Mendoza, Argentina

We managed to escape La Casa Roja one fine Santiago morning, which meant that the layer of smog over the city was only 500m thick and it had a fine "5 year old white socks which have been washed too often with non-whites" colour.

Mendoza is only 170km away from Santiago as the crow flies and crows can naturally fly over 3000 meter high mountains which our super luxury bus could not, so we spent the best part of 3 hours climbing up one side of the Andes and a good 2 hours flying down the other side with brakes screeching. The whole journey was made sweeter by the fact that Angelie Jolie was somersaulting, trampolining, cartwheeling, motorbiking, shooting, karate chopping and generally displaying her boobs for all they were worth in the epic Tomb Raider. It was in Spanish with no subtitles but I still reckon I got the plot...

Mendoza was beautiful, for once a town that lived up to its guide book description. Wide leafy boulevards, street side cafes everywhere, wonderful views of the Andes, great shopping (which had the Irish girls swarming like moths to a light bulb), great restaurants and funky night life. Most of the above activities were sweetened by the fact that the Argentinian Peso is worth less than a handful of tiddly winks. (Huge & Delicious) Steak & chips: 2 Euros. Bottle of wine in restaurant: 4 Euro. Bottle of great wine in Supermarket: 1 Euro 50. Bottle of Bacardi in Supermarket: 3 Euros. Why do I always notice the price of booze? Suggestions please on a postcard. So myself and the "Three lovely girls from Kilkenny" (TLGFK) spent our days devouring steaks, sipping coffees, slurping copious amounts of the sacred vino tinto and improving on our already prodigious ping pong skills.

While we were there we also managed to haul our asses out of town for a bit of a hike in the Andes. It was meant to be a 3hr hike but at the end of the day we spent just over an hour strolling up a creek. The scenery was amazing though, we abseiled down a cliff beside a waterfall and on the way back we had a huge condor circle above our heads. I donīt know if I was thinking more about Simon & Garfunkel or about falling and breaking a leg and being left as an offering for the giant beast.