Mendoza!

Just when I thought I was getting all caught up with my blog, the past 3 weeks flew by. I guess it's time to get all caught up again before heading off to Iguazu this weekend, so get ready to be bombarded by hundreds of pictures. Lo siento.


Remember when I said I was going to Mendoza, well three weekends ago I actually went there. It's in western Argentina, very close to Santiago, Chile but just over those small little hills called the Andes. It's Argentina's wine country slash activity land- who knew?

First, I enjoyed some delicious food on our 16 hour bus ride there..

not.

Seriously, everything had egg in it.

Then we arrived at Monkey Hostel, but everyone was too hungover from the asado they'd had there the night before so our rooms weren't ready.. typical Argentina. 

So in the true hostel spirit we made friends with everyone else who was waiting for their rooms to be ready, and it was off to Mr. Hugo's bike tour! Definitely one of the highlights of my trip. For 30 pesos we rented bikes from the lovely Mr. Hugo, he gave us a list of about 10 wineries, and then we had the rest of the afternoon to go where we pleased.

Unfortunately we didn't rent our bikes here, although I'm sure I could trust them- they are in lonely plant after all!

Off we go!

First winery, Bodega Familia Di Tomaso

Michelin man

Off to winery number 2, Bodega Tempus Alba

Last stop was a very cool brewery

And then it was back to Mr. Hugo's where we could stay and drink wine as long as our hearts desired.

Some British friends and Mr. Hugo himself.

Of course when we got back home we had to hit up the all-you-can-eat buffet.

On Saturday we walked around the city,

saw this odd mannequin,

then did this little thing called PARAGLIDING!

Take off!

I'm on the left, just ran off the cliff

The mountain we ran off

Take off spot

If you look closely you can see my three other friends.

Back on the ground, safe and sound.

It was amazing, but we got a little too lucky with the "thermals" and our flight lasted for just under half an hour, leaving me just enough time to start feeling completely nauseous. As I was essentially dry heaving on the way down my guide informed me that about 10% of people throw up, and that it's perfectly normal. Interestante.

That night we walked around a nearby park then got some delicious asado. What else?

Asado, complete with intestines, kidneys, chicken and different cuts of beef.

View from our hostel balcony

Monkey Hostel breakfast

Sunday brought an all day hiking/repelling/rock climbing trip ending in some hot springs

The water in the river was freezing and the water in the pools was hot!

After an amazing weekend we made it back just in time to make our overnight bus to Córdoba to catch the last day of Oktoberfest!