I´d say that for a wine-guzzling vegetarian, Mendoza is THE place to go in Argentina. We have been here for almost a week and I am finding it hard to drag myself away - the place could quite easily become home. To put you in the picture, Mendoza is effectively in the desert but as all the wide streets are lined with huge sycamore trees you don´t even notice the heat and spend hours wandering around and stopping in one of the many street cafes for a cooling beverage or just dossing in one of the beautiful plazas. But let´s be perfectly honest, people do not come to Mendoza for cafes, they come for the Bodegas as this place produces 70% of that yummy Argentinian nector of which the most famous is Melbec - a rather thirst-inducing red. Oh and people also come here to climb, rappel, raft, horse-ride, visit high, high Andean mountain ranges and enjoy themselves.

Me? Well of course I´ve been on a Bodega (wine) tour but hey it has not been all drinking, I have also been dragged up the side of a mountain for a "gentle" trek and then dropped off it the other side with just a rope to keep me from hitting the valley in 10 seconds flat (yes the rappelling/absailing was great fun but my body still aches). I´ve enjoyed the hot thermal water park, and a chocolate factory and I have eaten some of the best vegetarian meals ever - honestly this place has more veggie restaurants than you could imagine so I am one well-fed and happy girl. And seeing as we are staying in a great hostel with a good group of other travellers and a stupid Alsatian teenage dog called Astor (who spends hours and hours playing the stick game with anyone who cares to partake) you can probably see why leaving is so hard...

Oh and before we hit Mendoza we did visit Cafayate for three days which is well worth a mention for having one of the world´s oldest (and at 1600m above sea level) highest wineries, and some great but dusty walking at the mouth of the Calchaquies Valley.

Yes my friends I am still loving Argentina, but time here is going so quickly which is scarey.

That said I should not really be wasting any more time in this Internet Cafe so for now I´ll say Chaucito and look forward to hearing from all of you...

x