Day 2 - Mendoza

Waheey I finally get to write on 'our' blog. Today is (was) Blake's birthday. The big ole 31 or trinta y uno as we are now slowly starting to learn our numbers. We had no alarm set which was nice and were in no rush to get up.

Now before we left we had a lovely dinner round Danny's and Libby gave me a birthday card from them which she asked me to smuggle in my bag until the big day. Luckily I some how managed to do just that. And even better, Libs left it open with no name on the back so if found it would look less suspicious. It also allowed me to scribble my name in nice and fresh whilst Blake had jumped in the shower. I don't think that this was noticed...

We had bought some food the day before to make a picnic and headed off to the park Portones del Parque General San Martín for lunch. We arrived at the park and headed to the information centre to grab a map, we then chose to head towards the big lake in the middle for the feast. By feast I mean some posher bread than we were used to and some pâté with some cheap and cheerful crisps on the side. I know what you're all thinking, this guy knows how to treat a lady!! After we let the food go down we continued to walk around the park until we got to Eva Perons house. If you remember Eva featured in a previous post and was a pretty big deal in Argentina. We headed back to our Airbnb from the park as that afternoon we had booked to do a sunset horse ride with an Argentinian BBQ and Wine after.

We were picked up in a mini bus and driven out in to the desert like area before entering a winery where the horses were kept. We scribbled down our details for the 'insurance' and were led outside to meet our new friends. These four legged friends seemed very tame and well behaved but we were told one important rule! Don't let your horse eat!! As soon as you do this he will take advantage of you by stopping when he wants to eat, the frequency of which will increase until your horse just won't move anymore! With this in mind we were helped onto our steed and off we went. Out the winery gate, across the road and onto the path leading up the foothills. I was about third in the line and between Blake and I was the slowest horse ever with a pretty terrified English lad on. He was told to hit his horse with the stick every 30 seconds so he would keep up but I'm pretty sure he was happy with that pace so Blake was about 200m behind most of the way up. As we got higher and the sun got lower the views started to get more and more breath taking. We finally made it to the highest peak of 1100m where we all lined up for a group shot.

On the way down we were reordered so that the horses wouldn't kick each other on the way down. One horse in particular liked to kick most of the others but apparently mine was safe so we got lumbered behind him. It didn't matter for too long as the English lad from before whose hose was fast asleep before had woken up and decided to run down half the hill over taking most and plonking himself near the front much to the dismay of its rider who I'm sure was almost screaming as he ploughed passed us (another important rule, do not let the horses overtake at all costs as they may start fighting). The way back down was even more beautiful than the way up as we were facing in the direction that the sun was going down. With the cloud there were a lush mixture of reds and purples all over the horizon.

Now on the way down Blake was behind me and I heard a loud 'oh no' and some laughing. If you remember the number one rule from earlier you can imagine my entertainment when I turned round to see Blakes horse tucking into some yummy grass with her yanking the reigns with one hand and tapping him on the arse with the other. I'm pretty sure he took no notice and only carried on when he wanted to! From then on it was a constant hilarious battle to make it to the end!

We did finally make it to the end where we were greeted by some wonderful smelling MEAT on the BBQ!! I had been looking forward to this meal ever since we booked it. We had a mixture of sausages and about a quarter of a cow in various cuts and sizes accompanied by some delicious potato things and some salad which I obviously didn't touch. We also had help yourself red wine to wash it all down with :)

After we finished eating our guide grabbed a guitar and played some songs which we all got involved in. The red wine by this point was helping us all ;) my particular favourite was hit me baby one more time by our Britney! After we had consumed as much as we could and sang all we could we headed home.Read more