So, a new era begins. Started off being very us and them (ie old group and new) as we got back on the road again (in fact Michael played that song as we trundled out of Santiago) and headed to the Argentinean border. Bloody hell, it was the most difficult border crossing yet (even though we've crossed in and out if Chile/Argentina several times over the last few weeks in the same truck. Basically we had a Mr Jobsworth who decided that we were using our truck to transport goods and he refused to let us in. Wouldn't search the truck to satisfy himself mind you. Oh no, he would make us wait for over 3 hours while the boys tried to call the British Embassy as they had issued all of our travel permits etc and the Dragoman HQ. They couldn't even bribe the guy which is what would normally happen (we bribed a few in Brazil!) so we just had to sit and wait. Finally made it to Mendoza which came as a shock to me as I was expecting a quaint little town when in fact it's a huge concrete city!

Anyway, the reason for being here was, of course, for the wine! The region produces 70% of the country's wine including my favourite - malbec. I had already decided that I wanted to do the wineries by bike (I'd heard some funny stories about people's experiences) and somehow gathered a group of 9 followers so off the 10 of us trotted. The first challenge was getting on the bus where we entertained all of the other passengers as we had 1 travelcard for all of us so as I swiped and shouted uno, dos, tres etc, Michelle repeated the numbers and handed out the tickets. We got a round of applause when we were done! Got to Mr Hugo's bicycle rental and collected our transport for the day. Simon and Jen decided on a tandem and Sarah and I thought it would be a laugh to do the same. Hmmm, not so funny. We pulled out in front of a car, wobbled around for a bit and then crossed the road into the path of an oncoming juggernaut! At that point we thought it best to get our own bikes so off we set. First stop was supposed to be the wine museum but the next tour was an hour away so we headed to the next stop which was a place producing hand-made olive products, jams, liqueurs and chocolate. Michelle, Sarah and I lost the others as they went flying past. Next thing they reappeared being escorted by a police car which had stopped them and told them they were going the wrong way. Ha ha - we hadn't even had a drink by that point. Anyway, the stuff we tasted there was fab. I had a banana and chocolate liqueur which as yummy but some of the others had absinthe which was the set alight and was like drinking fire - it burnt your lips and all the way down your throat and chest - quite nice though. We then made our way to the Trapiche winery. I'd had this wine further down south. It was a very impressive building and location. The winery is a 10 hectare estate which is totally dedicated to high end wines. It was originally owned by an Italian vintner but the estate was abandoned in the 1970s as consumption of wine fell in Argentina and it wasn't worth the effort. Trapiche bought the estate in around 2006 (I think) and they've kept a lot of the old original Italian machinery in a mini museum. In some of the vineyards close to the winery, they are experimenting with biodynamics - basically only using fertilizers from natural animal and vegetal waste and they harvest according to moon phases and star dynamics. Anyway, after the tour we tasted 3 wines which were all delicious. Our guide taught us the different stages of tasting a wine which was better than just guzzling (although it was the first wine of the day so we were actually ready to guzzle!). We had a Chardonnay which was surprisingly dry and good, given that I normally hate Chardonnay, a Cab Sauv which was delicious and then a red fortified dessert wine which was beautiful.

Next stop was food so we got back on our bikes and headed a few kms down the road to a family-run winery where we stuffed our faces with steak, chicken, sausage and salad. Yum! I do love the Argentinean diet! By then it was 6pm and everything had closed - amazing how little you can get done in a day - we only made it to 3 out of the 8 stops on the map! Back at Mr Hugo's we got free wine after we returned the bikes so everyone was a happy chap/chapess. (Except for Jen who skimmed the curb and fell off her bike giving her a nasty scrape across the chest.

Back in Mendoza it was time for more goodbyes as Ian was leaving us. We'll all miss his Ronald McDonald/Slim Shady personality!