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Nic and Lee's World Travels
Hello from Mendoza. Check out this pic, again not one of ours (im still too scared and Lee's camera has decided to not charge, useful!) but it does pretty much reflect the scenery here.
We arrived on Monday and it is now Friday. Staying in a really nice hostel (Emerado Hostel) that has the best breakfast so far (including home made pankcakes stuffed with apples and dulce de leche) and lots of people to meet. After spending a week in hostels with few English speakers, it is really nice to get waffling again for a bit, it is weird feeling not being able to converse well, we have got the basics and are developing the next level of questions but conversation is not so good without exaggerated hand gestures. I have already asked how many anuses a clock had, aiming for the word for years which is the same word but with the other n that spanish has, pronouced more in the nose. Someone did step into to help after a few giggles. So far lots of Argentinians have some English but we are told as we head north, and toward Bolivia, that will reduce.
Mendoza is Argentina's largest wine region and is famous for growing Malbec grapes. Our fave wine. Our hostel gives you a free glass of wine every night, sweet! After washing the clothes and catching up on some more admin we organised our activities for the week. Firstly we took a minibus trip into the Andes, starting off really early before sunrise was great as we got to get out and have look at the highest peak in the sunrise before you cant see it for a bit. The Andes are split into two ranges with pre-mountains, man alive the first ones were big enough! We headed in and got off every now and then to admire the scenery and take some pics, it is really was very stunning. Then you head to the Chillean boarder to see another big jesus but we didnt see it, odd! Still interesting to go that far and also it is at about 3,200 feet so you notice the altitude, you feel a little light headed and lacking in energy. After the border, back down again, the whole journey takes about 12 hours which I thought might get a bit much but as it goes you just stare at the mountains all day without tire. The highest peak is the highest in the continent and we got a good look at it from a far. Obviously it is only for experienced mountain climbers and takes about 15 days. There is a memorial cemetary to those who didn't make it back too!
The day after we went winetasting on a vineyard tour. Mmmmmmmm. A great mix of learning interesting things about the wine you knock back all the time and drinking it, perfect and not too geeky. The tours take you into the processing rooms and explain the process from picking in March and pressing and storing (there must be more technical terms for this) and then selling. Really interesting. Lots of wine is produced to be on the market really quickly, sometimes these wines stay in huge metal vats and sometimes they get a little time in an oak barrel. Wine picked from this year will be on the market at the end of the year or maybe the beginning of 2012. I dont know if the harvest season is the same in different wine producing countries. Vineyards also store their wine in oak for longer periods to produced Reservas and Gran Reservas, meaning they mature more and cost more usually, that is not a very detailed explanation! We visited three vineyards from one of the biggest in the country to a small organic operation that only sells on site. Bought some which we haven't drunk so now have to carry around for a bit and had a tasty lunch, nice. More wine regions to be visited in New Zealand and Australia, better pack it back before Asia!! Mendoza produces 70 per cent of the countries wine and now exports a lot of it.
Yesterday we visited some natural thermal spas also back up in the Andes. You get a local bus through some sweet small towns and it takes about an hour and a half. We went into the public spa which was about a fiver and there were literally about 15 people there! There were about ten spas, some inside but most outside and varying in temperature from scalding to freezing. This trip felt like a real privilege, we sat in the pools all day, staring at the mountains and the weather was perfect. I mean it was chilly when you got out of the spas but that made it all the better. Lee actually got sunburnt a little!! As those of you who have been away with us will know, Lee does have a tendancy towards a touch of the old pink Brit look but this time it was unexpected as is has been so bright but kind of chilly here.
Today we are hanging around and waiting for our coach trip to Salta in the north of Argentina. Another 18 hours but it feeling more normal now and we have the special coach again. After a week around the region we intend to head into Bolivia, making our way up through the country, towards Peru for the Inca Trail on the 10th July. In Brazil we lost weight, especially due to the belly badness 24 hours but in Argentina my trousers are now tight again, at least I know it is from all the steak, wine and dulce de leche, although that doesnt stop the next one going down. Still if we stayed here much longer I might need a new pair so the Bolivian food might be good for a bit of chub reduction, maybe for a week until we get bored of it, we are told it is pretty basic.
Feeling settled now and in the swing of moving around, in fact it feels normal. Argentina is quite a comfortable country to be in and kind of European in some ways, but I think we will be challenged a little more in the weeks to come, which is all good. Missing the bank holidays and the lovely weather you are having at home, arh nothing better than a hot day in the UK, fingers crossed for a good summer.
Keep in touch, we love reading your messages and comments, this blog is great for us to keep in contact with everyone, wish you were all here, all the time I am thinking so and so would love this etc etc so thinking of ya'll.
Love you all xxx
We arrived on Monday and it is now Friday. Staying in a really nice hostel (Emerado Hostel) that has the best breakfast so far (including home made pankcakes stuffed with apples and dulce de leche) and lots of people to meet. After spending a week in hostels with few English speakers, it is really nice to get waffling again for a bit, it is weird feeling not being able to converse well, we have got the basics and are developing the next level of questions but conversation is not so good without exaggerated hand gestures. I have already asked how many anuses a clock had, aiming for the word for years which is the same word but with the other n that spanish has, pronouced more in the nose. Someone did step into to help after a few giggles. So far lots of Argentinians have some English but we are told as we head north, and toward Bolivia, that will reduce.
Mendoza is Argentina's largest wine region and is famous for growing Malbec grapes. Our fave wine. Our hostel gives you a free glass of wine every night, sweet! After washing the clothes and catching up on some more admin we organised our activities for the week. Firstly we took a minibus trip into the Andes, starting off really early before sunrise was great as we got to get out and have look at the highest peak in the sunrise before you cant see it for a bit. The Andes are split into two ranges with pre-mountains, man alive the first ones were big enough! We headed in and got off every now and then to admire the scenery and take some pics, it is really was very stunning. Then you head to the Chillean boarder to see another big jesus but we didnt see it, odd! Still interesting to go that far and also it is at about 3,200 feet so you notice the altitude, you feel a little light headed and lacking in energy. After the border, back down again, the whole journey takes about 12 hours which I thought might get a bit much but as it goes you just stare at the mountains all day without tire. The highest peak is the highest in the continent and we got a good look at it from a far. Obviously it is only for experienced mountain climbers and takes about 15 days. There is a memorial cemetary to those who didn't make it back too!
The day after we went winetasting on a vineyard tour. Mmmmmmmm. A great mix of learning interesting things about the wine you knock back all the time and drinking it, perfect and not too geeky. The tours take you into the processing rooms and explain the process from picking in March and pressing and storing (there must be more technical terms for this) and then selling. Really interesting. Lots of wine is produced to be on the market really quickly, sometimes these wines stay in huge metal vats and sometimes they get a little time in an oak barrel. Wine picked from this year will be on the market at the end of the year or maybe the beginning of 2012. I dont know if the harvest season is the same in different wine producing countries. Vineyards also store their wine in oak for longer periods to produced Reservas and Gran Reservas, meaning they mature more and cost more usually, that is not a very detailed explanation! We visited three vineyards from one of the biggest in the country to a small organic operation that only sells on site. Bought some which we haven't drunk so now have to carry around for a bit and had a tasty lunch, nice. More wine regions to be visited in New Zealand and Australia, better pack it back before Asia!! Mendoza produces 70 per cent of the countries wine and now exports a lot of it.
Yesterday we visited some natural thermal spas also back up in the Andes. You get a local bus through some sweet small towns and it takes about an hour and a half. We went into the public spa which was about a fiver and there were literally about 15 people there! There were about ten spas, some inside but most outside and varying in temperature from scalding to freezing. This trip felt like a real privilege, we sat in the pools all day, staring at the mountains and the weather was perfect. I mean it was chilly when you got out of the spas but that made it all the better. Lee actually got sunburnt a little!! As those of you who have been away with us will know, Lee does have a tendancy towards a touch of the old pink Brit look but this time it was unexpected as is has been so bright but kind of chilly here.
Today we are hanging around and waiting for our coach trip to Salta in the north of Argentina. Another 18 hours but it feeling more normal now and we have the special coach again. After a week around the region we intend to head into Bolivia, making our way up through the country, towards Peru for the Inca Trail on the 10th July. In Brazil we lost weight, especially due to the belly badness 24 hours but in Argentina my trousers are now tight again, at least I know it is from all the steak, wine and dulce de leche, although that doesnt stop the next one going down. Still if we stayed here much longer I might need a new pair so the Bolivian food might be good for a bit of chub reduction, maybe for a week until we get bored of it, we are told it is pretty basic.
Feeling settled now and in the swing of moving around, in fact it feels normal. Argentina is quite a comfortable country to be in and kind of European in some ways, but I think we will be challenged a little more in the weeks to come, which is all good. Missing the bank holidays and the lovely weather you are having at home, arh nothing better than a hot day in the UK, fingers crossed for a good summer.
Keep in touch, we love reading your messages and comments, this blog is great for us to keep in contact with everyone, wish you were all here, all the time I am thinking so and so would love this etc etc so thinking of ya'll.
Love you all xxx
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