After a great, but wet birthday, it was back on the cama bus for yet another 18 hour journey up to Mendoza (by this point I hope you have realised how MASSIVE Argentina is!), home of the famous Argentine Malbec and producer of over two thirds of all Argentine wine.

Arriving in any city at 8am and not being able to check into your room until 2pm is never great, but add to that the fact that it was Good Friday and nothing was open and we were left with nothing to do but wander the empty streets for hours. Thankfully Mendoza is one of Argentina´s greenest and most beautiful cities and we were kept busy watching life go by in the many plazas and green spaces spread around town, until we random bumped into friends from down south. One thing led to another and we were soon have a boozey lunch of paella followed by an extensive wine tasting session, where, thanks to our lovely sommelier Julian, a taste of 5 different wines turned into many more and the discovery that Argentina also produces some pretty good whites too.

The next day, on the recommendation of Julian, we booked in for a romantic lunch at the best vineyard in the best wine-producing region around Mendoza. Unfortunately noone explained quite how far or difficult to get to it was. After an hour bus journey and $100 (Argentine) taxi ride we had arrived to what, unfortunately was a very big, busy and modern looking building in the middle of the vineyard - not what we had in mind! Worse was to follow when we learned that it was pretty much impossible to get a taxi back to the station and our best bet was to try and hitch a ride home. Needless to say, with this on our mind lunch was somewhat of a disappointment as we rushed through in order to try and work out how we would get back to Mendoza in time for our 8pm bus that evening.

Thankfully I (Jamie) saved the day. First I met a private driver in the car park who agreed that after his next stop at another vineyard he would come back and pick us up and drop us at the station. Next thing I knew I also inadvertenly met his passengers, two lovely American families, the Sarros and the Thomas´. They took pity on us and saved the day offering to take us all the way back to Mendoza, taking us with them to the next vineyard on their itinerary (which was old, beautiful and small - just what we were hoping for in the first place), and inviting us to join them in tasting some lovely red wine, cold meats and cheese. However, more drama was to come as we left, when the driver informed us that due to a high number of police on the road he wasn´t willing to squeeze an extra person into the car all the way back to Mendoza, leaving us stranded again! Stand up the chef from the vineyard who agreed to give us a lift in the back of his banged up old van, with a box and a spare wheel as a seat.

It all turned out fine in the end, and although not quite the romantic day we had planned, it was certainly an adventure and one we will look back on and remember.