Hola team, Sorry this is way behind time but will try my best to remember!

We left Buenos Aires on the 29th after an absolute mission to find the bus station. After walking around completely lost we managed to ask to english speaking locals (good hint, always go for the young ones theyre more likely to understand!) After running the pickpocketing gauntlet we bought tickets to Mendoza for the next night (14 hrs for $283pesos).

The morning before leaving we squeezed in the touristy La Boca and the cities ecologica reserva (massive but didnt see anything and the river/sea smelt aweful) . La Boca is the colourful buildings you see in all the photos of Buenos Aires, pity its right in the dodgiest part of town and is massively touristy cos its pretty funky.

The overnight bus was with Andesmar, and was pretty luxurious, full leather seats that recline right back, and meals. I slept the whole way. We woke up to the desert. This part of Argentina ismuch like a giant Canterbury (wellif you didnt pump all that water on it!). The areas full of vineyards and orchards, which is why we were there, the Mendoza vino! The citywas a lot quieter than Buenos Aires with a population about the same as Dunedin. The driving was still freaking me out though! We stayed at Mendoza backpackers, which was super friendly though being the quiet season, wasnt very busy. Out room was super small, very claustrophobic!

After much wandering around and getting nowhere we finally worked out that you can catch a bus to the vineyard area, Maipu, and then hire bikes. Our bikes were hired from Maipu bikes, run by a lovely couple. They dropped us to the furthest winery, Carinae, where we had a tour and samples of the wine. Maipu is famous for its Malbec, and it aint half bad for red wine! We met 2 kiwis on the tour, who turned out to both have been to school with Liam (typical NZ!) Out next vineyard was Tempus Alba, with 300+ year old vines, makes for good wine. We had our first Argentine bbq, the coals are first heated and then put under the meat, was amazing! A kiwi bbq will never be the same.

We wetre escorted by a policeman all the way to our last stop (a combination of a slightly dodgy neighborhood and drunk tourists on bikes) which made absinthe, the perfect end. It was seriously strong, Im sure far worse than the stuff back home. We have a great photo of that moment, as soon as we find a computer that can handle photo uploading we'll put it up.

We wobbled our way back home, next stop Salta!

Hope everyones staying on their feet with the earth tremours back home,

Much love,

Guinny