Mendoza is one of Argentina's largest wine producing areas and is also famed for good food so needless to say Tara and I were pretty excited about our visit here! We arrived into Mendoza late Monday evening and treated ourselves to a slap up meal!

Tuesday was a morning of getting stuff done (like Tara telling her family/work that her arm was in a massive cast). In the afternoon we took a walk around the massive park in the north of the city! The majority of backpackers, who visit Mendoza, visit the local wineries and vineyards on a bike! Since Tara was one armed this wasn't really an option for us (There was the potential to get a tandem but Tara wasn't keen on this before she broke her arm so certainly was no more keen now) so we decided we would be driven around instead (this is the only change of plan that happened because of Tara's arm - she's such a trooper). There were 2 types of wine tour available a really cheap one that sounded a bit crap and a really expensive one that sounded awesome - in the end we decided to splash out and opted for the expensive one!

When booking the trip we met a couple who were also going on the Trip called Nick and Kirsten (Kirsten introduced herself by asking if we were cool when she heard we were booking the same trip). We spent the evening in the bar with Nick and Kirsten and some other people from the hostel - where I continued my missionary work, convincing everyone they should be attending lollapalooza. I didn't do too badly, succeeding in convincing Kirsten and Nick (who in the end couldn't make it) and also Aussie Bryan (who had to change all his plans - but I'm sure he'd agree it was worth it). The monkey hostel in Mendoza was really cool, the bar was busy but chilled and a decent place to spend the evening, unfortunately (or fortunately) what started as a couple of drinks at happy hour ended with too many drinks but a fun night!

The following morning (yes morning, we were setting off at 10am) was the wine tour. We set off out of Mendoza, as we approached the bodega the scenery was stunning and we got a tour of the large, relatively new winery where they produced some very fine wines. We sat outside trying some fantastic red wines (Malbec, ablend; Quimera and a finca). When the wine list came round it transpired we had just tried a £100 bottle of wine! The scenery from this vineyard was just stunning, with snow-capped volcanoes as the backdrop!

The second vineyard had even more stunning scenery, here were treated to a fantastic 3 course lunch, and some more amazing red wines (including a Malbec, Syrah, and Cab Sauv). The lunch was amazing, the wines fantastic, the views were stunning and the company was great - it was a really enjoyable lunch.

The third and final winery of the day was a stark contrast to the others. It was a small operation, much more of the work done by hand, with few staff and it really felt like a lot more love went into the wine. Here we were given the opportunity to try some more Malbec, we were able to try a 2006 and a 2004 and compare the difference (I may sound pretentious, and also it was at the end of a day wine tasting) and you really could tell the difference in the extra two years in the bottle! These were the best wines we'd had all day so Tara and I ended up purchasing a couple of bottles. That evening there was an asado (bbq) in the hostel, which was also awesome - it really was a fantastic day filled with decadence!

My final day in Mendoza was a very lazy one where the most I achieved was to eat a steak sandwich (which was an achievement as it was massive) and have a nap. It was the hostel's one year anniversary so it was happy hour on all drinks all night! Needless to say we partook and I think I ended up going to bed about 4.30 before getting up at 8.30 to head to Santiago for LOLAPALOOZA!!!!!