Left Mendoza (definitely not enough time there and another place for the must come back list) and headed out towards Cordoba. We camped overnight in a tiny place called Merlo (no relation to Merlot!) where I found a kindred spirit red wine drinker in Sarah. We managed to polish off around 3 bottles between us and it was only a quiet night! Set off on another drive day on Thursday and finally arrived at an estancia called Los Posteros in Rio Ceballos. It's owned by a bit of a toff called Kevin who sounds more British than the Queen but was born and bred on the estate. Actually he is Scottish by heritage but his family have been on the estancia for 4 generations. He was wearing a bright red beret and a woolly jumper but he did serve us a nice cup of English tea when we arrived so we'll let him off. We were actually supposed to be camping elsewhere on the estate but they've had a drought and run out of water so we ended up staying with him in an annex of his home. There was a double bed and 6 singles so Michelle and I decided to be a couple and share the double bed with Sarah and Verity sleeping on our floor. Then the fun and eventful 24 hours started. We began on the wine until 7.30pm when we had a wine tasting session of 4 wines. It was pretty free flowing so by the time dinner was ready we were all a bit trollied to say the least. More wine throughout and after dinner until we staggered to bed (after various 'healthy' debates including one that really got my goat up when an 18-year old boarding school preppy Brit started to claim that all state schools in the UK provide a s*** education and that nothing comes of people who go to state schools. I was obviously very quick to correct her given my background and the job I've just left! She also claims that teachers in state schools have no ambition otherwise they would be working for a public school. Eh?!!). Anyway, then was the 1st disaster. Someone had puked all over Sarah's sleeping bag and stuff. We think it was someone trying it find the bathroom but didn't make it in time. We are now trying to narrow down who it could have been and have a current shortlist. More to come if we single out the culprit (who hasn't owned up nor quietly apologised to Sarah). I personally think it's the boarding school twit as she had already puked once that evening. So, Sarah had an uncomfortable night on the truck and we have another gate to talk about - vomgate.

Anyway, finally got into bed and I got woken up every half an hour by Michelle whacking me for snoring. I got up at 4.30am for the loo and could hear some screaming coming from the bedroom. When I got back the light was on and Michelle was out of her sleeping bag prancing around the room (apparently she has been doing the 'worm' for a while beforehand - writhing around in her sleeping bag and then trying to shuffle across the floor). Every time I asked what was going on, both girls just responded "nothing" but with very suspicious looks on their faces. I then spotted the infamous fly swatter and I know that only has one purpose - the relocation and elimination of spiders. I froze to the spot but they just kept telling me it had gone into a hole and disappeared. Me being me, I never believe that old chestnut so I scanned the room and there it was. I have never, ever seen such a huge monster in my life (with the exception of the tarantula in the Pantanal as this one wasn't quite that large!). It was crawling on the ceiling above my bed, trying to squeeze through a massive hole that wasn't even big enough for one of its hairy legs, let alone its body. As we stared and stared (me still rooted to the spot), it finally vanished (I think just on top of the beam but who knows?). I refused to go back to bed and ended up swapping with Verity and sleeping on the floor. I wrapped myself up so well that no b***** was getting anywhere near me (of course I was nearly dying of the heat in the meantime). So, spidergate.

Friday morning was spent consoling Sarah over breakfast and then Michelle and Verity de-puked her stuff (good on them, I couldn't go near it without heaving). It was then time for the horses. God, not again, you know what happened the last 2 times. I classified myself as highly nervous and was given the tamest and most placid horse in the herd (is it herd? Not sure I've used the grouping before) called Pintada. It started growling when I got onto it which wasn't a good start and then it refused to budge. So, it's official. Me and horses just do not mix and I can't see myself ever deciding that horse riding will be a future past time of mine.

We had 2 English guides and 2 gauchos (dressed the part) and I managed to stay on and upright (just about) although going downhill was a bit traumatic as Pintada didn't seem overly sure-footed and kept stalling and freaking me out. We trekked around 5 miles in total to a pretty waterfall where we had lunch and then headed back to the estancia. My group was on dinner duty and 2 of the girls wanted to cook chicken curry. You'd think we were on a master chef or a gourmet holiday the way they were going on about it, rather than a roughing it truck trip. They wanted to clean the rice and fry all of the vegetables separately (when we're cooking on a 2-ring hob) and then asked if the truck had any fresh chillies in stock. HA! Are they for real? Anyway, it all turned out well except there wasn't enough food. We had a local guy entertaining us with some songs later on by the camp fire and then (drumroll....), spidergate 2! I went back to my room and Neinke was reading in the adjoining room. She told me not to look up which f curse I immediately did and spotted a huge monster. I naively thought it was probably the one from the previous night but checked my room anyway - yup, another monster in there too! I ran back to the fire to get Michael as he had said he would sort it out. The rest is hearsay as I obviously didn't come back for a 2nd look but as an ex British army guy who has served in Iraq, he should be ashamed of himself. He apparently got it on a mop and as it started crawling down the handle he screamed like a girl and dropped the mop. The spider then landed in Sarah's bag (it had to be Sarah didn't it?!) and Michael just stood there being useless, along with Gaetano who had been standing there looking useless the whole time! Adria then saved the day as she coaxed it out of the bag and into a tupperware box and then did the same with the other one. What a star! She is now the official spider catcher.

Saturday 10th

Today was our 2nd day of riding so I got back onto Pintada who was exceptionally dopey today and very slow - both physically and mentally. She's also a complete princess (how appropriate) as she refused to walk through any other horse poo or through any marshy ground - very sensible I think as she just simply didn't want to get her feet dirty or wet! I felt a little more confident today, although fairly stiff around the saddle region! We trekked to a hill called the top of the world which was quite nice, stopped for lunch then came back. We ended up at the main guesthouse which is about 4km from where we're staying. Apparently it's USD400 per night!!! Not sure I would have been happy paying that. Nice rustic place but not exactly 5 star! Anyway, 4 of us hovered around to have a nose around and 2 little ladies came out brandishing 2 huge jugs of homemade lemonade. Don't mind if I do!! Harvey (resident black lab) and his wife Pippa were wandering around and then Harvey decided to jump into the swimming pool for a quick dip - oops! Not sure the USD400 a night guests would be too amused at that really! He then decided to accompany us back to our living quarters.

We then had a lasso competition except the target was a tree as the calves they normally use had been mistakenly taken to market that morning - ooops!

In the evening we had a BBQ (and more free wine!). It was there that we discovered that Adria's great uncle is Phil Collins. Yes, THE Phil Collins - and she only just decided to let that one out now (we've been with her since Ushuaia). Michelle and I then started doing drum impressions from 'In the Air Tonight' which looked more like Animal from the muppets and yes, there are some dodgy photos and I think a video floating around. We then had a kind of award ceremony where I won a bottle of champagne for being the most improved horse rider - in both technique and confidence! After playing with a black and a white sheep we then started to steal some of the free wine. Nobody else seemed to want it so we each smuggled a bottle away and then we convinced Bill to take a whole box - which he did - so no wine buying for a few days at least!