At 1am in the morning we arrived at border between Chile and Argentina. We had managed to get a few minutes sleep every now and then but the bus driver had his foot down the whole way and going round mountains was not the smoothest journey at that speed!
If we hadn’t have laughed about this part of our journey I think we all would have cried. It took 2 hours getting over the border – first we lined up in the freezing cold and had to get our passports checked and just when we thought it was over and started getting back on the bus, they started unloading every suit case off of the bus and putting them all through the scanners. We were then told to get off the bus and have all our hand luggage manually searched – why they couldn’t put them through the scanners is a mystery! I felt so bad for Aimi who had started to feel better during the day, only to not get any sleep and stand out in the freezing cold for ages 🙁 I think we all agreed the bus was a bad idea… although it was an experience!
We arrived in Mendoza at 6am tired and not in good moods! We checked into the nearest hotel and finally got some sleep… it was the best sleep ever! We slept until about midday and then decided to get up and do something with the day. Unfortunately Aimi was not feeling very well again so had to stay in bed.
We found a company online called Mr Hugo’s Bikes that offered bike tours around the wineries and decided it sounded like a good idea. We didn’t arrive at Mr Hugo’s until about 4.30pm and the wineries closed at 6pm so we needed to cycle fast to get there! It was about a 5km bike ride to the first winery and it was boiling hot so when we arrived we were all sweating and my legs felt like they wouldn’t work when we got off the bikes … really must get to the gym when we get home! But it was great riding along and seeing the sights.
The winery was beautiful – I have decided I would like to live in a vineyard! We sat on the roof terrace and tasted three different wines each, which after the bike ride went straight to our heads! At 6pm we headed back to Mr Hugo’s and ordered a taxi back to the hotel. While we waited for the taxi Mr Hugo offered us some free wine. We took full advantage of this, and as the taxi took about 45 minutes to arrive we were all pretty drunk! The atmosphere was brilliant, there were loads of other travellers sitting in the sun drinking the free wine. Hiring the bikes cost about £5 each and that included all the free wine – we loved it at Mr Hugo’s! 🙂
We got back to the hotel and went to check on Aimi. She still wasn’t feeling well and had seen the doctor again who said she needed to stay in bed. Paul stayed with Aimi and got some room service. Me and Chalkie went down to the bar and continued on the red wine …
Hi everyone ,
poor Aimi hope you will feel better soon
the bike ride and winery sounds brilliant good old Mr Hugo !!!
Look forward to the next installment of the great journey.
Lots of love Mum W xxxx
Sounds like your having fun except for poor aimi. Make the most of it as it will soon fly by and you will soon be working hard in Costa Rica! Keep your eye out for Paddington when you get to Peru.
Hello all,
Well done Ems, for taking over the blog duties while Aimi isn’t well, and keeping us all updated with your lovely news and photos. Aim, we are all wishing you well, it’s good to hear you’re eating again, hopefully it means you’re on the mend.
Nos vemos en 8 días!!
PS Can’t believe you didn’t hit the guys at the border Em, I keep having a little snigger when I imagine you in the queue being kept waiting for all the checks to be done, bet you were seething!