We are in Mendoza, Argentina. This place claims to be the wine capital of the world.

vital stats

• Location: Mendoza, Argentina.
• beard state: I can not wait to find a razor.
• ping time to nuttall.im: 273ms.
• ping time to google.com: 58ms .
• steak tally: 3 (and a pile of BBQ).

We took the bus here. Its quite a ride. The border crossing was mental, we were there for 2 hours. Apparently that is standard and can be longer. The scenery was fantastic but it is all very dry. We arrived in Mendoza to find that the hostel was having an asado - an Argentine barbecue. After all day on the bus this went down a storm. There was great wine out of unmarked bottles and we met some good folks from various countries. The meat is as tasty as people say, juicier and with more flavour than anything we've had before.

Notes for folks interested in the same journey - you get the bus from Universidad de Santiago, its worth booking in advance (we hung around the bus station for hours until the bus went),and Chilean bus rides are both cheap and comfortable.

Today we went to Maipu to cycle around vineyards on a tandem. It was good but hard work figuring out where to go and how to pay. There's a major shortage of coins in Argentina. Our bus card ran out of money and there was nowhere to put credit on it but fortunately the driver let us travel back to Mendoza for free. The good news was we ate excellent food and drank wine before fighting the bus.

Simple things have become difficult. There is no obvious system when it comes to crossing the road so it is always dicey. There are giant holes in the pavement that threaten to suck you into a subterranean underworld. There are some fancy new cars but most of them are ancient and are hanging apart and totally battered. When we were on the bus we saw a guy riding in the back of a pick up truck on a fast road when there was a perfectly good passenger seat.

Communicating is difficult but we are picking up more words bit by bit. Fortunately the people here are very patient and helpful. The pronounciation in both Chile and Argentina is quite different which means that sometimes we are not understood when we speak what we were taught. It is amazing how many people have un poco de ingles though.

It is roasting hot. We are leaving here tomorrow and heading on to San Agustin de Valle Fertil to see some national parks. Yet another day on the buses.

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