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Day 5 - Mendoza(Night bus to Mendoza contin)

During the night, a woman boarded the bus with her three kids. She sat in the seat opposite to us and both of us thought we would not get any sleep. The kids were pretty upset to start with but soon went asleep. The woman stayed awake holding her youngest boy in her arms. After a couple of hours the kids woke up and the lady got up. She spoke to us in Spanish, clearly asking something, and then handed us the little boy. So we were left holding the boy and we were trying to keep him happy so he wouldn't cry. He was very cute and smiling to us the whole time. At one point we did start to wonder if she had left the kid with us and was going to do a runner…. But after ten minutes she came back from the toilet and said thank you and took him back. Not sure if that would ever happen in London!!!

So we turned up in Mendoza and even though the bus had stopped loads and people had been getting on and off the bus, we had managed to sleep for a few hours. We walked to our hostel and this place was big, not what we had expected. We checked into hostel suites which was more like a hotel room than we've had for a long time.
It was Sixtens birthday today, so Marie spent some time speaking with pappa and the family before we took a walk round what we quickly found to be just a big city. We got some information on the wine routes and what else there was to do in Mendoza itself but altogether it was a relaxed day. In the evening we decided to cook and went to the supermarket to pick up some food. Unless you eat pasta, meat or pizza there's not much choice but Marie managed to find some veggie burgers and she was pretty much jumping up and down with joy. The burgers were great and made up for the poor lunch consisting up cup a soup and some hot dogs.

Day 6 - Mendoza

Having looked at all the trips and what there was to do, we decided just to go to the wine region but to have another easy going day. We took a walk to the park, which we thought would be pleasant, but turned out that roads went through it so was pretty noisy. We managed to find a nice lake which was relatively peaceful and had some tea in the sun.

We wandered past what is known to be the best place for food and drink and found a decent restaurant, so sat out in the sun and had a long lunch. Tough life!

On the way home, we had a look around the modern art museum but let's say Marie was more impressed. Martin can't understand that some of the stuff, kid's paintings, can be up there as well.

Day 7 - Mendoza Maipu

The start of the wine tour. We got on the local bus for the 20 minute journey out to the town of Maipu, though it turned out to be more like 45 minutes and by the end we were certain we were in Brazil or something. We were greeted off the bus by a couple of harassing bike renters and when we heard the northern English accent it was easy to choose which one to go with. Turned out the guy was from Barnsley, so had a good chat as we got sorted. They gave us a map of the wine region and told us which places were vineyards and which were olive groves etc. It was around 12 by the time we set off and the sun was out, a great day for cycling round and trying wines. The Maipu area produces around 70% of all Argentinian wine and the region mostly grow the famous Argentinian Malbec.

Our first place was a museum and a wine tasting vineyard but this one was an exception in that it was free. The museum was really good, they had loads of old machinery and tools. Turned out it was free in that they gave you one glass of wine and it was probably the worst wine we had. A quick cycle across the road, lead us to a place that produced olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lots of picklesolive and liquors. The oil was lovely on bread with balsamic and then Marie tried a few olives and we had some really good smoked cheese (ended up buying a jar). You got to try one liquors, most of which were like chocolate or something but then they had absinthe. That bought back a few memories from uni, most of which didn't last long after you had a shot of the 75% alcoholic drink, but as it was 1pm, why not. Martin had a go and they weren't shy on the shot measure but after a good mouthful, he quickly allowed others to try it. How kind or how ridiculously strong. Riding would become more fun now!!

The third place was one of the larger vineyards in the area by the name of Trapiche. We got there for the tour and it really started our learning. Amongst other things, we learnt how the wine gets different characteristics and flavours by using French or American oak barrels. The vineyard was lovely and we even got to try the Malbec grapes straight from the vines. We did our wine tasting in a lovely bar overlooking the vineyards and the mountains.
After the tour we headed on up the road for a good few kilometres. Well, when we say road, they were actually doing loads of work to it and for about one kilometre it was more like a vibrating surface. Being on a bike at that point wasn't so pleasant. We arrived at our last family run vineyard and got a tour. At the end, we got to try 3 wines and they were all really good, so we decided to buy a bottle. Having worked out that we had just enough for the bus fare home (who leaves home, to go to a tiny town without enough money!!) we headed back to the bike place. By this point we'd realised we'd have to come back for another day to finish off as we had only done four out of fifteen. We were also really tempted to come back to the little vineyard to buy their special wine. In 2004, they had an amazing harvest and the owners realised this, bought in some really expensive barrels, and made some really premium wine. Only 4000 bottles were made and they were selling them at the high price of 120 pesos (about £18). Incredible and very tempting.

When we got back to the bike shop, we were given a glass of wine and got chatting to a couple of South Africans. We headed back to the hostel and had to turn down a pub crawl as we had already had too much to drink and were knackered!!!

Day 8 - Mendoza Maipu

We got up and got back on the bus, happy to know we knew where to get off this time. Couple of stops later the South Africans got on, so it looked like we'd have some buddies for a few vineyards. Sorted out the bikes and paid the fee for them to drive us up over the roadworks and to the furthest vineyard, which was around 10kms away. We started in a small vineyard again and after a decent tour (seemed to learn something new in every one) we got to taste some wines. Felt kind of early but there you go.

We then crossed the road to an olive farm and Marie did a tasting with the others. Martin sat out but the woman spoke no English at all, so there was no tour which was a shame.
We then cycled down, agreed to meet the SA's at the beer shack later before stopping at a recommended restaurant for some lunch (steak for Martin of course and pasta for Marie). After lunch we stopped at a vineyard named Tempus Alba. After the self-guided tour around the place we went up and took the option to try 5 of the 6 normal wines and 1 of the premium and they weren't shy in the tasting sizes, the glasses came up like you'd ordered it in a bar and especially the premium. This place reminded us of the life we gave up, sophisticated, a beautiful setting and made us think of home!! The wines were lovely and we sat there for a good couple of hours just enjoying it before buying a bottle of the Malbec, which was probably the nicest one we'd tried. We got their card, as export their wine and luckily all the way to London. It will be on the purchase list upon our return.

Enough wine. We cycled back towards the rental place but stopped in the beer garden to meet the SA's for a beer. This little shack was great and would have been really chilled out had the weather been nice. Today had been grey and miserable, so it was chilled in temperature and we sat and had a couple of beers round the fire!

Day 9 - Mendoza to Buenos Aires (BA)

We had another night bus, so basically spent the day at the hostel doing admin stuff. We had booked to go on the Cama seats this time, which are like Business class on a plane but not as good as First class. What a difference. The seats were massive but it was more about the service. We got given food and of course wine! And even had a game of bingo. Marie did a good job and managed to get bingo at the same time as another guy and after being allowed to put her first number back in the bag (was a 6) for the deciding who gets the highest number contest, she pulled out a 28 and the guy behind gets an 18, so she's all smiles and is the winner. Naturally, the prize is a bottle of wine!!!

Day 10 - Buenos Aires (BA)

We arrived first thing in the morning and made our way over to the hostel. This place was a little more than others but it came with very high recommendations. They couldn't check us in, so we sat downstairs in the lounge, watched a bit of football with some others and generally relaxed.
We took a stroll round the local area for a while and got in some lunch before heading back to watch the Spurs vs Chelsea match. Nothing to be said on that.
In the evening, we had some dinner and then around midnight (we were relatively early for this town), we went out for a couple of beers in an English pub nearby - was meant to be good for ex pats and backpackers. It was a good evening.

Day 11 - BA

We were staying in the San Telmo area of BA and it was known to be the Tango region. On a Sunday (as it was today) there was a huge street market of antiques and generally a bit of everything, as well as street Tango performers. It was a must do, so we spent most of the day wandering the streets, though it was a little disappointing that there weren't so many street tango performers. The weather was cold and winter was really setting in (time to go north !!).

Marie decided to buy a mate cupstraw combination from having tried it in Salta but outside of that, there was a lot of junk and some lovely things but with a few months left, not possible to buy and take with us.
In the evening, we sat around the hostel and got chatting to a couple who were from the north of England but were travelling for a few months before heading back to the uk having been in Australia for 3 years. It turned out to be a great laugh and around 2 or something before we went to bed.

Day 12 - BA

We had been recommended a free (working off tips) walking tour, so got up and went over to join them. The tour went from the main Congress building, down what is called the Pink House (where the president works) and it was really informative. It gave some really good background to Argentinian history and especially about the military control and non-democracy for 7 years in the 70's80's. We were fascinated to learn about this group of mothers who continue to meet at Plaza de Mayo every week to walk round the statue in Plaza de Mayo with handkerchiefs on their head, to symbolise the missing children they had lost during the dirty war (taken and never returned). There is much more to it than that and people don't support them anymore, but it was something you have to learn about if you come here. The worst thing we learn is that there is a group called the Grandmothers, who are (again) just that, but they offer free DNA to people (around 25 to 35) who don't know their full family history. There were so many mothers and children that were taken during this time and after they had killed the mothers for being terrorists, the military sometimes kept the child and let it grow up with them. Only two months ago, the grandmother's got another DNA result, and a young woman found out that her parents were not here biological parents and had never told her so. She had gone to the grandmothers on her own accord and without telling her 'parents'. The worst thing is that not only did she find out that they weren't her parents, she found out that they had been involved with the killing of her real parents.

During the tour we got shown a really famous café along the way, which is meant to be the Ritz of BA, so after the tour we went back and got some lunch. The building was lovely and it was nice to have done it. After that we wandered down the crazy street of Avenue Florida, which is the main shopping street. We walked all the way and bought nothing as usual.
We went back to the hostel and Martin had a snooze. Tonight was going to be cool, we were going to see Boca Juniors play Indipendiente. We got to the stadium which lies in the Boca area of BA and is a pretty rough are. We got into the stadium and were in the standing part, but quickly realised why the guide was telling us to move up under the cover of the upper terrace, when a balloon type things came flying over and water exploded on the floor. We had the away fans straight above our heads!! We were behind one goal and it was really busy, but the other end was packed with hard-core fans. One guy we were chatting to (a Spurs fan) told us that out of respect they leave an area in the middle of the stand free for the die-hard fans, who arrive at the last minute. And sure enough, 10 minutes before kick-off, the area packed out with fans and the band. Then the place came alive. The entire time, people were jumping up and down, waving one hand (only one hand) and singing mostly the same song. After a while it was just the chorus, so we all got to know it and were joining in - no idea what we were singing but we were singing it loud.

Included in the tour was beer and pizza after the game. We had thought it was before (who doesn't go for a beer before a game…) and so hadn't eaten since the café. We got taken to a bar and rammed into this area with about 2 other bus loads of people. Being promised lots of pizza, we were a little shocked by the lack of it and the people being like scavengers to get it. They served beer though (nothing else in the bar but just beer) and we were chatting away to people and drinking beer. Marie even said that it was ok. After a couple of beers (they only come in 1 litre bottles!!) we were back on the bus and taken to another bar, where we were offered more free beer and ended up staying till pretty late, having a great laugh with a number of people and getting pretty drunk. It was a great evening.

Day 13 - BA

Martin got up to a bit of a bad hangover. Marie seemed to have come out from the evening much better but that may have been helped by her not liking beer so much. So after breakfast and a little snooze for Martin, we headed out (about 2pm!!). We popped down to the bus station and sorted the ticket for Puerto Iguazu and then stopped for a proper feed in this lovely place just by the station. It was strange as most stuff round the station, as it seems with most stations, was crap and then there was this gem. The restaurant was big and in a really nice old building.

After the feast and having really enjoyed the waiter - a guy who was just happy and helpful, who also seemed pleased with our pigeon Spanish, we walked over to the famous Cemetery (Cementario de la Recoleta). Not really sure what we expected but it was weird. Not sure how many times we caught ourselves saying weird but it was a lot. The cemetery is there for all the important people, such as ex-presidents, artists and also hosts Eva Peron's grave. All the graves are next door to each other, down what can only be described as roads - they even have road names and all the graves were massive and looked like little houses. Most were made of marble but you could see into them and there was the coffin. There were trap doors to go underground in them all, so you'd think they bury them underground but no, they are there for everyone to see. Hence, why "weird" was said a lot. Marie felt better by the fact that at least you'd get your money's worth out of the coffin as you'd normally pay all this money and it would be put underground. Now everyone can see it for years. The weirdest though were the ones that had chairs in the gravehouse thing. So whoever (assume family) can go in there and talk to the coffin. So you can sit there and tell them your troubles and find out how they're decomposing is going…… WEIRD

Anyway, after that we decided to head over to the Evita museum but on the way, we walked by a glorious old building that is now the university and then past the famous Escultura de la Rosa, which is a huge golden rose (coloured pink at night). We arrived at the museum and took a wander round and really learned a lot about the woman that is such an icon in Argentina and is famous across the world. The museum was great - took about an hour or so and was really informative but not drastically boring or long.

We didn't fancy doing too much more and it was getting on, so we decided to head back to the hostel. We took the metro and it was packed (like sardines in a can packed). Marie noticed this sneaky git behind Martin, take a jumper out and then basically use it to hide the fact that he was trying to pick pocket him (good job we never have anything in the pockets). More strangely though, this girl behind Marie gave her this smile when she noticed, as if to say "it's ok". Thankfully they got nothing and left at the next station.

When we got back to the hostel and got ourselves together, we met Michael and Lucy downstairs. They had bought a red for us to share and one for us in return for the other night from the vineyard that they had been to around BA. We sat and talked till the early hours and had a good laugh. Unsurprisingly, both bottles of red got drunk!

Day 14 - BA

We got up a bit late after staying up chatting all night and had breakfast before saying goodbye to Lucy and Michael, who were off to Uruguay. We then went for a stroll down towards the river and what used to be the docks but what is now a trendy place and there is a lot of money in the area. On the way we found a busy restaurant of locals, so we decided to have some lunch. Martin decided to try steak with what they translated as green onions - turned out to be garlic. Gonna smell for the next few days!! We never made it to the docks because we were meeting up with some people at the hostel to go watch the Man Utd game and then ended up going back to the docks!!
In the evening, we were picked up to go to the Tango show. It was a one hour performance and we had taken the show only option (you could have dinner). This was another must do when in BA, so we were both looking forward to it. At the end, Martin was little disappointed with it. There was some weird storyline and it was a few old hags dancing away with some young blokes, all in cheap costumes. Marie enjoyed it more and thought the dancing was great.