We first arrived in Argentina way back at the end of November but we were only able to stay a week before we had to pop back to Chile. We must have been impressed though as we came back on the 10th of January for another month! Maybe it was the tasty food and drink which enticed us back ...... hot chocolate ..... fondue ...... steak ...... fast food trout! (beats the McD Hamburgers we've been consuming elsewhere) ...... and of course the Vino Tinto :)
Talking of "el vino", I'm not one to ever condone "drinking & driving" but "Mr Hugo's Cycling Wine Tour" in Mendoza was a highlight ....... 2x rickety bikes, 10x miles of cycling, 6x refreshment stops (at conveniently located Wineries), 1x police escort and 6x hours later we were wobbling home!!!
Don't worry, the police escort was after only one glass! And it was very amusing when the police officer jumped into his car, switched on the blue flashing light and drove round the roundabout the wrong way - there was nothing for it but for us to dutifully follow as it was all just to help us find the next winery :)
It was also quite ironic when we found out that Mr Hugo has a party in his garden every night at 6.00pm. But he's not intimidated by the fact that his clients have been spending the day sampling some of the best Vino Argentina can offer - he just serves up some "vinegar" which I think he may have brewed himself. To be fair, I didn't see any backpackers knocking it back - he knows his market well !!!
Oh, there was one downside to the whole thing - we think we now know a bit about wine :( ....... "if its not been aged in oak it's a young wine and it isn't going to be so good......."
Now our return visit to Argentina was a totally different experience! We rented an apartment in Buenos Aires and put our feet up for a while. This turned out to be a very good call as we had a chance to relearn the old unused skills of cleaning up after ourselves, cooking, shopping, and as we were in South America emptying the "jobby pot" (don't worry, this was only toilet paper but trust me that was bad enough :().
But it meant we could also indulge in a bit of entertaining when Suzi & Eric came to stay. How cool was that!! - we had a great time seeing old friends, having barbies, drinking more Vino and catching up on all the news from back home.
They then headed off on a jet plane to places where us skint backpackers can only dream of :( We were also giving them a head start so our 24 hour bus had time to catch up! Sadly though it wasn't long before it was also time for us to leave Buenos Aires, which was no easy task as it's a really chilled out city with a very enjoyable cafe culture :)
When we caught up with S&E again we spent another crazy few days at Iguazu where we gawped at the magnificent Falls (much more impressive than Niagra), walked across them, round them and got totally, completely, and utterly soaked on the boat which went under them!
We had been prepared for getting a little wet on this occasion, although we hadn't realised quite how much. However, it was amusing to see how others had prepared themselves. In response to the sign which said "there is a constant drizzle when up close to the Falls so we advise you to wear a raincoat" - was it really necessary for the old guy to walk about all day in just a pair of speedos?????? (still having flashbacks from that sight!). And maybe the blue shower cap that the Japanese bloke wore on the boat wasn't really worth it - he must have ended up being drenched from the ear down!!
So alas this takes us up to when we had only 7 days left!!! ....... saying that, at this stage we hadn't quite realised what we'd saved for last - we were really going to be going out on a high :)
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