Argentina - Mendoza

We arrived early into town. Immediately you noticed that it was a much smaller place than Buenos Aires (which by the way is about 100 times larger than melbourne). There is a mountain range right behind the city, and the pace is definately more laid back and relaxed - thank god!

We had a wander around the city to get our bearings, noticing that the population here seems to be younger, and more ´fashionable´than BA. Mendoza is actually situated on the eastern most side of the Andes mountain range, which is one of the great ranges of the world, comparible to the Himalayas for instance. The town is full of extreme adventure tour shops, and a more bohemian, hippy kind of vibe.

We only had a week to spend there, so Grant, Eliza, Tennille and I had to decide fairly quickly what we were going to do. We found a tour place that did packages for all the adventure activities, so after much deliberation, we decided on: White water rafting, Quad biking, Wineary tours, Paragliding, and finally a zipline experience over a lake.

We decided to do the wind tours on the friday, and the rest of the adventures over the next few days, which coincidently was easter. During the course of the day we visited an Olive grove, which had 20,000 trees, and 2 wineries.

The first winery was quite large and modern, with a huge white building were we had a tour through the process of making the wine, and finally a tasting session in the owners private room in the basement. The wine was fairly nice, but unfortunately we didnt get to drink much of it :(

The last winery was a much smaller affair, but had much nicer wine, and a more interesting look and feel to the whole place. Much more of a family affair that had been in operation for a long time. The famous local grape is called Malbec, and it is beautiful!! We did buy a bottle for the bus rid back to Beunos Aires, but unfortunately we were all a little under the weather that night so we didnt drink it.

On Saturday we did the White water rafting. Its ironic how weather can be hot and fantastic the whole time, and thee day you decide to do something where you are garanteed to get extremely wet, the weather is overcast and freezing. Well, we got saturated, and i couldnt feel my feet after about 5 minutes of being in the boat, the water was that cold. It was, however, fantastic fun! Grant and i had the helm and were ´Capitans´for the day, although i dont know if we were really leading the boat that well ha ha ha. Nobody fell off though, so that has to count for something!

White water rafting is definately something we would do again, it was amazing fun, like a really wet cold roller coaster. Maybe next time a few more rapids!!

Next for the day was a Quad motor bike adventure. Grant and I stayed to the pack of the pack so that we could go full speed and get loose on the corners. Might have to get me one of those!! it was serious fun! Tennille had a great time as well, even though she was a little apphrehensive to begin with.

The last adventure for th day was a Zip line along some valleys and over a large lake. The zip line is like a much bigger version of the flying foxes we used to have at school, except these ones are 30-50+ meters above the ground, and you fly down the cable MUCH faster. The first couple werent too bad (none of them were really), just over rocky valleys. The last couple of cables though were over the lake, and were a lot faster, steeper and longer. The last cable was almost 1km in length!!

That was the end to a fantastic day overall. Even though the weather was freezing for the most part, the adventures surely made up for it. We only had one more adventure after this - arguably the most exciting and potentially scary one of the lot - Paragliding!!

Paragliding, in case you didnt know, is similar to hang gliding; except you have a parachute instead of the hang glider. The pilot (no WAY you could do this by yourself!) is attached to the back of you, and controls the parachute, which is more like an inflatable wing than a parachute. You are in a harness with a sort of seat that you sit into once you have taken flight.

We had to drive for about an hour to the top of the mountains just outside of Mendoza. It wasnt until after we had landed later on that we realised the drive up was FAR scarier than the actual flight itself. The drops on the left hand side of the road were huge, with rocks all the way down. Plus some of the angles we drove up were about 45 degrees, far steeper than pretty much anything ive driven up before (offroad anyway).

When we got up to the top there was one other group just about to take off. One of the pilots got his parachute inflated badly, which collapsed just before they jumped off the edge of the mountain - not good for our nerves to see that! But you soon realise that it is actually relatively safe.

Tennille and Eliza decided that they wanted to go first, which was fine. It was exciting and nerve racking watching them get geared up and strapped into the harness, while waiting for favourable wind conditions to take off. To take off, the pilot yanks on the cords attached to the parachute, so that it catches the wind and inflates. As soon as he does that, the wind starts to take you away, so you have to run towards the edge of the cliff (which is very high and straight down by the way). At the last second, you leap out a little bit, and then finally settle down into your seat and admire the view.

Grant and i watched T & E fly away for about 20 minutes before they disappeared behind the mountains to the landing zone. Then we were off! There really are no words to describe the feeling. Everything is silent, no real sound of wind, and you gently float over the mountains; directed by the pilot sitting behind you. The view is absolutely sensational, you can see for miles and miles.

Heading towards the landing zone, we had to come down in a spiral to loose speed and land in the right spot ( a car park). The landing was beautiful and soft, and i managed to stay on my feet. Surely one of the coolest things we have ever done, and will do again in a heartbeat!!

That, unfortunately, was the last day in Mendoza. We had to jump on an overnight bus back to BA, where we would spend another few days, before leaving for Peru. A great little mountain side city - recommended!!

Photos of Mendoza:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=160004&id=553896164&l=c676576d66