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After a very pleasant bus journey (we even got dinner!) we eventually arrived in Mendoza.Argentina's wine capital!As it was Easter weekend it was a nightmare trying to book any accommodation and actually never did book any.Luckily there was a guy at the bus station handing out flyers for a place that looked okay so for the ease of it we just went with him.When we arrived we were greeted by this larger than life (and larger than most human beings) guy.Ariel(!) was his name and being sleazy was his game!Anyway we managed to get an okay room for an okay price.We met these English guys there who were seriously hacked off with him as they had been moved from their dorm to a set of bunk beds in a corridor as Ariel managed to get more money from other people for their dorm!They also told us that we were getting a good deal for the room we were in as the people before us were paying double!!Oh dear!One great thing about the pace was that as Ariel's brother owned a vineyard then we all got to have free wine at any point of the day…score!!As we arrived on a bank holiday everything was closed so we ended up wandering streets admiring the architecture.Mendoza is a cool city and it's huge!I think we walked for miles on that first day and we didn't even see a third of the city!We took it easy that night and cooked in the hostel.We met a few English girls and an Aussie couple who had been there a couple of days and they recommended doing a bike a wine tour where you basically ride around vineyards all day!On our second day we decided to venture to the shopping centre to indulge in some pointless window shopping (we have no money!)It got a bit boring as we couldn't buy anything so we headed to the cinema, the first we have seen in a good few weeks and watched 10000 BC.Trying to get a bus back to the city ended up being a bit of a nightmare as change in Argentina seems to be a problem…no one has any yet you need exact change to get on the bus or they wont let you on!So a taxi ride later and we were back at the hostel!On day 3 we headed off to the local vineyards to do some biking and wine tasting!We had a really great day.We decided to organize it all ourselves for a third of the price tour offices charge you.It was easy enough, we just got a bus (after scrounging around for change!!) and made our way to the vineyard region where there were loads of places to hire bikes from.First we headed to a wine museum which was really good fun.They talked us through the process of making wine and showed us all the equipment used, then we did some wine tasting.Malbec wine is the wine of the region and neither of us particularly like it!Damnation!Anyway after the museum we rode on to a chocolate and liqueur factory (more like a small house!) nevertheless they did produce some amazing chocs and lethal liqueurs.We managed to hope back onto the bikes and wobble onto the next place which was miles away!!By this point my bum was seriously hurting and I was just about ready to give up but we made it and got to the wine tasting just in time!We tried a few more wines and as all the red ones were Malbec we didn't like any of them!I think also I´ve had an overdose of wine while being away so I´ve been put off for a while!!On our final day we walked miles to reach a huge park on the northern edge of the city and it was well worth it.It was really beautiful with statues and palm trees all around.The weather has been great too so it was a great place to chill for a bit and get away from the hustle and bustle of the city.We decided that we were going to spend some time in the Lake District region of Argentina down in Patagonia.Originally we decided that it was too far to travel and that we didn't have enough time but were going to go for it!!The bus journey is about 24 hours long and there are warnings that it could be longer as the farmers are striking here and stopping traffic so goods don't get to supermarkets.Paz and Sarah the Aussie couple are going too so at least we'll have some company!!
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