If you have ever drank a bottle of Argentinian wine the chances are it was from Mendoza, a pretty region on the edge of the Andes. We arrived off a 'first class' night bus from Buenos Aires. I decided to book us a first class bus partly because I was interested to see what it was like as I had never heard of them before, at least we haven't seen them in any other part of South America and also because it was only 20 dollars extra each. After about 8 or so journeys on regular night buses it was a very different experience and everyone should do it once. We got a three course dinner and a breakfast, wine and champagne, and a very comfortable seat that went totally horizontal. It was awesome.

Mendoza is a beautiful area nestled underneath the Andes out to the West and vineyards that shimmer in the sun, extending as far as the eye can see in every other direction. The city has very large leafy avenues and a wonderful park, a great place to stroll. There is also a bar strip that looks like something from a Greek or Spanish holiday resort, bars and restaurants spilling out into the streets on both sides for about 5 blocks. It doesn't get kicking until about midnight and on Saturday night we stayed out until nearly 5am and when we left it was still pumping. There seems to be a lot of young people here.

Of course we undertook a wine tour of three wineries in the area and sampled a fair amount of the good stuff, so can't really recall what they were called but it was a fun day. The trip was followed by a gargantous lunch that was thrown in as part of the tour. The table was full of cold meats, cheeses, salads and breads, and that was just the starter. We then had four courses and as much wine as we could drink. The best part of our tour was watching the group of middle aged Russian guys who turned up on the tour already three sheets. At the very first winery they announced that they didn't want the tour of the facilities, they just wanted to drink. They spilt red wine down their tops, drank directly from the bottles they bought at each winery and kept wandering off into the cordoned off parts of the cellars, it was all harmless and it was very funny. After the lunch and copios amounts of wine they all fell asleep sprawled on the sofas in the restaurant much to the dismay of the tour leader.

I hired a local guide on the Saturday and took off to knock a few of the peaks off in the nearby mountains while Julie went horseriding. A 90 minute ride took us into the range and we set off for the day. There are a lot of very big mountains over 5,000 metres in the area and the highest in the western and southern hemisphere, Aconcagua, which stands at over 6,900 metres. Whilst it isn't a technically difficult climb it is a 12 day expedition, which of course I don't have time to do. We have met quite a few people that have climbed it though, 5 people have died in the past two weeks attempting it, including a Brit, an American and an Italian. One of the dead is still a few feet from the summit and can't be moved until the weather improves.

My own day trek was over a couple of smaller peaks and up onto the summit of Ande Arenales, taking in the picturesque views along the way. You could see the different ranges around us and also the vineyards stretching across the flatlands below. The beginning of the hike started in a lush valley full of daisy's and dandelions, like something out of the Sound of Music. It was a good day trip and not too tough.

We stayed in Hostel Lao, a very chilled and cool hostel run by Mike from Derby, a top bloke who married a local girl and set up the place. We heard about the place from some Kiwi's we met in Bogota back in December and it was a very good tip. It has a small swimming pool and hammocks dotted around the garden to dose off the wine, they even provide free samples of the stuff every night, which is a really nice touch.

Next stop Valparaiso, Chile.