Today I did a 12 hour bus ride/tour up through the Andes, which was amazing! Started dead early...was supposed to be picked up at 7.30, but in ture Argentine style they didnt turn up until 8am! So I was waiting on a street corner for half hour early on a saturday morning for no reason!

The tour was all Argentines, so again no English! And they were all fascinated by me, "¿Sos de Londrés?" (You´re from London?) is all I got all day! We went up to the Andes, through all the millions of wine vineyards there are in this area, and stopped off first of all in a place called Portilleros, which is basically just a big lake. But it was very pictoresque, particularly under the morning sunshine. It´s an important lake because it provides the area with precious water. We then went up and had breakfast in a place called Upsallata, a kind of shanty town, with tree lined roads. I was eating my breakfast, tostadas (toast!), and had wondering puppy dugs begging me (they belonged to the owner of the farm).

We then went up further, with some AMAZING views. The andes are massive! The rocks were all shades of red, orange, brown, yellow and towered over the skyline. In the distance were the snowcapped mountains, and we went up to those.

When we left Mednoza it was going to be a hot day, but where I was for the afternoon it was snowing and cold! We stopped off at a placed called Puente Del Inca, which is a naturally occuring land bridge crossing the Rio de Mendoza, and was used by the Incas. MAJOR tourist attraction surrounded by loads of coaches, but still nice. The area had loads of stalls where indigenous people where selling their trade. What I loved about this area as well was that the abandoned railway still had it´s tracks crossing the area, and all the abandoned station buildings as well. We then went up to a ski resort, which is closed now as the season is over, but is still snowing and cold! But still very nice. We did then try to go up to see Aconcagua (the world´s highest mountain outside the himalayas) but the weather conditions were too bad, and I didnt get the chance to see it. But when summer comes fully, about December time, I will be doing all sorts of adventure activities up there.

Then came the journey back, during the time of the siesta, so all the others on the bus were sleeping, as was the tour guide! Very Argentine, and they actually do sleep which surprised me. There is no one around in the town, or on the roads either between 1pm and 4.30pm. It´s odd. We also have dinner between 10-11pm here as well, which makes a very long day for me! But I´m getting used to it. We stopped off at a petrol garages for refreshments and it reminded me of how cheap this place is. Petrol is 66p a litre, and there was abottle of locally produced, quality red wine for sale at 2 pounds (I dont have the pound sign on this argentine keyboard!), I had a pretty big, good quality ready made salad for dinner yday with chicken, chesse eggs etc... and it came to 1pound10p. It´s nuts. But money is a bit of head ache for me right here, and I still need to sort it out!

Still having a great time! Pictures to follow shortly.