25 November 2007 - Mendoza

It was a 14 hour bus journey from Buenos Aries to Mendoza. I was getting excited as it was nearly my birthday!!

Once we were settled into our hostel we sussed the town out and booked up 2 trips. Horse riding for my birthday and wine tasting for Karls.

Horse riding was wicked!! Neither of us had done it before so it was new experience for us both. It was supposed to be simple pull the rein's to the left or right to tell the horse which way to go and pull them back if you want the horse to stop. It was fine at first the horses just trotted along following our guide who was infront. Then we got to a straight long part of the track, the guide said we could go faster if we wanted. I wasn't sure but Karl was off and mine followed. The horses were galloping and i was screaming, i pulled the rein's back but the horse kept going. Considering we had never been on a horse before the guide just laughed, all i was glad about was that i had managed to stay on!! My horse then decided to go off on it's own down a nearly vertical hill, Gabriel the guide was concearned this time and shouted for me to pull the rein's but it was too late we were on the way down. Karl's horse then decided to follow and the guide had no choice!! The horses just wanted to gallop from then on so it was hold on and hope for the best!! It was a funny 2 hours and i got a very sore arse but i don't think i will ever horse ride around the base of the Andies again for my birthday!! The track was good because it was up and down hill's and we were surrounded by stunning sceneary. I am glad we didn't fall off though because im not sure if we would have been covered by the insurance!!

That night we went to a lovely italian restaurant for my birthday meal. Karl had bought me some flowers and 3 ferrero roche which was lovely!!

The next day we woke up stiff as boards our sholders and backs were awful. On the plus side it was Karl's 30 birthday and we were off wine tasting. We had a tour of 2 wineries, an olive oil factory and a liquor factory. It was good fun. We were the only english on the bus but luckily one girl spoke english and translated for us. We were taught how to spot the colour, scent and tears of a wine but we weren't really bothered we just wanted to drink it!! It was interesting though learning the process and actually understanding the wine labels. he bus got louder after every stop and everyone had a really good time. They even sang happy birthday to Karl and no one could believe he was 30 they all said he looked 25!!

That night we went to the same restaurant again because it was so nice. It was supposed to be the best restaurant in mendoza so you would expect it to be expensive but we had a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine for 15 pound!!

We had a wicked birthday weekend it will surely be one we will never forget!!

It was a 14 hour bus journey from Buenos Aries to Mendoza. I was getting excited as it was nearly my birthday!!

Once we were settled into our hostel we sussed the town out and booked up 2 trips. Horse riding for my birthday and wine tasting for Karls.

Horse riding was wicked!! Neither of us had done it before so it was new experience for us both. It was supposed to be simple pull the rein's to the left or right to tell the horse which way to go and pull them back if you want the horse to stop. It was fine at first the horses just trotted along following our guide who was infront. Then we got to a straight long part of the track, the guide said we could go faster if we wanted. I wasn't sure but Karl was off and mine followed. The horses were galloping and i was screaming, i pulled the rein's back but the horse kept going. Considering we had never been on a horse before the guide just laughed, all i was glad about was that i had managed to stay on!! My horse then decided to go off on it's own down a nearly vertical hill, Gabriel the guide was concearned this time and shouted for me to pull the rein's but it was too late we were on the way down. Karl's horse then decided to follow and the guide had no choice!! The horses just wanted to gallop from then on so it was hold on and hope for the best!! It was a funny 2 hours and i got a very sore arse but i don't think i will ever horse ride around the base of the Andies again for my birthday!! The track was good because it was up and down hill's and we were surrounded by stunning sceneary. I am glad we didn't fall off though because im not sure if we would have been covered by the insurance!!

That night we went to a lovely italian restaurant for my birthday meal. Karl had bought me some flowers and 3 ferrero roche which was lovely!!

The next day we woke up stiff as boards our sholders and backs were awful. On the plus side it was Karl's 30 birthday and we were off wine tasting. We had a tour of 2 wineries, an olive oil factory and a liquor factory. It was good fun. We were the only english on the bus but luckily one girl spoke english and translated for us. We were taught how to spot the colour, scent and tears of a wine but we weren't really bothered we just wanted to drink it!! It was interesting though learning the process and actually understanding the wine labels. he bus got louder after every stop and everyone had a really good time. They even sang happy birthday to Karl and no one could believe he was 30 they all said he looked 25!!

That night we went to the same restaurant again because it was so nice. It was supposed to be the best restaurant in mendoza so you would expect it to be expensive but we had a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine for 15 pound!!

We had a wicked birthday weekend it will surely be one we will never forget!!