Mendoza

We arrived in Mendoza after a gruelling 20 hour bus journey. The reason it was so bad was because we were sat right at the back of the double decker coach in semi cama seats (semi cama are the ones that don't lie very far back, cama are the ones that recline completely). Also, I had the beginnings of a cold, a very sore throat and a blocked nose. All of this meant I only slept for about 2 hours that night. We got to Mendoza exhausted. Mendoza is the wine growing capital of Argentina and we had chosen a lovely hostel that offers free wine tasting sessions, a free glass of malbec every night and pancakes for breakfast. As we arrived at the hostel so early in the morning, we were allowed to help ourselves to breakfast. We met a really friendly English girl called Keeley who had quit her job in London to go and teach English in Mendoza. We also met one of the couples we had partied with in Bariloche. We spent the rest of the day just lazing about and napping. It was Sunday, the day of the election so everywhere was closed. When Cristina was announced the winner, there were lots of celebrations in the streets, but I was too tired to go out and watch and went to bed to get over my cold, which by this point was feeling more like the flu.
Keeley had told us about a bike tour that you could do through the vineyards, tasting the wine en route. This sounded good, but as my cold was ten times worse the next day, we decided not to do it and just have a rest day instead. We wandered around the shops for a bit and then I went back to the room for a nap. We decided to have the hostel's all you can eat BBQ that night because we couldn't be bothered to cook. We sat in the garden of the hostel around a table with another English girl we met (Claire), a life coach from Canada called Celine, plus yet another couple we had met in Bariloche (Tammy and Paul). We were served all you can eat steak by a waiter and the red wine just kept on flowing. I really enjoyed the evening and it was nice to see Tammy and Paul again but I couldn't keep going for long as my cold was really bad and I was very congested so I had to go to bed. Jemma stayed up with the others and I think they got to bed around 3am.
The next day we were going to do the wine tour but we really didn't feel like it and its not like I have never been to a vineyard before (my dad lives near Bordeaux) so we didn't feel like we missed out too much. Instead we walked around the city again and went to the park where there is meant to be a good viewing point to see the whole of Mendoza. Unfortunately we didn't make it there as we both felt too tired and I felt ill, so we went back to the main town, had an ice cream then went to cook tea in the hostel.
The hostel had organised a free wine tasting session that night, with an external wine taster who came in to teach us all about wine tasting. It was really interesting and we got a good few glasses of wine out of it. After this, we walked Keeley to the bus station and then went into the garden to chill in the hammocks, with Celine the life coach, who more or less gave us a free life coaching session and told us all about her job. It was fascinating. You meet so many interesting people when you are travelling, with different backgrounds and different careers. I had thought we would just meet students but it isn't the case. So far we have met a life coach, entrepreneurs. film producers, animators, trainers, a journalist for a women's magazine, a marketeer for Unilever, investment bankers....
I am going to stop there because it is now Wednesday and we have to catch our coach to Salta (another 20 hours in semi cama - yay!). We have just had all you can eat pancakes with dulce de leche (caramel). I will try to add some photos to this post when I get more time.