local shop and grabbed a couple of rolls to make sandwiches with the left overs from the previous night. At 2pm our tour bus came to pick us up to take us on our wine tour.

The first stop on the wine tour was to a small family run winery where we were given our tour by the niece of the owner. We were shown the small on site vineyard and were taken through the wine making process including visits to the cellar. Once we had gone through the motions we got to the part of the tour we were most interested in, the tasting. We were offered three or four different wines and we all decided we liked the most expensive one. In the onsite shop we decided to buy a bottle as a bit of a treat to share that evening before we went out for dinner. We then moved on to the olive oil factory where we were shown both the traditional and modern methods for making olive oil before being given a taste of some of the oil and other related products such as sun dried tomatoes. We then moved on to our second winery which was a big industrial sized plant. We were shown the modern method for making wine and again were given a taste of a few of the wines produced on site. Having become snobs we decided that the wine we had already purchased for the small vineyard was far superior to the large volume produce so we didn't but any more wine. After the last vineyard we were driven to a small shop where the proprietor made homemade chocolate as well as sauces, pickled good and chillies. We all got given a taste of the chocolate and some of the jarred goods and I decided to grab a jar of the pickled chillies. After the tour we were driven back to our hostel in Mendoza.

After we got back from the tour we decided that our wine would go well with some cheese so we popped to the local shop and picked some up from the deli counter. We then sat outside in the hostel garden enjoying a bottle wine with cheese and some of the hot chillies. After our appetiser we headed out to a restaurant recommended in one of the guide books. I again ordered a steak for dinner and whilst it wasn't as good as the day before the restaurant itself was really nice and had a great atmosphere. We were lucky we got their early as by the time we were leaving there wasn't a spare seat in the place.

The next morning Sue and I were again up in time for breakfast (you can't say no to free food) and then hung around the hostel again for Maeve and Anthony to be ready to leave. Once they were up an about we headed back to the supermarket to grab some stuff for a picnic as we were heading up to park in the north of the city. In the middle of the park is a massive pond where we were able to settle in to the shade of a tree and sit to eat our picnic. After our lunch we walked around to the leisure centre ,which was built on to the lake, as Sue and Maeve fancied a swim. Luckily for Anthony and I it was extortionately priced so we got to go to the bar instead. After we had a drink at the waterside bar we walked back to our hostel to collect our laundry and pack our bags. Once we had packed up we caught a taxi in to the city centre to try and find somewhere to eat before our overnight bus. Unfortunately for us we had timed it when every single restaurant apart from fast food was shut. With no other option we headed to the bus station hoping to find some food there. We were lucky that there was a restaurant open although the quality of the food left a lot to be desired. I also ordered a pizza, and as they didn't have the large they gave me two smalls instead. The small pizza itself was about 3 times the size of a normal large pizza. Goodness knows what they must have thought of me when I ordered the large, it was probably meant for a party of twenty people. I didn't even finish one small pizza and had to leave the other pizza to be thrown away. Still, I got on the bus full enough to take me all the way through the night to Cordoba.

John