First of all, the images of Aconcagua I´ve shoved on here are just from google because there were no default photos of Mendoza on the blog website and Ben´s memory card is currently f***ed so we may have lost all our Argentina photos. Sucks! We´re hoping to get it sorted soon somewhere where they know what they´re doing. Anyway so the bus to Mendoza, although 17 odd hours, was an unexpected delight as the seats were massive and leather and reclined loads. Also to top it all off they played a Jason Statham movie in English to entertain us (he always does). And that wasn´t even the most expensive option! So we arrived there pretty relaxed after that luxury, but then checked into a dump of a hostel which soured proceedings a little, as our beds were at the top of 3-bed high bunks with our ears right next to the noisy air-con in a ridiculously cramped room. But anyway we got our money´s worth buy robbing s*** loads from breakfast. Filthy f***ing backpackers I know. Mendoza itself is nice enough, with a lively pedestrian strip running through the colourful main square lined with lots of nice little outdoor restaurants. There´s also a park which is supposedly nice but we didn´t catch it during good sun and the artificial lake there was a bit of a s***hole, thanks again the LPG. Basically the main things in Mendoza are the vineyards and tours of the wineries, as well as being the gateway to the Andes. So naturally we moulded our time around those tings, first doing our own tour of the wineries and then doing a bus/trekking tour the next day to the base of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Andes and in the world outside the Himalayas. So as for the wineries, we decided not to go with one of the organised package tours and just get a bus to the main bike rental place and cruise around ourselves. So we took a bus out of town to Hugo´s bike store, where we rented some bikes off the legend that is Hugo, and cruised around the area, visiting some big wineries and some smaller more family oriented ones (of which there was one where I have never paid more attention to anything in my entire life because the guide was quite simply a goddess, stunning, beautiful , indescribable in fact, we are now experts of that particular winery). Now I´m a bit of a pleb when it comes to wine so it was good to learn about how it´s made and the difference between different types of wine an stuff so now I´m a bit more clued up. We also visited an olive factory, where I stuffed my face with olives, and a chocolate liquor factory where we tasted loads of chocolate and spreads and stuff. Also we went to a flavoured liquor factory which was where they made local vodka and the free samples there, which were literally shots of vodka in the middle of the afternoon, combined with all the free wine we´d had at the wineries made for an interesting ride back to Hugo´s. Somehow we remained unscathed, and then Hugo offered us even more wine! So by the end of the afternoon we were pretty battered, but at least in a cultural way. So as I said the next day we went on a bus into the mountains to do a small trek to the base of Aconcagua where we got some kick-ass views of the moutnain because it was clear day. It´s pretty impressive and kind of made me want go back one day and climb it. You never know. So that´s pretty much it for Mendoza, a short but eventful stay before another cheap luxury bus to Cordoba. I just hope we can get all of Ben´s photos back because there are some quality ones from Mendoza. Fingers crossed.