Mendoza - wine, wine and more wine

After leaving Cordoba we were really excited to visit Mendoza, vineyard central, to get our wine on! We met up with our aussie friend from BA and made a plan to have a chilled evening ready to go wine tasting the next day at the vineyards. This plan went awry, however, as there was a free wine tasting in our hostel that night (and our hostel gave us free wine every night anyway) - so after learning a little bit about wine they gave us the bottles we were tasting and the early night gave way to us all having a mammoth hangover the next day. So, after a lazy day in Mendoza, we decided the following day to finally head off to the vineyards.The wine tasting here consists of a tipsy bike tour where you rent a bicycle, ride the 10km stretch to the end and then ride back visiting the various vineyards along the way - so much easier to ride when you've had a few wines in you! Throughout the day we managed to fit in three vineyards and an olive oil plantation. The views were incredible, particularly at one vineyard called Mevi where they had panoramic views of the the plantation with the Andes in the background. We returned to the bike rental place at the end of the day (Mr. Hugos) and Mr.Hugo himself gave us glasses of juice and much needed sustinence in the form of crisps. He also walked us on to the bus home giving us a huge hug!

Maipu vineyards: 

We returned to the hostel that night to a huge asado (BBQ) - we ate so much meat with unlimited wine and we could have ended up in a meat coma but we decided to check out the bars in Mendoza with our newly found friends at the hostel. 

The BBQ:

The next day, a little groggy, we went to check out the hot springs up in the mountains. We travelled through winding roads to get there and when we arrived we were not let down by the views. There were various pools ranging from steaming hot to freezing cold (very reviving after a night on the tiles), most of which had imposing views of the mountains behind. 

The hot springs:

We spent a lovely day chilling here before heading back to our last night with an empanada making class - we finally know how to make them ourselves - guess what we'll be cooking for everyone when we get home! 

Empanada making:

Next stop, over the Andes to Chile.