Where were we… We left of at our last 36 hours in Buenos Aires: The rain stopped so we walked all the way to the beautiful library el Ateneo (6KM) where we had coffee and read books before going to Evita's grave (the cemetery is stunning but Evita's grave was not much to look at). The evening we spent with Tango lessons which turned in to a kind of couples therapy since dancing is all about trusting your partner to lead and to move in harmony. The day of our departure we took the bus to La Bocca - a pretty cool but very touristy neighborhood. Glad we went there to see it but would not go there again - everything was overpriced and made for tourists. In the evening we got on our 14 hour busride to Mendoza which went surprisingly well as we slept the whole way.

We arrived in Mendoza before noon and spent the day walking around and finding our own hiking trail since we could not find the "real one" leading us up to the look out point. We had dinner at Bistrot Anna which has a beautiful patio and serves amazing food and wine.

Our second day in Menodza we took a bus to Maipu - a wine district 1 hour east of Mendoza where we rented bikes and went to two different wineries. We thought that we would be able to visit a lot more wineries but the map was quite misleading so we ended up having to bike quite far to get from one place to another - I guess we biked around 25KM in 30 degrees but the wines we tasted at the two very different wineries made it all worth it. The first winery was very modern and had a great terrasse overlooking the winefields which was where we decided to have lunch (Tempus de Albas). The second winery was family owned and very small - all grapes are hand picked and they only produce 80.000 bottles a year (Di Tomasso).

All in all a great day - but we were so tired when finally getting back to Mendoza that we decided on take-away pizza and watching Modern family in our apartment. Also we wanted to get to bed early as we booked the big winery tour for the next day and we would get picked up at 8.30AM.

We chose to go to Uco Valley for our full day wine tour which is the new more hip winery district in Mendoza (in stead of going to the more traditional area of Lujan de cuyo). We got "Peter's wine tours" recommended by my dad's contact in YPO and damn that was a good choice. Best day ever. We visited three wineries - one more beautiful and classy than the other. The lunch finale at Vines of Menodza literally took our breath away. It was so beautiful to look out over the winefields with the Andes towering in the background. I guess we must have had at least 20 glasses of wine that day so we got more and more tipsy and we had so much fun with our guide Peter who knew absolutely EVERYTHING there was to know about wine. Good thing that he had a driver for the trip so that he could enjoy the wines with us.

We got back to Mendoza around 6pm after having slept the whole way back - but I guess what they say is true: if you just drink really really good wines you don't get a hangover. At least we where ready to head out to the city again after a shower and a quick nap for some nice mojitos at our favorite local little cafe (el mercandito) followed by some beer stops on our way home. Result: Hangovers the next day :-) So we just chilled the whole day in the park, reading, playing cards and planning our next stop: Chile.

The next morning we got up and got on a (supposedly) 6 hour busride to Santiago de Chile (in reality the trip took 9 hours as we had to stop 2,5 hours at the Chilean border before we could get the immigration papers ready to enter Chile). We finally got the Santiago in the evening - but the trip was not that bad as we passed through the mountains with the most beautiful scenery. I think I took about 50 pictures on the way - simply stunning.

So now here we are. I am sitting on our balcony in our nice Chilean apartment (airbnb rocks!) writing about what we just did while Andreas is sitting on the internet trying to figure out how we will travel through Chile the next 3 weeks. All we know is that the next stop is Valparaiso. Supposedly a cool hippy town with winding streets, hills and amazing views over the harbour. All we need now is a to rent a car - which is easier said than done when you don't speak the language.

That's all for now - pictures will be added ASAP

LOVE, J&A