Currency:
Argentinian Peso's

Highlights:
Steak and wine Country, the Andes, bikes and wines, winery, winery, winery, beautiful scenery, ribs, high rollers and a lot of laughs...

Our Adventure Summarised:
It was time to say goodbye to Santiago for a few days and we left our apartment in Santa Lucia and jumped on the red metro to Universidad de Santiago and we headed to the bus station where we jumped on our 22h30 Andersmar bus headed for Mendoza, Argentina.

After wading our way through the crowds and ensuring we were on the right bus we jumped onboard and after a slight mishap with someone in our seat, we settled in ready for our 8 hour bus ride which would arrive in Mendoza, Argentina at 06h30 the following morning. Due to the fact we had front seats on the bus it was probably better that it was dark because negotiating the winding roads through the Andes looked very interesting from where I was sitting. iPod in, eyes closed and a few silent prayers and we were all fast asleep until our first stop at the border post.

After negotiating the Chilean / Argentinean border post all in Spanish with a few bag searches thrown in for good measure, we were back on the bus for some well deserved rest when we got woken up at 04h30 by the bus stopping. Half asleep we all looked around and we thought that there was no ways we could be in Mendoza as we still had another two hours to go. After the whole bus was empty we finally checked with the driver and we were indeed in Mendoza.

We were now in Mendoza at 04h30 in the rather chilly morning, with no accommodation until lunchtime the next day and nothing in the bus station open. So making the best of a bad situation, we setup camp on the bus station benches with a few of Mendoza's homeless population and we started watching movies in the freezing cold and waited for something to open. The coffee shop eventually opened at around 06h30 and we treated ourselves to lots of warm coffee and breakfast pizza for our bus station experience efforts.

After a mammoth innings at the bus station we eventually jumped in a cab around 10h00 and headed to our apartment at 1430 Chile Avenue, Mendoza. After arriving at our apartment we could not check in until 13h00 so we decided to hit the streets to go and do some exploring. In 1861 an earthquake leveled the city of Mendoza which was a bummer for the Mendocino's but a bonus for us as now it has wide avenues and spacious plazas. The result is one of Argentina's most seductive cities - a joy to walk around and stunningly picturesque. For those of you wondering the name mendoza or mendozer, or also known as a monkey stick, is a traditional English percussion instrument, widely used in folk music and this is where the South African band get their name from.

We headed up to Plaza Independencia and walked along the sidewalk restaurants on pedestrian Avenue Sarmiento which are fine places to people watch and up toward Parque San Martin. After being tempted by the restaurants we got halfway toward Parque San Martin and decided to head back to Avenue Sarmiento to go and get ourselves our first Argentinean steak with a nice bottle of red wine to kick off our working week. Yes, it was tough tucking into a great meal with great wine on a Monday at lunch time and we did have a toast to all of you who were working at the time.

We sat under the perfect blue skies and sunshine at Tristan Barraza Parrilla Restaurante (parrilla means steak) and settled into an unbelievable steak and a few bottles of red wine. Due to our adventures the previous night and after having minimal sleep we were all feeling very merry from a good few bottles of wine (6 to be precise) we decided to head back for a quick nap before heading out for the evening.

This was easier said than done because on the way back to the apartment we got stuck at Cafe del Teatro for another few bottles of wine (another 2) and eventually stumbled home just after 17h00 to go for a nap. We eventually got woken up at 21h30 and the travel team was couched with a good few sore heads but not letting the sore heads scare us, we were up and at it and headed out for a quick dinner and yet another bottle of wine getting back to the apartment around 03h00. An awesome first day in Mendoza!

After our late night we had a chilled out morning and decided to head out for the afternoon. Where else could I first stop be other than another Parrilla Restaurante, this time we decided on La Florencia. After another awesome meal in steak and wine country we decided to book a bike and wine tour for the next day to check out the Maipu wine region via bicycle - it comes highly recommended (http://www.bikesandwines.com).

We then decided to head to the tasting room which was called "The Vines of Mendoza" and we sampled another 5 delicious wines (a dry white, a rose and three reds). Feeling a little merry we headed back to the apartment for some chill time.

That night we decided to go and find another great parrilla restaurant and Al and I finally decided to sample something other on the menu than steak - which proved to be a fatal error. As we sat at Senor Baque, another Parrilla Restaurante, and after both of us ordered the pork ribs, the waiter returned to let us know that they were all out of pork ribs. Sorry for us. He did however highly recommend the lamb ribs and said that they were even better than the pork ribs. So as you do Al and I went with the waiters recommendation and what eventually got served to us was the worst excuse for lamb ribs that I have ever seen in my life - there is a great photo of Al showing how impressed he was with the lamb ribs.

Obviously the girls found this highly amusing and Al and I swore then and there that would be the first and last time that we would stray from the known and steak it would be all the way from here on in.

Feeling a bit peckish after our disgraceful meal we had a look at the menu and saw Dom Pedro's on the dessert menu. What a find. For those of you who do not know a Dom Pedro is a South African mixed drink made by mixing ice cream with whisky - absolutely delicious. As none of us had ever seen a Dom Pedro anywhere else in the world we thought that the so far not so great Senor Baque would redeem itself by serving us the greatest Dom Pedro's ever.

As we waited with baited breath out walked our waiter with whiskey tumblers filled with a scoop of ice cream and a scoop of cream topped with nuts. He then proceeded to pour a double whiskey in the glass which made the ice cream and cream float in the strongest whiskey ever. Huge fail for Senor Baque which would never see us again. Ever. We also realised there is truly only one place in the world that serves a real Dom Pedro. Ngiyabonga South Africa.

With the girls still in fits of laughter and Al and I having to pay the most we had on our Mendoza trip for the worst meal we had experienced in a long time, the girls decided to head off to bed and Al and I decided to tempt our luck, which had been non-existent in the last few hours, at the Mendoza Casino. So being the high rollers we are we strolled into the casino and headed straight over to the blackjack tables. Two tables were packed to the rafters but just around the corner was an open table. Al and I strolled over, sat down, gave the ladies an 'hola' behind the table and laid down a crisp 100 Argentine peso note each. We laid our first bet and the croupier dealt the cards. With the smug smiles still on our faces for finding the hidden blackjack table that we now had all to ourselves , we looked down at our first hand hoping that our luck would now change.

As we looked down at our cards we both noticed that we had 3 cards instead of 2 cards. WTF. We both looked at each other like there must be something wrong and we then looked at the sign on the table that read '3 Card Poker'. Doh. Wrong game. Wrong table. We did not know the rules. Keeping our high roller status we decided to roll with it and we looked at our cards and motioned to the croupier that we did not require any more cards. She looked at us like we were mad and duly just took our chips. Big fail. That was that for the high rollers at Mendoza Casino.

We woke up the next day ready and raring to go on our Bikes and Wines Tour around the Maipu wine region. The tour consists of 12km with trees of different species and vineyards along the trip with the snow capped Andes providing an unbelievable backdrop to the cycling tour. On the tour you could visit a number of wineries, among them La Rural which is the biggest wine museum in South America. As well as this you could visit a liquor and chocolate factory, an olive oil factory and a delicatessen. Who were we kidding we just wanted to sample the wine and ride our bikes while being merry and that is exactly what we did.

What a great day out in the sun and we managed to visit the Museo del Vino, Vistandes and Tempus Alba where we made a good few friends, had a lot of laughs and sampled some unbelievable wines. The only downside was the extremely sore rear ends that we all had from our fun in the sun. We headed back to the Bikes and Wines HQ and sat in the sun and finished off the day chatting to some of the Irish and Australians we met on the tour and drinking some ice cold Andes beers.

That night was the World Cup qualifiers where Argentina had a must win game to beat Uruguay to secure their place at the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. After witnessing Rio winning the Olympic 2016 bid and Chile beating Columbia 4 - 2 to make the World Cup 2010 we had a good feeling about this game.

We headed out with some of the Irish guys we met to watch the game in a pub in Mendoza. We bumped into a group of English guys who were on a work jolly from Sao Paulo which proved to be good fun and we all watched Argentina triumph with a 1 - 0 win over Uruguay. That made it 3 from 3 for us and we were again witness to an awesome atmosphere, celebrations and another great last night out on the town in Mendoza.

The next morning we woke up early and headed to the Mendoza bus station to jump on our 10h30 Andesmar 8 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago. Yes, we could have flown but this was a chance to drive through the Andes mountain range during the day and take in all it has to offer. The Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range and they lie as a continuous chain of highlands along the western coast of South America and it is the highest mountain range outside of Asia.

The beautiful scenic views through the Andes were definitely worthwhile and on the bus we managed to get up close and personal with the snow capped mountains, see the flowing streams and crystal clear lakes that made up a truly enjoyable bus ride. The only downer was that when we arrived at the Los Libertador border post high in the Andes we hit the snow and had a 3 hour wait while the whole bus' contents was unloaded, scanned, searched and reloaded before the border control let us leave on our way. That aside it was a truly great experience.

We arrived later that night in Santiago and we just had enough time for a Chinese takeaway for dinner which we enjoyed from our apartment overlooking the lights of the city of Santiago for the last time. In the morning we would be heading off on a new adventure which would take us back to Argentina.

Hasta luego Santiago, hola Buenos Aires.

You can see the latest photos of our adventures here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331129&id=713415257&l=32919cde0a
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331132&id=713415257&l=5a5627fd58
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331138&id=713415257&l=248ca67b17
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331139&id=713415257&l=e1ed062814
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=331141&id=713415257&l=0bbb810b2a