Hi everyone,

We are writing to you from the west side of Argentina this time, in a city called Mendoza. If you have ever had a bottle of Argentinian wine the chances are it was made here! So it means you can get a bottle of good wine here for about €2!

Our first day here was spent wandering around the city and getting used to the cooler climate (the tans are quickly fading!). From what we´ve been hearing the weather isn´t exactly good in the UK and Ireland at the moment so knowing that we´re wrapped up in scarves and hats here will hopefully make it easier to read this!!

Our second day was spent on what we initially thought was a bit of a wild goose chase! A strange looking guy at the reception of our hostel had told us about these great hot springs and jacuzzis 1 hour outside of Mendoza. We figured this would be cool to visit so we hopped on a bus and almost 2 hours later arrived in the middle of nowhere at what looked like a hick village with a few swimming pools! Against our natural instincts we decided to follow the locals and threw on our swimming gear and ventured into the water....it was total bliss! Each pool was a different temperature, some roasting, some cool and some just right! We ended up spending the rest of the day there.

Following a day of relaxation, we were dragged along by a few others in the hostel to a tour of the vineyards of Mendoza. We started off being very sophisticated and attempted to recognise the flavours of the different grapes etc but by the end of it they all tasted the same! The tour ended with an amazing meal and ´all you can drink´ wine - they didn´t really know what they were letting themselves in for with 6 Irish people on the tour!

The next morning we were like spring chickens hopping out of the bed - got a bus at 6am to the ski slopes in a place called Penitentes. It was a 3hr bus journey to the resort in the Andes so we decided to spend the night there and get 2 full days of skiing. We rented all our equipment in Mendoza and took it with us so we looked like right pros carrying them around. We certainly didn´t look like pros when we struggled to work out how to put the ski´s on!! We got a couple of lessons and then hit the slopes slipping and sliding our way down them. Many tumbles and a few bruises later we managed to get the hang of it and we both really enjoyed it. Ger has been getting a few dirty looks from strangers when we´ve been out as my arms are black and blue so you can imagine what they are thinking!

Buenos Aires next- we´ll stay there for 6 nights and then on to the Galapagos!

Thanks for the messages, keep sending them. We love reading them and love it even more when we hear that Kerry are drawing closer to winning the All-Ireland (well maybe just me, not Ger!) He´s glued to some sort of Olympics that are on at the mo.

Lots of Love, Linda and Ger xxx