The journey out of Buenos Aries to Mendoza was probably the best bus journey yet. Comfy seats, good food, blankets, film (in English) and the company of an old (she probably wasn't old, just another person who had ignored the need for sunscreen!) Tasmanian lady who had been travelling for years on her own. She seemed to have been everywhere the world could offer. She had decided against going to Europe for her father's 95th birthday and opted for another trip to South America on her own!! She had some great advice and funny stories..although as the journey continued into the night...she 'did narf bang on!'...Obviously, we could nt help but refer to her after this as the Tasmanian Devil....

We arrived in Mendoza and found ourselves once again in the dusty heat but the city was very green, full of trees, flowers and lush areas which seemed a bit odd. We grabbed a picnic and headed for the main park. As we walked we noticed little rivers of water running down channels dug into the kerbs of every road. Mendoza is in the rain shadow of the Andes and as a result has extremely low rainfall so the clever Mendozians harness the snow and ice melt water from the mountains and channel it to all areas of the city and out into the surrounding fields and vineyards. That's why Mendoza is the centre of the Argentinian wine making industry and it is also why the wines are so scrummy!.. Pure Andean mountain water..yum!

On our second day we booked a chocolate factory, vineyards and olive oil factories tour.

The chocolate factory wasn't exactly Willie Wonker as I had expected but the smell was a nostrilly treat! As we walked around the balcony looking down on the factory workers below I couldn't help singing the oompla lompa song as they stirred the biggest vat of melted chocolate I'd ever seen. Our guide didn't look impressed, she's obviously heard the song sung in several different languages a million times before!...The factory was lovely but a bit short lived but it was free and we got quite a bit of complimentary chocky to try so well worth the visit I'd say!!

In the afternoon we were picked up by minibus and taken out into the countryside and driven through hundreds of beautiful vineyards in the sunshine.

We learnt about the different grape and wine varieties, specifically; Melbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah (Shiraz) that were produced in the region. We wandered down to the cool cellars where the Reserva and Gran Reserva wines (the really nice ones!) were kept in French Oak barrells and at the end we went into a wine tasting area… So, my fellow winey lovers, here are the steps to follow when tasting wine:

1. Hold the stem not the glass! (the heat of your hand spoils it!)

2. Tip the glass to see the colour and hold it to the sky…it should be a beautiful ruby red..(they only produced red where we went, not sure how to properly taste white...maybe New Zealand will teach me??!)

3. Stick your nose in and smell it to try and pick up some of the smells from the wood resins which the wine absorbs whilst in the barrel…vanilla, blackberry, plums, etc…

4. Slurp and take a deep breath through your mouth but don't swallow to enjoy the vapour of the wine (then spit it out!!....nah!)

5. Hold the glass upright and watch for the 'tears of the wine'…if it is a wine with a high alcohol content then the tears will cry slowly down the side of the glass!! (loved that!!) bet you will all be checking that one now!!

6. Stop messing about and drink the ruddy wine, its delish!!!!!!

We also learnt that if you feel the bottom of the wine bottle there will either be a flat bottom which means nice fruity table wine for any time of day, a small dent with reserve on the label meaning it's been in the barrel for up to 12 months or its got a very deep dent in the bottle and says Gran Reserva indicating that it has been in the barrel for up to or over 14 months…so in conclusion... always head for the Gran Reserva big round denty bottom wines!! (apologies to all of you wine connoisseurs out there!!)

Luckily for us we hooked up with a couple of girls from Israel who went on the wine tour but were teetotallers so we helped them out by drinking their wine and describing it to them….always happy to assist!!

The last stop on the tour was visiting an olive pressing factory..very interesting but there's only so much you can learn about the humble olive…there are hundreds of varieties, it gets squished within an inch of its life and its good for you…yep that's about it!!....wine tour really was fab though!!

Next and last stop Chile….