Our Highlights of South America

We have now been back in the UK for two or three weeks, and are gradually adjusting to quite a different kind of lifestyle from the last 16 months! Having spent a few days with families, we are now in London, staying with some friends while we attempt to get ourselves sorted (looking for jobs, houses etc.).

As Kev mentioned in his final post about Uruguay a couple of weeks ago, we have been planning for a while to do a few summary style blog posts. These might include some of our highlights from the entire trip, favourite cities, best places we stayed / restaurants we ate in etc, as well as some general tips for travelling South America.  I've finally got round to writing the first of these posts, on our top highlights  - enjoy, and please feel free to share among anyone you think might be interested.

All of the Lonely Planet guidebooks have a few pages at the start devoted to a selection of photos and short descriptions of the top places to visit - the absolute must sees. Lonely Planet's 'South America on a Shoestring' guidebook, which covers the whole continent, is no exception. Some of the standouts are obvious, and also on our own list - Macchu Picchu, the Galápagos Islands, Torres del Paine National Park... However, we think that Lonely Planet has also made some significant omissions. So, in chronological order, here is our very own 'South America Top 30'.

1. Punta Tombo, Southern Argentina
Colony of over half a million Magellanic penguins. They were everywhere!

2. Cueva de las Manos,  Southern Argentina
9,000 - 13,000 year old cave paintings, in an absolutely stunning setting. The famous handprints in the paintings are actually silhouettes, created by blowing paint using pipes made out of bone. Pretty amazing!

3. Hiking around El Chaltén, Southern Argentina
This tiny, colourful village is known as Argentina's capital of trekking, and rightfully so. We spent a week here near the start of our trek, and came back 6 months later when my family was visiting. Some spectacular day hikes, all free to do and easily accessible - you just walk out of your hostel!

4. Perito Moreno Glacier, near El Calafate, Southern Argentina
Where else can you stand within a few metres of a 60 m high monster of ice, listen to it constantly shifting, creaking and cracking, and watch chunks the size of a house fall off? We visited Perito Moreno twice, and would love to go again.

5. Driving south through Tierra del Fuego towards Ushuaia, in the Far South of Argentina
We didn't think much of Ushuaia itself, which is a very touristy and expensive town most famous for being the 'most southerly town in the world' (this is not in fact true; there's a town further south in Chile!). However, the long bus ride down through the island of Tierra del Fuego was an unforgettable experience. We gazed out of the window at mist clad lakes, forests and mountains that really felt untouched by humanity. It was magical.

6. Hiking around Puerto Williams and Isla Navarino, in the Far South of Chile
We took the last boat of the season across the Beagle Channel from Ushuaia, to get to the Chilean town of Puerto Williams. This really felt like the end of the world, unlike Ushuaia. Kev was still on crutches at this point, but we still managed to climb Cerro Bandera, which has to be one of the most spectacular day hikes of all time. The views of the Beagle Channel in one direction, and the stunning Dientes de Navarino mountain range in the other, would be hard to beat.

7. Seeing Calbuco Volcano Erupt, from Chiloé, Chile
We were out for a walk on the beautiful island of Chiloé, and saw an unusual cloud in the sky at sunset. It was so strange-looking that we took a photo of it (luckily). A few minutes later, we arrived back at our homestay to find the main story on the TV was the eruption of Calbuco Volcano, on the mainland!

8. Conguillío National Park, Southern Chile
Possibly our favourite national park in Chile. It has everything - beautiful lakes, perfectly conical volcanoes, monkey puzzle trees ... and virtually no tourists.

9. El Enladrillado, Reserva Nacional Altos de Lircay, Middle Chile
Epic day hike up to an unbelievably flat volcanic plateau. We walked across to the other side, and were greeted with a stupendous view down into the valley and across to the opposite mountain range.

10. Wine Tasting in the Colchagua Valley, Middle Chile
Colchagua is Chile's most famous wine region, and deservedly so. This was our favourite of the three sets of wine tasting we did in Chile. Incredibly friendly, helpful and well informed people at the wineries, and world class wines. Colchagua is geared up more to luxury / package tourists than backpackers, but with some research we still managed it on a reasonable budget.

11. Stargazing in the Atacama Desert, Northern Chile
We were not fans of the extremely touristy town of San Pedro de Atacama, and found places in northern Argentina with equally impressive scenery. For us, the real highlight of the Atacama Desert was the stargazing, We saw Saturn through a telescope, other galaxies with the naked eye, and we even learnt how to take a decent photo of the night sky (and yes, it was freezing cold!).

12. The Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
This one is obvious - the Bolivian Salt Flats were just as amazing as we'd hoped! We did the standard three day jeep tour, beginning in San Pedro de Atacama and finishing in Uyuni in Bolivia. We went up to nearly 5000m so it was very cold at night - our first experience of sleeping in temperatures of -15°C...

13. The Amazon Jungle and the Pampas, near Rurrenabaque, Bolivia
We opted to visit the Amazon from Bolivia, as it was a lot cheaper than anywhere else we'd read about. Our 6 day trip with Mashaquipe Ecotours was pretty special, despite Kev getting horribly ill for two days of it. We spent 3 days in the jungle, followed by 3 days in the Pampas (a wetland savannah area). The highlight was swimming with pink dolphins!

14. Trekking to Macchu Picchu via Choquequirao, Perú
We wanted to hike to Macchu Picchu. We also wanted to see the Choquequirao Inca site. And we did not want to be in a group of 20 plus tourists. The solution? A 9 day trek. The hardest either of us had ever done, but also the most rewarding. The scenery was unbelievable, we saw several less-visited Inca ruins, several condors, and no other people apart from the others in our (small) group for days. For us, this was so much preferable to hiking the Inca trail with 500 others!

15. Macchu Picchu, Perú
Oh, and Macchu Picchu was incredible, of course. We stayed later than most tourists, who all seemed to leave around lunchtime. At 7 am, we were there with 2000 other people - by 3 pm, we had the place nearly to ourselves.

16. Flying over the Nazca Lines, Perú
I had read various horror stories about the tiny aircraft that take tourists on short flights over the Nazca Lines. But this is really the only way to get a panoramic view of the area. In the end, we felt perfectly safe, and we were in complete awe of these mysterious, centuries old lines and figures drawn in the desert.

17. The Huacas del Sol and de la Luna (Temples of the Sun and Moon), near Trujillo, Perú
Perú is full of wonderful examples of pre-Inca architecture. These pyramid temples, built by the Moche culture (around 100 - 800 AD) were some of our favourites. 1500 year old colourful murals, incredibly detailed and still in fantastic condition.

18. Trekking near Huaraz, Perú
The mountain town of Huaraz, in central Perú, has a wealth of nearby opportunities for trekking, We opted for the 4 day Santa Cruz trek, which took us to the highest I'd ever hiked to (a pass at 4750m) and the highest I'd ever camped (4250m). The views were stupendous throughout the trek - it reminded us of Patagonia.

19. Torres del Paine National Park, Southern Chile
Talking of Patagonia ... we missed this national park when we were first in the south of Chile, due to Kev's injured leg. 6 months later, we returned at the start of the trekking season (October) to undertake the 5 day 'W' trek. WOW. Like El Chaltén, but even better - and not too busy at this time of year.

20. The Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
Our 8 day cruise around the Galápagos was by far the biggest splash out of our trip. It was worth it! These volcanic islands support such a bewildering array of life, a lot of it found nowhere else on the planet. Blue footed boobies, frigate birds, iguanas, giant tortoises ... not to mention the great diversity of the underwater environment.

21. Pailon del Diablo Waterfall, Baños, Ecuador
One of our favourite waterfalls (although we'd not been to Iguazú at this point!). The sheer power and noise of the water crashing down right next to us was overwhelming. Baños is also a very good place for adventure sports - we had our first go at canyoning here and loved it.

22. Learning to Dive in Taganga, Colombia
Taganga is a nice enough place to chill out - a beachy, backpacker place with lovely sunsets - but what it is really known for is diving. It's one of the cheapest places in the world to learn, which I duly did. We had a great time hanging out with fellow divers and ended up staying a lot longer than intended (and getting 3 PADI dive certifications between us)!

23. The Gold Museum, Bogotá, Colombia
One of the best museums in South America - a fascinating insight into the history and symbolism of gold in indigenous and colonial times.

24. Kaieteur Falls, Guyana
We flew deep into the jungle in Guyana (the flight itself was amazing) to see this waterfall. What made it most special was how remote it was - an hour plane ride or a 5 day hike from the capital, Georgetown. The only people there were us and the other 10 people from our (tiny) plane. It's the highest single drop waterfall in the world, and we felt privileged to have seen it.

25. Watching Sea Turtles Laying their Eggs, Suriname
On the border between Suriname and French Guyana are some beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs. We saw all stages of the process - turtles coming out of the water, clearing an area, digging a hole, laying their eggs, and eventually dragging themselves back out to sea. An amazing opportunity to see nature in action.

26. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
One of our favourite cities in South America, and it has to be one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. Rio has it all - beaches, mountains, nightlife, colonial buildings, great museums... and Christ the Redeemer of course.

27. The Iguazú Falls, Brazil / Argentina
You've probably already seen our photos - there's not much more to add! Iguazú made every other waterfall we've ever seen look pretty insignificant. One of the absolutely unmissable sights of the continent.

28. The Hornocal and Other Coloured Mountains, Northern Argentina
We hired a car for a week or two in northern Argentina, to drive around the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The whole area is full of mountains and rock formations in unbelievable shapes and colours. Best of all was the Hornocal, the 'mountain of 14 colours' - which doesn't even make it into the Lonely Planet book!

29. Condors in Quebrada del Condorito National Park, Argentina
We'd seen a few condors in Patagonia and when hiking in Perú, but only a long way in the distance. Here however, we saw some a lot closer up and could really appreciate their colossal size.

30. Wine tasting in Carmelo, Uruguay
We didn't have any great expectations for Uruguayan wine, so were pleasantly surprised when we did some tasting at a tiny boutique winery in Carmelo. Some of the best red wine either of us had ever had, and such a lovely family place. We bought some to take home, and can report that it is still excellent!

Last Days in South America

We are now back in the UK, having travelled from Uruguay back into Argentina, flown to Belgium via Spain, attended a wedding in the Netherlands and returned home via Belgium (again) and France. Therefore, this will be our last blog post about new places, although we do have some summaries lined up.

Tree-lined avenue in Colonia del Sacramento

I'll pick the story up in Uruguay, where we had just arrived in Colonia del Sacramento. This is one of the oldest towns in Uruguay, originally founded by the Portuguese in 1680, but changed hands between them and the Spanish continuously (much like the country itself) until Uruguay's independence in 1830. Some of the cobbled streets are from the original Portuguese settlement and the historic centre is a UNESCO world heritage site. The tree-lined avenues and old buildings are very beautiful, especially when illuminated by colourful sunsets.

Lighthouse, built inside an old monastery in Colonia del Sacramento

Although Colonia is just over the Rio de la Plata river from Buenos Aires, and there is a rapid ferry connecting the two cities, we wanted to visit Carmelo before making the crossing. This town is famous in Uruguay, but unfortunately not the world, for its wine - especially the tannat variety. We visited a small, family-run bodega, which was superb. It was started by the current owner's grandfather and his brother, but they then had to sell a lot of the land in an economic crisis. It's now been bought back and they've started producing wine again, hence the name 'El Legado' - 'The Legacy'. Not only were the family very friendly and excited about their wine, but we got to enjoy several refills and even drew a glass from a barrel using a large pipette.

Pipetting wine from the barrel

From Carmelo, we returned to Buenos Aires via a short ferry ride across to the northern suburb of Tigre. This time, we stayed in the upmarket area of Palermo to get a different feel for the city to the more touristy San Telmo. The area is a lot greener, with lots of big parks, and also with many cafes and bars. We met up with a friend from home who has been living there for nearly a year, so it was good to get a more local perspective of the rewards and the challenges of living in Argentina.

The Floralis Generica sculpture in Buenos Aires - opening and closing with sunrise and sunset

This was our last stop in South America, after spending nearly 16 months on the continent. We flew back to Brussels via Madrid and spent a night in Bruges. This was a good stop before crossing into the Netherlands for the wonderful wedding of one of my best friends, before taking the ferry from Dunkirk back to Dover. For all of these stories, you'll just have to meet up and speak to us.

The Only Meat Factory With UNESCO Status

When Kev last posted, we were just about to leave Córdoba (Argentina's second city) to head towards Uruguay. The simplest way to do this would probably have been an overnight bus to Buenos Aires, then a boat across the river to the Uruguayan town of Colonia de Sacramento, which lies directly opposite Buenos Aires. However, we decided to take a less simple route. Firstly because we tend not to be people who do things the easy way, and secondly because we wanted to visit a town further north in Uruguay, Fray Bentos, before heading down to Colonia.

Electricity generator in the old Fray Bentos factory

Our route to Fray Bentos took us two and a half days from Córdoba. We began with a 6 hour bus to the city of Paraná, where we spent a night. The next day we proceeded for another 4 hours to Gualeguaychú, which is right on the river that marks the border with Uruguay. We had hoped to get a bus straight over to Fray Bentos, only 50km from here, so as soon as we arrived in Gualeguaychú we went to ask in the tourist information office about bus times. Weirdly, the lady there looked at us like we were mad, and told us to ask in the comedor (restaurant), as if that were the obvious thing to do! The man there also looked at us like we were mad, and told us to go to the Flechabus office. We finally got the information we required, which was that there was only ONE bus a day to Fray Bentos, at 1pm, and we were too late for today's.  Great. So off we went to check into one of Gualeguaychú's plentiful yet somewhat uninspiring hotels for the night. The city is a popular resort for Argentinians in the summer, and also famous for its carnival. But in this season it was very cold, and completely dead. It was slightly surreal sitting in a large restaurant on the touristic riverfront, totally devoid of other customers.

View across the rusting rooftops of the old Fray Bentos factory

The following day, we duly got on the 1pm bus, which only took an hour or so, and finally made it into Uruguay! Fray Bentos, on first impressions, looked like any other nondescript Argentinian town - the only way you'd know you were in a new country were the Uruguayan flags flying. So why, might you ask, had we made all this effort to come to this town in particular? UNESCO, of course. Yep, Fray Bentos is home to one of Uruguay's two World Heritage sites.  You may have heard the name before - it's best known in the UK in relation to a line of meat products (Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney Pie, for example). The UNESCO status was awarded due to the remains of the famous meat factory that operated here during the 19th and 20th centuries, and all the cultural heritage that went with it.

Machinery in the old Fray Bentos factory

I have to say, I had not expected an old meat factory to be the most interesting place to visit, but I was proved completely wrong, and we were very glad we made the effort to come here. Since it was low season, we got a (free) private tour around the old industrial buildings, many still with rusting machinery etc. It was fascinating. We learnt that the company began in the 1860s, the project of a German chemist called Liebig. He had invented a way to 'condense' meat so that the nutrition provided from 33 cows could be concentrated into a single lump of a molasses-like essence, dissolvable in water to form a broth. It was basically the first ever stock cube! Liebig industrialised this process, building his factory in Fray Bentos and exporting his meat extract all over the world. It was particularly successful during war times. when soldiers relied on Liebig's Extract of Meat for nutrition. In the late 19th century the factory started making other meat products, including tinned corned beef, sold under the Fray Bentos label (still produced today). It also began a line called OXO cubes - sound familiar?

Dials on machinery - note that this was made in Bradford, England!

After WWI, the factory was bought by the English and renamed Anglo. It still produced the meat essence, but also diversified, with a huge refrigeration building being constructed capable of storing up to 1800 tons of meat. More than 60 different tinned products were sold under the Anglo label, including canned vegetables as well as meat in every form you can imagine. The factory went into decline during the 1960s and finally closed in the 1979, but the Fray Bentos brand lives on, now owned by the Scottish company Baxters. Our included visits to the machinery / engine room, the refrigeration building, the admin area, and even the slaughterhouse (not for the fainthearted... but also very impressive in its efficiency - they had invented the basis of a production line here before motor companies had laid claim to this idea!).  All of the buildings are extremely run-down and dilapidated, with falling down ceilings and asbestos covered pipes. They hope to restore things gradually, but our guide told us UNESCO status hasn't quite brought the millions they need for this yet. It's quite an experience as it is though - very ghostlike and a bit creepy a little like the ghost salt mining towns we went to in Chile.

More Fray Bentos factory buildings

From Fray Bentos, we discovered there isn't a great selection of buses to elsewhere in Uruguay. We had planned to go down to Colonia del Sacramento, but instead ended up opting to head straight to Montevideo, the capital, since there was nothing to Colonia until 7.45pm! There isn't a great deal to do in the capital, but it's a pleasant enough city. It was extremely cold when we were there - we were told unseasonably so, even for winter here. This must be true as we have found that in general Uruguay is not at all geared up for cold weather! Hardly anywhere has heating of any kind. Montevideo's 22km long Rambla (coastal promenade) must be pleasant in the summer but we were glad after a freezing 10km walk to get out of the wind and into a café.

Montevideo's seafront, which it has to be said isn't the most attractive!

We did manage to visit four museums in the capital. In the national museum, we learnt something of Uruguay's interesting history. During colonial times this area was originally part of a region called the Banda Oriental (the east bank of the River Uruguay). Both the Portuguese and the Spanish made claims to the region - the Portuguese founded the city of Colonia in 1680, and the Spanish then responded by founding Montevideo further south along the river in 1726. Later, ongoing Spanish pressure meant Colonia was eventually ceded to Spain in the 1770s. During the time of the wars of independence, Portugal once again invaded and occupied the Banda Oriental region several times, fearing that republicanism spreading here from Buenos Aires would stir similar sentiment in Brazil. Even after Brazil became independent from Portugal, Banda Oriental remained a part of the Empire of Brazil. It only became an independent state in 1828, after a war between Brazil and revolutionaries who wanted it to become part of the Rio de la Plata provinces (Argentina).  Brazil and Argentina finally agreed in an 1828 treaty to allow the region to be an independent territory, a sort of buffer zone between the two countries. Hence Uruguay was born.

Uruguay's national football stadium, in Montevideo

One of the other museums we went to was on football! This was attached to the Montevideo stadium, so we got to have a quick look inside, as well as seeing a ton of football trophies and memorabilia. Uruguay has quite a proud footballing history - it was the first country ever to win the World Cup (1930) and won it again in 1950; it also has won the Copa América more times than any other country (Argentina is only one behind on the latter count though, and the 2016 competition is currently taking place!).  We also visited the gaucho museum - gauchos (cowboys) are a fundamental part of Uruguay's culture, as in Argentina. On our last night in Montevideo we treated ourselves to a posh meal out at a restaurant. The chef had trained in France and Asia, and so a lot of the food had some Asian styles and flavours. It was quite a revolution for our taste buds after the past few months!

The 1930 World Cup trophy, in the football museum in Montevideo

We have now left Montevideo and arrived at last in the aforementioned Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay's other UNESCO site. More on that (and Uruguayan wine tasting!) in our next blog.

The Biggest Bird You'll Ever See?

We'd seen several condors before on our trip, most notably during our trek towards Machu Picchu and several around El Chaltén, but never close enough to really appreciate their size. This time, while walking early in the morning, all alone in the Quebrada del Condorito national park, we saw two figures on a nearby hill. At first, we thought they were two more people, detracting from our uniqueness, but then they spread their wings and took off! They were enormous. They can have a wingspan of up to 3.3m and weigh up to 15kg.

Condor flying overhead at Quebrada del Condorito

This wasn't our last encounter with condors for the day. When we reached the quebrada (canyon), we saw several more circling overhead and some landing on the opposite cliff. Then, a group of about 15-20 decided to pass right above us before flying into the distance. It was an incredible experience to see them swoop over us one by one before disappearing behind the mountain.

The Quebrada del Condorito

The national park was our highlight of our time in and around Córdoba, Argentina's second city. We liked the city itself - it's an old colonial city and is home to our final World Heritage Site for Argentina. Of course, it was another Jesuit mission. We did a short tour around the church, and discovered that the surrounding buildings are home to the country's oldest university. As a major university city, it was home to many of the 'Disappeared' - those who were killed by the military dictatorship during the '70s and '80s.

The entrance to the Jesuit church

After a lot of time sitting in cars and wine tasting, we wanted to do some hiking, and handily there are several small mountain ranges just outside Córdoba - the Sierras. We visited the small town of Capilla del Monte in the Sierras Chicas (Small Sierras), home to Uritorco Hill. This was perfect for our needs - a day long hike with pleasant views over the town and the nearby reservoir. Before we arrived, we hadn't done much more research than that, and we soon found that the town is full of UFO spotters, 'magical' rocks and plastic pyramids full of 'mysteries'. In 1986, a scorched patch of ground was found and this was subsequently blamed on aliens. You can now watch some incredibly unrealistic videos online, or buy plenty of little green man dolls.

A 'mystical' pyramid in Capilla del Monte

After Córdoba, we set off for our final country on this continent - Uruguay. We'll stop in a couple of places on the way to break up the journey, but not spend much time there, before crossing the border to Fray Bentos.

Wine Tasting (and a Run In with the Police)

We had been looking forward to visiting Mendoza for a while, for several reasons. Firstly, we'd arranged to reunite with our London friends Ralph and Shehnaaz there. Secondly, we hoped the climate might be a bit more forgiving - it's been pretty cold and grey for us recently but Mendoza is known for its sunny skies and lack of rain. And thirdly, it is of course Argentina's capital of wine. Buy any Argentinian wine in the UK, and the chances are pretty high that it's from Mendoza (and that it's a Malbec)! Arriving in the city in the late afternoon, alas, we were to be disappointed on the second of these counts - it was 8 degrees and tipping it down with rain. Ah well. Unfortunately, this weather continued for the majority of our time round Mendoza, but this did not impact too much on our enjoyment.

Wine tasting at Tempus Alba winery, in Maipú

Ralph and Shehnaaz met us on our first evening in Mendoza - we'd not realised they were intending to stay at the same hostel as us, so were surprised to hear familiar English voices downstairs! It was great to see them again and exchange stories of our very different last three months or so since we were last together in Colombia. While we'd been making haste through the Guyanas, Brazil and Paraguay, Ralph and Shehnaaz had spent the majority of their time driving through Patagonia in a van they'd hired and then converted themselves into a camper van. We had a look at the inside of the van (very impressive) and even had a ride in the back several times, slightly illegally!

We spent a day in Mendoza itself, wandering around chatting and avoiding the enormous holes in the road. Mendoza has huge drainage channels going down either side of its roads, and they aren't covered at all, so you frequently find yourself having to jump quite a distance to avoid falling in! There isn't actually a lot to see or do in the city - it's a pleasant enough place, with tree lined avenues and lots of squares, but few major sights to see. We did climb up to the top floor of the city hall, where there was a terrace with a view of the city. This was nice despite the grey skies. While we couldn't see much of the surrounding mountains (we're assured they do exist!) the view of the city itself helped to emphasise just how green (well, more yellow, orange and red, in this season) Mendoza is - there really are a lot more trees than your average city.

The two wines we managed to taste in Trapiche winery, Maipú

Of course, Mendoza's main draw is the surrounding wine growing region, and we duly spent most of our time in a couple of nearby towns that had plenty of bodegas for wine tasting. We made a point of avoiding the ridiculously overpriced tours that most people take to visit wineries near here, as it is perfectly possible to go independently to a lot of places. Our wine tasting adventures began with a day trip to the Maipú area (not to be confused with Chile's Maipo valley, also a wine region) an hour or so outside the city. Kev and I took the bus, while Ralph and Shehnaaz drove. Our hostel had recommended a winery called Trapiche, so we headed there first. Unfortunately, the man at the gatehouse told us we couldn't go in until 3pm, even though we only wanted to do a tasting, not the scheduled 3pm tour. We sat eating lunch in the back of the others' van for the required half an hour, and on entering the winery were told, oh, you only wanted to do a tasting, you could have come in straight away! Slightly frustrating!

A flock of geese in the grounds behind Trapiche winery

The winery was lovely, with a cool glass floor through which you could see barrels and barrels of maturing wine, some of them absolutely enormous, on the floor below. But sadly the tasting experience wasn't so good. The guy who'd let us in showed us to a table, plonked 2 bottles of wine and some glasses in front of us, and just left us to it! We weren't offered any information about the wines or the winery whatsoever, and both wines were straight out of a store cupboard so the white was too warm and the red too cold. We were a bit disappointed as we'd hoped for a better tasting experience here than in Cafayate, but again it seemed that staff could not really be bothered at all... unless you'd paid twice as much to do the guided tour as well as the tasting. We saw a group finishing their tour, upon which they got to try three wines, all well kept, with pourers on the bottles, and all introduced beforehand by a member of staff.  Still, maybe this was just bad luck, we thought, and drove on in the van to a different winery a few km down the road.

The next winery we tried was called El Cerno, and we arrived just as a lady from the winery was welcoming a tour group. The four of us stood awkwardly at the back, and were completely ignored by the staff - it was as if we didn't exist! Rude, we thought, and eventually decided to go across the road to a different place, leaving the van at El Cerno. This third winery, Tempus Alba, was much more of a success. We got to try six different reds, including a Merlot, Syrah and Tempranillo, which are a bit more unusual in Argentina. We had fun trying to identify them in a blind taste test, at which we all did surprisingly well. All the wines were very good, although the staff again just poured out the glasses and left us to it!

Autumnal vineyards under cloudy skies in Maipú

When we returned to El Cerno just before 6pm we had a shock: as we walked down the drive, we saw all the staff standing outside in their coats, clearly waiting for us to come back. Worse, we were overtaken on the drive by a police car! The winery closes at 6pm, and the staff, not knowing where the van had come from, had called the police. It seemed, to us, a bit premature to call them before it was even closing time... but there you go. Embarrassed, we did our best to explain (in Spanish of course) that we'd planned to come back for a tasting here and hadn't known it would be closed. The staff denied ignoring us when we first arrived - a complete lie! Luckily, the police seemed more amused than anything else, and we were able to leave with no problems (Kev and I thought it wise not to get in the back of the van this time though!).

Ralph and Shehnaaz camped in their van that night, while we returned to the hostel in Mendoza, and we reconvened the next day in Tupungato, in the Valle del Uco area. Lonely Planet, in typical style, states that the Valle del Uco is 'best visited on a guided tour' - or you can rent a car 'if you've got the time and patience'. It neglects to mention that there are frequent public buses from Mendoza to Tupungato, which is a town right in the heart of the region! We stayed in the appropriately named Hotel Chardonnay, from where it was easy to organise a taxi for winery visits.

Vineyards and the snowy Andes, from Tupungato on a sunny day

By this time we'd had enough of being treated like second class customers for only doing tastings, so we decided to push the boat out and go for lunch at Domaine Bousquet, an organic winery - in fact the 'world's most awarded organic wine producer', according to their website! This turned out to be an excellent plan. For less than £30 each, we feasted on a 6 course lunch, each course served with a paired wine. All of the wines were fantastic, and the food was pretty good too. To my surprise, my favourite wine of the day (and possibly of the whole Mendoza region) was the Pinot Noir from here. I normally find Pinot Noir to be nothing special, a bit light for a red, but this one had been aged in oak for a year and was amazing! Best of all, the service here was so much better. We ran out of time to visit any more wineries in Tupungato, but we drank plenty more of the local wine that evening at our hotel!

The next day, feeling slightly the worse for wear, we spent a relaxed morning around Tupungato, which turns out to have one of the most incredible settings for a town we've seen since Patagonia. That day, the sun had finally come out and suddenly we could see the Andes! In the distance behind the town, there were snowcapped mountains stretching for miles and miles. It was beautiful, especially with the vineyards in their autumnal colours all around too. Ralph and Shehnaaz had to leave that afternoon to begin their journey towards Santiago, where they needed to drop their van off in a day or two. We had a great time with them, and will now not see them again until we both return to the UK in a month or so.

And another beautiful view from Tupungato

Kev and I stayed another night in Tupungato before returning to Mendoza. The weather was still nice and we were excited to be able to see Aconcagua, South America's highest peak (6960m), from our bus! We had thought about going south for one more look at Patagonia, but in the end thought the 18 hour bus and the forecast of rain and snow down there made it probably not worth it. Instead, we took a nightbus from Mendoza to Córdoba, Argentina's second city, where we will spend a week or so before heading towards Uruguay.