Mendoza

Mendoza was hilarious and I'm so glad I didn't skip it! Firstly the bus from Santiago was amazing, we drove through the Andes and the view was just incredible. I spent most of the journey gaping out the window and filming on my GoPro. Also such a small world I met an English guy on my bus who grew up in Welwyn Garden City and went to St George's.

I came to Mendoza for one thing and one thing only: wine. With Hattie who I met in Santiago, and Chris who we recruited in the hostel, we got the bus to the Maipu wine region and straight to Mr. Hugo's bike rental. At our first wine tasting we also met a really nice couple from Essex and united to form a super team called 'the Mendoza maniacs' and started our Tour De Mendoza in peloton formation.

The wine tasting was so much fun but escalated so quickly from small glasses to bottles and bottles of wine. By the end I was so drunk that I could no longer cycle in a straight line without falling over and eventually fell into a ditch and managed to cut my lip. Then the tourist police pulled me over and gave me a lift back to Mr. Hugo's because the brakes on my bike weren't working and the bike was completely written off. Even though we got back to Mr. Hugo's an hour late with a completely broken bike he didn't seem to mind and invited us all in for mango juice. I don't remember the bus back but that's probably for the best and I think I pretty much passed out when we got back to the hostel.

The next day was a complete write off and ended up having a film day which was just what was needed. Hattie and I thought we were getting the same bus back to Santiago in the evening but it turned out my bus was the one half an hour later! My luggage was already on the other coach so I had to fish it out quickly before it drove off.

Now I'm leaving behind Argentina for good and I'm feeling pretty sad about it! This country is so incredible, I've had loads of good times here and seen some amazing things - from BA to the end of the world, and back up through Calafate and Bariloche. There's still so much more of the country that I haven't explored, and so I'd love to come back one day and do the north. Thanks for the memories Argentina - and my very sore head! Don't cry for me.Read more