Red, red, wine…

Ah, Argentina makes it so well! - and particularly around Mendoza. We have learned to ask nicely in Spanish "por favour dos Vino tinto?"  - please, two red wine.  

We got off our overnight, and late arriving bus, and caught a cab straight to the hostel we had booked (Hostel Suites Mendoza). Wonderfully, our room was ready so being late arriving in to Mendoza already did not seem so much of a problem. Our first mission after showering (all night buses make you so crave a shower!) was to achieve a filling lunch, as we had only had a biscuit for breakfast and after an overnight bus, we felt we deserved to spoil ourselves on a good leisurely lunch of Argentinian steak and wine. We sat at a kerbside table of a restaurant and had the most amazing steak imaginable. Avan’s was like a mini roast in size really! Accompanying our meal were gorgeous tasting vegetables including sweet potato, one of our favourites. Wine in the day time is somewhat mellowing, and the overnight bus was completely forgotten as we were feeling that Mendoza was a wonderful place already.

Next morning reinforced the feeling that Mendoza was a wonderful place, as two unexpected things happened. Firstly, Heather achieved a hair colour and cut for a fraction of Australian prices, despite language difficulties, and we met Fiona from Australia staying in the same hostel as us. Fiona is not just any Australian, but an Australian who had been to Coral Bay many times for work. In fact Fiona worked as a driver and guide for "Easy Rider" which was owned by the family we worked for. Although we had not officially met before we knew of each other and were blown away by the karma that we were in the same hostel at the same time and had struck up a conversation.  

What are the chances? Travel is like that. Then a further development - while we were chatting, two Australian girls (one from Adelaide who had lived around the same areas as Heather) Fiona had worked with in the UK came into the hostel! This is now getting really weird…

We headed off on a winery tour soon after our chance meeting but made a date for a late dinner all together.

OK - we have done winery tours before – but it is what you do in Mendoza and it proved to be a fabulous afternoon and we didn’t get home until 8.30pm. We had three young Australian lads on the tour who provided some good humor and we visited two wineries, an olive oil factory and a chocolate outlet that actually specialized in liquors.

That night we made five of us for dinner and after a random walk around looking for a restaurant, we took up a Lonely Planet suggestion and found ourselves on a rooftop restaurant with a fabulous menu, service and view of Mendoza's lights below us. The night was filled with stories and laughter, as Fiona caught up with her London friends and we discussed mutual people we knew. We did not get to bed until 2 am and parted with promises to try and catch up again later in our travels. 

Fiona was about to start work as a tour guide travelling all over South America, so it is highly likely. We might even be able to be in the same place for Christmas as she is travelling a similar itinerary to us.
It is off to Santiago in Chile next, and then to Easter Island.