Mendoza is a mountainous region, turned into a productive oasis specially fit for vine growing and making good quality wines.

Being a wanna-be wine enthusiast, I felt right at home. It has the countries best wineries on it's doorstep set in valley east of Andes snow covered mountains. The city itself is characterized by elegant, fountain-filled plazas.

From the minute we got off the bus at Mendoza, we were greeted by tourist hunting workers trying to lure us to their hostal.

There was a cute lol Spanish speaking lady who represented hostal independencia, one of the places which we narrowed down, from what I remembered it was a mansion converted into a hostel.

First impressions, it's deffinately a mansion but it's some what creepy and airy. As the receptionIst only speaks Spanish, joint to her hip was another guy who translated!

Our room was even more creepier, with 6 bunk beds, high ceilings and huge Victorian style window pannels.

We thought we'd give the place a chance, can't be that bad especially as it's listed in my good ol trusted South America bible... But when they showed us the shower which was through the kitchen (whoever designed this place needs to be fired), from that point on I wanted to move out! The thought of walking through the kitchen in my towel whilst people where cooking- eewww!

In order to spend less time at the hostal we headed straight out to Plaza Independencia which is the physical and cultural heart of Mendoza. Fountains and sycamore trees line the area. It's a really nice place to chill out with an Artisans Market where of course we hunted for more bracelets.

Whenever we arrive at new place, Reens likes meat which she can trust. Which basically means take me to McDonalds, where she still can't order her regular 2 Classico hamburgers, 7 pesos, no cheese! It's funny to watch her struggling to order it.

The rest of us were craving proper food. There were three places which I wanted to try. Two of then we couldn't find (my bible failed me) so off we went hunting for the third final restaurant, Whig if course had to be the one which was the most furthest away.

A 25nibute walk down San Martin and still no sight of the restaurant! I'm sure were not that stupid, we can count building numbers! Starving, we asked a local who with our luck didn't speak much English, but bless him he called his friend who said it was still another 10 blocks away!

Tired, hungry and an injured Tanna we decided to get a taxi. A few past us, so we tried to hail them with our hands out but had no luck. I just presumed it was like London, a lit taxi sign means available!?! In the corner of my eye I spotted a parked taxi and ran towards it, but to my dissapointment there was bo taxi driver! Hovering around was a gentleman who I asked if he was the driver to which he responded something in Spanish. We all presumed he was a homeless guy.

By now we had missed 3 taxis, which the other ladies around us jumped into. But then the 'homeless guy' pulled over a taxi, so Reens shouted 'he's's got us a taxi'. At the same time I had also hailed us a cab, so I let the other woman take it and ran towards Reens. To our suprise, the 'homeless' guy jumped into the taxi. Turns out he wasn't homeless and defiantely was not trying to get us a cab! So in the space of a few minutes we lost both cabs. OMD four girls standing on the street corner, how hard can it be to get a taxi?!

Finally we got into one which literally took us 3 minutes up the street to the restaurant! Oh well the dinner was sooo worth it. Organic fresh healthy meal- my fav : )

So we've (okay mainly me) have got ourselves into a habit of needing something sweet after a meal...Reena wanted cheap and cheerful McDonalds Sundae which was a few minutes walk away. We got there to find out only Dulce de Leche was available which we all dislike!! The things we do for food grrrrrrrrr

Belly full and body still aching from the Volcano it was an early night for all of us. None of us wanted to shower in the creepy place. I joked or should I say planted the seed in the idea of moving out next morning. Woop wooop

To make matters worse, reens decided to tell u horror stories to creep us out more!

Quote of the day:
'Tanna swallowed a pip'