It was the weekend before Christmas and we thought what better way to spend it than to visit a few Bolivian vineyards. This involved (another) overnight bus from Sucre - 12 hours - with the added excitement of a police interrogation at 3am as we neared the Argentine border.

Bleary eyed, 'Gran Hotel Londres' was our default choice of accommodation . Not quite so grand as perhaps it once was, the retro style decor could best be described as 'quirky,' not to mention the potential for electrocution in the bathroom...

However, we didn't have time to waste in our latest abode and got straight on a wine tour, which wasn't quite a Barossa Valley experience...
We set off in a minibus with our guide and six Bolivian tourists. The first stop was a photo opportunity from a bridge looking down a gorge. Pretty. Where's the wine?
The second stop was at a small artisanal wine store where we received a small shot of wine in a mouthwash-type plastic 'vessel.'  Where's the wine?
We then moved on to our penultimate stop which was strange to say the least. It involved looking at some ancient relics and stuffed animals in a dusty shed and being invited to walk down a 40m pitch-black tunnel at the bottom of the garden for good luck. No thanks. Where's the wine?
Eventually we sat with the owner of this establishment who presented a cask of wine but rather than pouring it into glasses encouraged each of the group to suck on a grotty length of rubber tubing connected to a bamboo cane in order to obtain the wine, apparently an old custom which brings luck (but not much wine) . No thanks. Please can we have a glass of wine overlooking some vines?
The next opportunity to taste wine did involve a glass but also sharing it with 8 other 'tasters.'  Sam had the honour of being first - not too sure what the eighth in line was tasting.
Fortunately salvation came to hand as we arrived at 'La Casa Vieja,' a wine drinker's paradise if you like large (1.5L jugs) quantities of cheap, drinkable wine. We ditched the tour here and stayed on for the lively Saturday afternoon sesh! The return journey to Tarija was interesting...

Sunday started around 1.30pm on Struggle Street with an all-you-can-eat sizzling Argentine barbecue..delicious! Meat-fueled, we found our way 15km north of Tarija to San Lorenzo, a quaint colonial village with cobbled streets and carved balconies.

We awoke the next day with a rejuvenated thirst for more wine but first visited the nearby two-tiered Coimata Falls, a very peaceful setting . We had a few hours to kill before the night bus so took a taxi directly to a 'bodega industrial' in the heart of El Valle de la Concepcion, home to the world's highest wines and singani (the distilled grape spirit). We were welcomed into 'Campos de Solana,' one of the major Bolivian wineries whose bottles we find in the supermarket in Sucre. Once again no typical wine tasting experience was available - if you wanted to taste, you had to buy the bottle! However, we were given wine glasses and enjoyed the pleasant ambiance of the vineyard. After tasting another bottle we bought a couple more for Christmas Day including a tasty Malbec.

Bolivia is one of the few countries to have banned McDonald's. Indeed it is written within the constitution not to ever welcome it back again. However, an enterprising Bolivian in Tarija has overcome this obstacle by opening 'Max Ronald's' where we dined before catching the night bus back to Sucre (12 hours).