Arriving into Mendoza we headed to the HI hostel we´d got out of the guide book as we didnt have any recommendations...which was a shame as its not a very good hostel! Our room is like a prison cell, the beds are tiny with really thin mattresses and we have a weird Columbian guy in our room!!

Mendoza is known for its wineries so you can see why we came!! The first day we arrived we had a wander round and went for tea (bland tasting pesto spaghetti, disappointing!) and then had a walk round the main plaza and browsed the christmas markets...not a german sausage or mulled wine in sight though so not quite the Christmas market in Leeds!!

We booked ourselves onto a horse-back riding at sunset tour for the next evening and spent the day with a picnic in the park by the lake to catch some rays and chill out!

The horseriding was cool, we all had a little crush on the guide, he had the most infectious laugh! As I`d never ridden a horse in my life I was given the slowest horse ever and was at the back of the trail! My horse had a foal that follewed us the whole way and kept trying to have his dinner every time we stopped! There were around 15 people in the group and the tour took us through the mountains with views of the city in the background...stunning! We were mostly walking along and he took us on a bit of a trot and then a canter every now and again....I nearly fell off the first time we went a bit faster and my legs ached at the end from gripping on for dear life!

After the ride we had a BBQ and free red wine and sat around chatting for a couple of hours before we headed back to the hostel. I had a mini crush on one of the guys in the group who was telling us about his travels in Columbia...it looked and sounded awesome and I added it to my list for my next trip to South America!!

We wanted to do a bike/wine tasting tour the next day but hadnt managed to book onto a tour....which turned out to be a good thing as some people in the group told us about Mr Hugo´s who hired out bikes and gave you a map to do a self tour and then free wine at the end of the day!

We were going to get a taxi to Mr Hugo´s but the receptionist told us we could get the bus and it was much cheaper. We needed exact change for the bus but apparently theres a shortage of coins in Mendoza as we had to go to about 5 different shops to try and get change! Felt a bit of a spectacle on the bus as we were the only people with white skin and blonde hair in sight!!

Got to Mr Hugos to get our bikes and the first stop was a vineyard for a tour and wine tasting! The first winery was pretty small to we didnt stay long and headed to the next one which the guy from the previous night had recommened. This place was stunning and we decided to have lunch before going on the tour....vegtable quiche with fresh vegetables from the garden accompanied with a recommended Chardonnay...yummy! The tour was pretty cool and we got to sample some red and dessert wines.

Next stop on our tour was an olive oil factory...the tour was pretty disappointing as we were out of season so all we really saw were the machines...as we joined the tour a bit late they forgot to charge us though, result!

Final stop on our tour was a chocoalte factory...save the best til last!! We got to sample chocolates, olive pastes and liquers which were all handmade in the cutest house!

The whole day was awesome, we cycled through some stunning scenery with the snow-capped Andes in the background, we all kept saying how surreal it was and how the scenery looked like it was painted on in the backgorund as it was so beautiful!

Back at Mr Hugo´s we settled in with the rest of the people who had hired bikes that day to drink our free wine and we (read Charlotte!) proceeded to get drunk! We made friends with a group of Irish lads and a couple of Southerners and arranged to meet them at their hostel later on to go out. After getting changed we headed out to walk down to their hostel...decided to stop at Mr Dog`s on the way for pizza which was the worst pizza ever (even worse than the pizza on the Isla del Sol!!) and meant we ended up being 20 mins late and there was no sign of the boys by the time we got to their hostel so after all that we headed back to our hostel as there was supposed to be a party there...looked like a pretty s*** party and there were only about 20 people there so we went to bed! We were supposed to be getting the bus back to Santiago the next day but in our drunken state we decied to stay in Mendoza one more day and then get the bus straight to the airport for our flight as Mendoza is much nice than Santiago!

Next stop New Zealand!!!!