I have grave concerns that you believe that we are drinking ourselves around the world.In fact, this is not true.Some days we hardly drink anything, occasionally we enjoy a refreshing beer or glass of wine and only a few (all too memorable) blowouts.I felt that this needed to be clarified before talking about our next destination - Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina.Even though we have also visited vineyards in Australia and New Zealand we thought that since we were in the neighborhood we would also see (and taste) some of Argentina's finest.When in Rome and all that…

Firstly, we arrived in Mendoza after a 19 hour overnight bus ride trying to shake out the dance music ringing in our ears and erase the ridiculous plots of Transporter and Transporter 2 from our minds, courtesy of the bus driver.We had no reservation so we walked around only to find that double rooms were of very short supply and in the end booked into a dorm room with our Kiwi friends, Shannon and Denise.The hostel was okay but the next day the four of us marched around Mendoza looking for two double rooms and it was only later that I discovered that the dorm room was NOT okay since bed bug bites were coming out all over my body (again!).This time I took action and complained, getting my whopping US$13 back - that'll teach 'um.I also buried my sorrows in some shopping, which the city had plenty.

Once in the new, bug-free hostel we could organize ourselves and get out to see some of the vineyards and bodegas for which the region was famous.Perhaps it would have been more impressive had we not been to Australia or New Zealand (let alone California, France and Italy) because these were nowhere near as good.We've grown accustomed to manicured vines, topped and tailed by rose bushes.These vineyards were dusty with great big trucks driving by leaving garbage behind. Okay, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't as we had imagined.Luckily, we did enjoy some good tastings and a nice lunch.We were also accompanied by Shannon and Denise who provided excellent company.

The next day we were driven out into the Andes for some horse riding and hoping that we would begin to see some dramatic countryside, though as we drove out of Mendoza the clouds began to come in and plopped themselves right on top of the peaks making the valleys look like flatlands. The morning ride was nothing special but we trotted along, trying to keep smiles on our faces and our hands warm.Lunch followed with an asado (BBQ steak) lunch with two bottles of wine and a roaring fire and the four of us were in a considerably better mood and ready for ride number two.The afternoon did not disappoint and for moments the clouds played peek-a-boo and we were able to see the snow covered mountains above us.

For our last day in Mendoza we saved the best for last and went to a tasting room in the center of town and tried some wines from boutique wineries in the region. Antony was tired and stayed behind but I went along with Shannon, Denise and Hallie (who we met back in El Chalten).Here we tasted 15 wines over three hours and came to the conclusion that just because the vineyards are rough around the edges doesn't mean the wines aren't great.With rosy cheeks and some serious hunger, the four of us went back to our hostel to cook up an all night feast and sample many more wines.That night we hugged Hallie goodbye promising to meet up in NYC sometime and also vowed to stay away from wine for the next few days!

Love, R & A