Mendoza

On Monday, I left Buenos Aires to take the night bus to Mendoza. They don´t have so many trains over here in Argentina, instead they have very posh buses. The seats are so big, there are only 3 seats across on the top deck, its like riding business class on an aeroplane. The bus was non-stop for about 14 hours, during the journey they even serve meals. Well, they try to serve meals, but the scene is something like out of the aeroplane movie when they serve dinner in the turbulance. You clip a tray onto your seat, and try and eat the meal as the bus bumps its way down the highway, I had to down my coke in one for fear of spilling it all over me, in a brief respite between pot holes.
I think I have been in the hostel here for 4 or 5 days, its very difficult to tell since this Mendoza is the principle wine region of Argentina. I have managed a trip to a vinyard, but not so much else here as the weather has turned, which is bad because it means we have not been doing much, but on the other hand it means there will be lots of fresh snow in the Andes. However we have had a great time in the very posh hostel (it even has a swimming pool!) See http://www.damajuanahostel.com.ar/ . On Sunday I should be going to Malargue, next to the Las Leñas ski resort, so I should be snowboarding on Monday. At the moment it is something like the Tony Hawk book, "Around Ireland With a Fridge", me carrying my snowboard from place to place but never using it. Infact maybe when the ski season has finished, I will just continue carrying it around Boliva or the Galalopogas islands just for fun!

PS. am eating well. All-you-can-eat buffet for lunch was 17pesos. Thats about 3 pounds!