Winedoza….

So I arrive in Winedo…I mean Mendoza, feeling a tad tired after *another* long nightbus.

These night buses don't get any easier I can tell ya, but in a strange way I sometimes look forward to them, being left in peace, happily sitting & reading my book (when I have one) & getting a dead arm, shoulder & neck, ahh bliss :)

I don't do much for the first two days because I need to rest myself up & have a relaxing one for a bit as I have my 40 day tour creeping up, like a wee little ninja, unsure when to strike (6th April to be exact). I do however manage to take a long walk almost all the way around Mendoza City, the only bit I miss out is the amazing massive park, which I didn't realise was amazing & massive until someone told me on the day I left, doh.

Anywho, we have a new bunch of people arrive on the Friday night & Saturday everyone's heading out for the wine tour so I decide I might as well hop on board too, the weather had been superb so I was excited about biking around vineyards in the sun, topping up my tan while getting some much needed exercise.

In the morning we're all rushing around excited, finally after a lot of messing about we find a ticket place for the bus & get on the bus & realise its f**king freezing, I mean tis rather chilly on ma erm willy…(yes I did actually just write that)…I am of course wearing a wee jacket just in case but I also have small denim shorts on, not ideal for minus 10! (Ok, ok, that's a slight exaggeration) & riding a blinking bike. Well at least I had the vineyards to look forward to eh :)

Nope, no vineyards..it's just a little town with some wineries & they buy the grapes from vineyards, superb. So we're cycling about this little town, Nick's got a flatty instantly, which is slightly amusing to watch, & we hit the first winery…the little old man is a proud one, shows us photos of him & a family all wearing top's with his face on (think he sells them, not sure why but couldn't understand a word being said). We drink 3 or 4 different types of red wine, all making the right noises so the owner knows we appreciate it, it's a quick tour & one that most of us doesn't understand thanks to our lack of Spanish, so we head off to the next place which promises more wine and PIZZA!

The next place is another 20min ride away, I'm enjoying riding around it feels nice to be 'doing' something again. We arrive at this one with a bit more hope as the building is absolutely beautiful & we were right & this one is amazing, we're shown about the cellars, the massive barrels & then finally given a decent tasting of a few beautiful wines. By this time we're all pretty starving & rather than compliment the wine we're all now just chanting 'pizza, pizza' under our breathe (some even out loud *gasp*), the woman kindly gives in & we all go running after her, the sound of pizza chants following her like a bad smell.

Now this is what I'm talking about :D The pizza is amazing, Italy would be proud! I sooo should have had one to myself, but upon buying a whole bottle of Rose to myself I thought it only appropriate that, for once in my life, I share a portion with someone. Well, what a mistake, it was divine oh divine pizza…mouth watering goodness hmmmm, what with that & my new friend Rose I was meerily on my way to a happy place, somewhere under the table. For pudding we also shared a pudding pizza consisting of Pizza base, marmalade & cheese…interesting….& interesting it was….

Sunday day was spent doing not much, booking my bus to Santiago & chilling out enjoying the sunshine. Sunday night myself & most of the group who I done the wine tasting with went out to Don Mario Restaurant for a good ole Argentinean steak, this place had been recommended by *Mike, who owns the Hostel & also was on trip advisor so I was quite excited about this..

*Mike is the Hostel owner & a top top bloke, however he also suggested the wine tour in a different place from the normal one which is in Maipu, we now have realized that wine tour was infact slightly cr*p compared to the Maipu one & Mike was most likely only suggesting it so much because he would get free wine from them! Haha, so alas we were nervous about the Restaurant too because we didn't know if maybe Mike also got a free cow from Don Mario.

I was expecting somewhere glam again, alas it was not, it was slightly comparable to a Harvester in England. Even so, the food was amazing & I was jealous of everyone's grilled fillet (I chose one with sauce) as they looked to be about 500g's of pure goodness. Mine still tasted fabulous, until I had to go for a walk around the ladies toilets to stop myself being sick, class.

Oh & just to make the night complete, I get another old man perving & grinning at me as I exit the taxi, but not before he stares at my legs where my dress has risen up & gets all glass eyed like he wants to take a chunk out of my leg.

Monday comes & I say a sad farewell to Nick, Mark, Claire & the Canadian girls who were all fabulous company, & I hit the bus to Santiago!! The bus ride is easy enough & on the way I get to see some amazing landscape from the Andes, its rocky areas like I imagine some places in the USA are & also snow peaked mountains in the distance, looking all picturesque. The border crossing was interesting, especially since I was the only gringo & didn't understand anything anyone was trying to say to me, I got the basic grasp & managed to get on & off the bus at roughly the right times. At one point we're all lined up like terrorists, guys all staring at us waiting for one of us to crack under the pressure & shove a fist full of coke into their grip. Alas, none of us cracked & after the sniffer dog had jumped all over our hand luggage (literally), we were allowed on our way to FREEDOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!

Wahoo, I'm in Chile!!

So I arrive in Chile slightly petrified because I have no local currency & no clue how to get to my Hostel. I don't want to take a taxi as I am skint & now living much like Tasha & Fiona did when they travelled (*_*) . So I head through the bus terminal & after a while I finally find a cash point (where I withdraw 150,000 bucks, wahoo GET ME) & then manage to talk in Spanglish to find the Metro. Metro boarded I am on my way & back to solo travelling, I can do this again, I can do solo travelling & fend for myself, piece of blinking cake :)

I get to the Hostel at about 7pm & then go on the net & go to bed because the big wide world of Santiago scares me.

Today, faaaa laaa laaa, I finally wake up at about 8am, shower & eat myself a Casa Roja breakfast feast (it's my lunch too, as I can't afford anything, so I am allowed, OK) of 2 toast, jam, coffee, juice, cereal & scrambled eggs, nom, nom. I was meant to go & find the Cuban Embassy to sort my visa, this morning, but as I am feeling lazy & slightly apprehensive about going outside I decide to sit on the internet till erm 1pm. This is fine as the Embassy is open till 5pm, so I head out armed with my passport, money…whoops goes back again for camera, so passport, money &camera plus book to swap…it's all going rather well & I feel right at home taking the Metro from place to place, I even stop in a few shops to look about, take a few photos & enjoy the 30 degree heat (till I start pouring with sweat when its 4pm & I have to half run to the Embassy as it's about 12 blocks away). I finally make it to the embassy, all happy with myself about what a fabulous little mission I've had & how I really like Chile so far….it's shut.

On the door 'We are open from 9am - 1pm'. Brilliant.

On the Cuban Embassy website for Santiago it says 'Open from 9am - 5pm', the swines!!!!

Not to let it ruin my life I decide to head back to where I came from (long old walk) & to look at some nice flip flops (I can't afford) & try & find somewhere to buy Breaking Dawn. On the way I stop to eat at a place I must highly recommend if your ever passing through Santiago ;) It's called Domino or something (yes I'm brilliant at remembering names aren't I) & it serves fresh juices & amazing sandwiches which taste so pure & yum.

Anyway, enough of food talk..basically the rest of the day goes like this:

Goes to 7 different book shops, none have Breaking Dawn, one has it but in Spanish.

Walks about 30miles to above 7 book shops & gains a new blister friend.

Flip flops arent availble in my size.

My loose vest top seems to attract pretty much every man on earth, it really isn't that special but I suppose men are easily pleased when a bit of boob is on show :)

So yeah, actually didn't get anything done today but spent about 6 hours not getting anything done, go me :)

However, not to sound like it was all bad, I actually had a pretty fab day, I've even enquired in the gym for a day pass & might head there tomorrow if I have time (after going back to the embassy, gah) or go there before I join the tour, exciting! Plus I have realized if I did speak Spanish I think Argentina or Chile would be places I could live, I don't normally class myself as a true City girl but something about these places I feel strangely at home & that usually only happens on islands in the sun. So yeah, all in all a good day :)

Observations:

Argentina & Chile are very similar in the sense that the majority of people populating both countries could easily be placed in England & fit in. You seriously sometimes cannot even tell that people are from either areas, they look so European/English & even dress very similar too.

The food in both Argentina & Chile is cheaper then Brazil but more expensive than Central America. The steak in Argentina is some of the best, if not the best, I have had. The fact you can do an amazing buffet for just £10 & eat all you like is amazing. The wine is also cheap, but not cheap in taste, only in price.

Brazil is nice & I really liked the coast line but Argentina beats Rio hands down. Buenos Aires has class, it has style & everyone seems to look effortlessly nice. Rio, however, has a certain amount of tackiness about it (apart from in Leblon).

Men Vs Woman:

Men of Argentina & Chile seem to be of standard, as in, when they are hot they are REALLY hot, but when they are not they are totally average. Same goes for the ladies in both places I think. Brasil? I may have talked about Brazil before but I really don't see what all the fuss is about?! The women aren't all that at all & the guys had nice bodies but that is literally about it. Obviously whena stunner comes along you notice it & some of the girls I have seen on the trip have been very pretty, but none who have stopped me in my tracks in awe.*

*Disclaimer: I am only writing about this because people tend to ask about these countries & say everyone is hot. I am merely only writing my opinion & because I am a fussy b*tch you might want to just ignore everything I just said because I do tend to be oblivious to most things, even people.

Ciao for now :) xxx