Mendoza

There may be expectations a bit of a whinge here but the bus ride was actually a piece of piss, having had two rather large nights in a row each, both me and Corry slept for around 15 hours of it, and listened to music whilst each nursing respective delayed hangovers for the rest of it. Sorry to ruin whatever anticipation there may have been for it being about as much fun as a knob in your bottom but I can’t say much more than that. Although I must say there was no small sense of relief that it passed so quickly as it could have been much, much worse than it was, and we were obviously extremely glad to leave the bus. Had a man hug with Corry when we disembarked as it was Christmas day, although it felt rather surreal and not exactly like the day that the son of God was born, having ridden a bus for the first 9 or 10 hours of it. Perhaps also contributing facts were that we had already done our Christmas celebrations and were having a bit of an orphan Christmas in another country without our own families. Anyway, whilst most things in Mendoza were closed, the taxi service was running and we found our way to our first hostel. As I said, being Christmas day, most things were closed, including our hostel, and despite my efforts to jump the fence and break in, the place was dead. Great start to the day... so we farted around playing street cricket before we found a different hostel to stay at that was open. Pretty glad to have a shit, shower, shave and lie down in the air conditioned room after the bus ride and given the fact that Mendoza was stupidly hot. After a lie down we headed to one of the only restaurants that was open, pretty average food but lots of it. My steak was actually 3 steaks, no complaints. Spent the rest of the day sitting in the central park on the grass spinning yarns, blowing bubbles and avoiding pigeon poo. After a few cheeky lads beers in the hostel foyer, the group headed out to dinner at a nice little place next to the main park. Good food but shitty wine, our bottle of Syrah was only made drinkable after having to place several ice cubes in each glass, pathetic really. Had a walk through the main park again and looked at the market stalls before deciding to set up our own stall selling the contents of our pockets and some of our shoes. No sales were made. Cut our losses and hit the sack. The next day we were up early to catch a bus to a water park about an hour outside of Mendoza. Pretty sweet place, plenty of gorgeous women in next to nothing, and the pools themselves were absolute gold, there was one that went around the whole of the bottom area and another wave pool in the middle. We found a good spot on the grass and caught a lot of rays that day, which was interrupted by various pool and food breaks. Classic catches in the wave pool was memorable with a few screams being taken; the gammy left hand of Anthony ‘Ifeellikeachunderandimightneedapootoo’ Corry was particularly prominent. Was at the pool place until 6ish, enjoying the water, the sun, and the absurdly cheap but somewhat disgusting red wine. As Mendozan holidays were drawing to a close and everyone was heading back to work, our bus was stuck in a few hours of traffic, meaning that we didn’t get back to the hostel till very late. By the time we sat down for dinner, it was about midnight, but the area we were eating was amping as that is generally around the time that most Argentineans eat anyway. Had a delicious bottle of Malbec and the BEST steak i have ever had in my life, big and juicy, cooked to perfection, and soaked in Roquefort sauce. Sensational stuff. Didn’t leave the restaurant until about 230, pretty casual time to dine, and headed back to the hostel. Next day we had a very long and lazy brunch before beginning our winery tour at around 2pm, visited 2 wineries and sampled a few varieties, good reds but rubbishy whites and sparkling wines – purchased one bottle of malbec for the evening. Also visited one place doing olive oils and another doing liqueurs and chocolates, good samples at both, especially the absinthe shot at the second one. I didn’t personally think much of the tour, we were rushed through every place and didn’t really get a chance to enjoy the locations, bicycle tours in the Hawkes Bay of New Zealand come much more recommended. Sank a cheeky hip flask in the van on the way back in preparation for our last night in Mendoza and, more especially, our last night with a couple of our Australian mates from the tour, Tim and Emma, who continue to be held in the highest esteem by both Corry and I. While the girls were busy prettying themselves, Tim, Corry and I worked our way through a couple of bottles of wine before beginning on a bottle of rum. Drank at the hostel for a gooooooood long time and was mucho barracho (very dieseled) by dinner time. Another late dining experience on account of the state of affairs we were all in, another great meal and really enjoying the lateness of the banquet, think Argentineans are definitely onto something with that one. Back to the hostel for some winks before having an early start on our way to the Chilean border and on to Santiago. Emma Fartley was up to give everyone a goodbye hug but less than impressed with the effort of Timothy Gashworth who was still as pissed as a toilet. Very sleepy ride to the border which we got through with a minimum of fuss and effort (bit of contraband snuck through I believe), some very attractive mountain scenery out the window but wasn’t feeling completely on top of things, and the bombs Corry was dropping didn’t exactly help matters, so was pretty glad to arrive in Santiago in the early afternoon.