Cusco to Mendoza 5th - 11th Oct 2011

After shooting up Machu Picchu like rats up a drain pipe, our bodies fell foul to a nasty stomach bug.
Without going into too much detail I unleashed hell on the pan more times than my guts would like to remember whilst emptying my stomach orally at the same time.
Luckily little miss chemical sorted me out with a fist full of drugs which firmed everything up..... Ahem, stopped the chocolate milkshakes!
Anyway that's all behind us and I'm glad we got to the bottom of that.

With rubbly tummies we flew from Cusco to Lima and then Lima to Santiago. Arriving at night we had a completely fresh first impression of the city. The roads are wide and well paved with actual road signs, and whilst there was quite a lot of graffiti it reminded us a little of the drive from Heathrow. The taxi driver dropped us at our hostel which was was a great location overlooking the main square-the Plaza de Armas and after sleeping for a few hours we woke up to the hustle and bustle of a busy commercial city.
The plaza seems to be where it all happens with their equivalent of our speakers corner, comedians making decent sized crowds laugh and lots of artists flogging their work. A chess tournament also takes place daily as and when people finish work or pop out for lunch.
We set about joining a free tour of the Santiago lead by Franco who exlplained all the ins outs of Santiago since the Spanish first settled. One particular part of the tour grabbed my attention. During the 60's, a chap from San Francisco introduced a concept which he hoped would cheer up depressed city workers whilst serving up a quality product.
He introduced "Coffee with Legs." In short women with most of their legs exposed wearing revealing tops serving top class coffee to anyone who fancies a brew, chat or perv. Coffee with legs is a monopoly in Santiago and has managed hump Starbucks into submission! Bravo....
In some coffee shops a "happy minute" isn't uncommon where the waitress' bare all. Some people have been known to spend all day waiting for the happy minute at the expense of their employers.

We visited the Mecardo Central, a large market in the centre of town which sells mostly fish. It was impressive to see such a variety of fish and monster shell fish sold by the stone until one fishmonger enquired whether or not we were a couple? Lucy somehow explained we were just friends on holiday? They turned this into I'm gay and tried to introduce me to a gay fishmonger. They all found it hilarious and because my Spanish is crap I couldn't defend my self with a quick come back.

Santiago is a mixed bag with pockets of cultural significants. Earthquakes have claimed many of the Pre-Colombian buildings whilst rioting students have managed to leave their mark on some of the new.

We took a bus to the coastal town of Valparaiso where most of the houses are painted in bright pastel colours and clad in corrugated sheet, which tend to rattle in the wind.
Any blank walls are dorbed with graffiti featuring mostly political slogans and the odd mural. The town is set on a series of hills (42 to be precise) and old fashioned escalators carry people to the top, because of this the town has been named a world heritage centre. Not sure what all the fuss is about really. Most of them don't work!

Chile played Argentina that night and so we headed to a bar to test the local pop whilst trying to fit in. We ate a chorrilios, a local speciality of chips, onions and pork piled on top of one another, swilled down by a tankard of beer. I'm not sure what chorrilios translates too but 'heart attack on a plate' would be pretty appropriate. Anyway Chile got a kicking and we got indigestion.

Valparaiso was't really our cup of tea so it was time to move on.
The bus trip was spectacular as we crossed the zebra striped patterned Andean mountains and over the boarder into Argentina. Six hours later we arrived in Mendoza....... wine country!!! Mendoza produces 70% of Argentinas wine. Malbec seems to be the most popular grape, with Carbenet Sauvignon close behind. In the interests of this blog and delivering factual travel updates we sampled a few bottles. Wine making thrives here because Mendoza is actually a desert and ever since the Jesuits planted the first vines they also had the foresight in digging out dykes and installing many sloose gates to control how each plot is irrigated. It does't rain much in Mendoza and the key to successful wine making is to make sure the vines receive just the right out of water at the right time. Too much water near harvest would spoil the crop. Lots of sun allows the grapes to develop thick skins and sugar.
We took a wine tour by bike and visited the Familia de Tommaso vineyard where we learn't about the aging process and how to describe the taste using phrases like "hedge row dense" and "tobacco chocolate". Oz Clarke would have been proud.

Mendoza is an attractive town with most of the streets lined with trees and irrigation drains. There is also a number of well looked after parks / squares with fountains and freshly painted railings. We spent two days wondering around the town, walking to the top of the hill in the park, exploring the shops and sampling the amazing food and wine.
Many of the shops sell quality leather goods and so we each purchased Argentinian patterned belts. All we need now is a horse a hat and a ranch. Yee-ha!

Next stop, Patagonia..... Looking forward to a 21 hour bus trip.