Mendoza - Argentina

Arrived into Mendoza on a glorious blue sky, sunny day....this is the norm here they only get 20 days of rain here per year! Lucky bastards! Checked into our adventure Hostel and booked ourselves a full day white water rafting and 3 days horseriding! The whole thing only cost us 100 pounds each! Set off following day for rafting on a crappy bus that needed to be push started...didn't bode well for the quality of the company!!! Got kitted up in our very flattering rafting gear...Chris looked like the guy from Scissor Sisters and me an extra from the Wombles! The river was brown, no white water in sight, but very aggressive...supposedly a grade III to IV (for those in the know!). We'd booked the longest possible trip, so it meant we had the furthest to drive up the valley...a very hot journey!! The top part of the river was pretty tame, more scenic than adrenalin fueled! But we did get to stop for a nice sandwiche (jamon y queso...of course!) Further down stream the river picked up and we found the excitment we were looking for....being tossed around in a big rubber dingy! But we learnt that its not all fun, this sport can be quite dangerous...as we found out when our raft hit a particularly big drop which threw myself, Chris and an Argentinian guy out of the raft! I managed to hold on and was quickly rescued, the Argy guy got catapulted way down stream and was picked up by the safety kayak, but Chris wasn't as lucky and got pulled into the rapid, spinning around in a washing machine effect, unable to get breath for 15 secs (felt like minutes!!)...eventually the rapid spat him out, hadn't helped that his life jacket had ended up above his head therefore not keeping him bouyant! Eventually we managed to rescue him but not until he'd been washed down through several other rapids, back on board he was looking considerably washed out!! Afterwards we all thought it was quite amusing...made our 30mins safety talk seem worthwhile....that was until our celebratory beer got interupted by much commotion as another raft had been flipped!!! These guys weren't quite so lucky though, turns out several were badly injured on the rocks and one guy was killed....we still don't know exact details, just the translated spanish rumours - bloody scarey though!!!

So onto our next adventure....headed on horse back into the surrounding mountains, just the two of us and our guide, Javier. At last we had some decent horses...had to rein these ones in, they wanted to go!!! Took 5 hours to get from the edge of Mendoza to our ranch for the night in the foothillls of the Andes....a very scenic oasis in the middle of a dry desert, the only green trees for miles around surround the ranch. It's run by one old man, Antonio (68yrs), he is his own blacksmith, butcher, shepherd, mechanic...his nearest human contact 2 hours away! We enjoy Argentina's national dish for dinner...the BBQ...but not like any you get back home...this was 4kg of steak cooked on open fire, with only homemade bread and salsa to accompany it (and of course wine!), sounds basic but tasted damn fine!

The following day we set off on horseback up into the mountains, and when I say up, I mean straight up....the horses were climbing slopes so steep I'd have had problems trying to clamber up on hands and feet! Going up was all well and good, and after admiring the amazing views over the Argentinian 'Pampas' we had to head back down!!! Now this was scary, the ground was covered in loose rock and the horses slipped and slided all over the place....Chris however seemed in his element, and after Javier had to take my horse down a particularly steep section which Chris managed with ease...he earned the title "Good Gaucho" (think he may be wanting to join 'Pony Club' when he gets home).

After this we headed back to the ranch for lunch and to pack up our camping kit for the evenings adventure further into the Andes! With our Mule loaded up with kit, we set off about 4.30pm (pretty late considering it was a 4 hour ride!). The scenary was stunning, straight out of a Western movie, steep rocky faces above us, expecting to look up and see Indians looking down on us! Instead all we saw was Condors circling and the odd lama. We had to make camp early because the light was fading, but first we had to find water...every spring we found was dry! Eventually we found the perfect spot, put up the tent, collected firewood and set about making fire to cook dinner! Even more authenic this time...another huge hunk of beef, this time put on a metal spike and placed over the fire....it took over an hour to cook, but was even better than the meal the night before!!! Must have eaten the equivilant of 3 large steaks each...the perfect Atkins diet!!!

Woke the following morning, having actually got a pretty good sleep, but our bodies are starting to ache now! Collected water from the spring, made breakfast and headed off further up into the mountains! After 2 hours we reached our goal, at 3000m we had a stunning view over the Andes....nothing but mountains for miles around but a few wild lama! The way back wasn't quite so enjoyable, at least for me....my horse had found 5th gear and did not want to stop till it got all the way home!!! I tried everything to stop it, but try as I might I couldn't find the brakes....all I could hear was Chris laughing in the background, on his incredibly slow horse!!! Eventually he caught up and by making my horse smell Chris's horse's backside for the remainder of the journey she seemed to calm down!

Got back down to the ranch about 4pm....all feeling extremely knackered by now, but having loved every minute of our Gaucho Experience!!! Got lift in rusty old yute back to Hostel, pleased not to have to ride the horses the 4 hrs back! But thats it, all over, we head out of Mendoza tomorrow and north on a 25hr bus journey back into Bolivia. Can't believe we're leaving so soon, this place is perfect....tonnes of sunshine, hot but with a cool breeze, cheap wine, adventure sports (including skiing in winter!) and no rain!!!!