Mendoza

Firstly, a tip for any would be travellers who wish to go to Mendoza...don't pitch up at 8pm on a Saturday night, in high season, expecting to have your pick of hostels. We felt like Mary & Joseph (minus the donkey and imminent arrival), as we knocked on their doors and was told "there's no room at the inn" or "completo". One man even asked us our country of origin before he told us proudly that he was full for the forseeable future. We thought this suspicious until he very kindly gave us a map of other hostels in the area (complete with telephone numbers) and told us to be careful walking around the streets with our backpacks. Lisab phoning around a few hostels (using her finest Spanglish) did the trick and we stumbled upon our hostel at 10pm.

We only had a short stay in Mendoza. In our opinion (probably tainted by the hostel palava), Mendoza centre isn't all that, but the surrounding vineyards certainly are. We were going to be lazy (so unlike the Bruntons) and take an organised wine tour, but it had to be booked a day in advance. We ended up getting on a bus, and the driver gave us a flyer for a bike hire shop (we think it was his mates); he then dropped us off outside, and we were greeted by "Mr Hugo" the bike man (a very colourful character). Although wanting a tandem, Mrs B was denied for fear (on Mr B's part) that he would have to do all the peddling. We were given a map of vineyards, and they identified 2 bodegas that were family run and worth a visit - with the added bonus of them being only 5km and 7km away from the bike shop, on flat terrain!

Lisa b was admittedly tiddly after the first stop. We got to sample 5 wines at Familia Di Tommaso (generous tastings of 3 reds, one white and a desert wine). It would have been rude not to have the glass of white with our salad for lunch, and it would have been even ruder not to have the desert wine, with pudding (a sweet picada - a plate full of chocolate, nuts, raisins and the most gorgeous bon bons we have ever tried!)

A further 2kms to the next bodega (although Andrew says Lisa drove 2.5kms due to all her swaying into the middle of the road) and our chance to taste the fine wines of Carinae bodega. This is run by a French man, who apparently was an electrical engineer who knew nothing about wine until he bought this vineyard in Argentina. We had missed the main tour of the previous vineyard due to being a bit tardy on arrival, however, a very informative guide showed us around Carinae and explained things we didn't previously know - such as the vines are only watered once a week in summer, with the ingenious irrigation system, set up to capture melting snow from the nearby mountains. In years of drought, they claim to produce the best wine, because they can control the water fed to the vineyard. Also, due to the torrential hail storms that can destroy a whole year's harvest, the Government (at the time of such storms) spray silver into the clouds to disperse or diminish the problem. This process was initiated by the large, rich wineries, but even the small, family owned bodegas have to pay towards this, whether they can afford to or not.

After a further 3 tastings of wine and with 2 bottles tucked safely on the back of our bikes, we managed to cycle back without a hitch and deliver the bikes back safely to Mr Hugo. Although we weren't bothered about being drunk in charge of the bikes, we didn't want to be drunk in charge of the camera, hence no photo's, sorry!