Mendoza to Santiago

Mendoza is a great city, many tree lined streets, beautiful plazas and great little cafes.

Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina, so of course we had to go on a wine tour!

Kenny taking the 'wine tasting' too far.

Barrel after barrel of fine wines ageing in French Oak.

Of course the tasting! The wines were fantastic. With Mendoza region being famous for the 'Malbec' (a wonderful, full bodied red), we decided to buy a bottle of their finest for Christmas day in New Zealand. Well how could we not with the basic wines priced at around £2-3 a bottle and a good one at £4-6!

While we were there some friends we met in Ecuador, Anne & Nick (not them off the Telly!), suggested we meet up again in an 'at home restaurant'. Trendy in London, I believe, chefs basically turn their front rooms into a restaurant for the night. Only 1 table (6 for dinner) and a 5 course meal with carefully chosen wine. Martin & Martin hosted and cooked perfectly, all 6 of us finished every thing on every plate of all 5 courses - it was that good!!! (If you are ever in Mendoza, let me know, and I will give you their contact details).

Martin & Martin in their 'restaurant'. (Is it just me, or does Martin on the left look more like Eric Cantona than I do? - Kenny)

After a short visit to Mendoza, we had to hot heel it off to Chile & Santiago! With only the Andes and a border crossing in our way.

At the border, where Chile are paranoid about people bringing in illegal products (including apples!), it took over 4 hours to get through! They checked every bag inside & out.

Wow! The Andes have been spectacular every time we have seen them.

The roads have also never failed to shock & surprise!

On & on & on....................

.............. finally to Santiago and our last night in South America. A very modern city largely due to the number of earthquakes they have had to re-build from.

Just a simple street in Santiago? No - Not just an ordinary street. This street, and all the ones around it, were home to Opticians after Opticians. I would not be exaggerating if I said there were 50+ in one block! All independents but how easy is it for this Account Manager to hit call rate!
(If you don't understand this, then you obviously don't work with Sarah. But trust me, it's funny! - Kenny)

The crazy currency here means that £1 was worth 728 Pesos - and we thought our fuel prices were high!

Even though we were only here one day we loved Santiago for its restaurants, if nothing else.
Looking forward to New Zealand and our camper van stretch of the trip, and due to the international dateline we totally miss the 23rd of December! Spooky.