Moooo....moooo....moooo....

Vineyards. Truly the only place to take luncheon. We had another cracker today and, although the food wasn't as phenomenal as the one in Chile, the company more than made up for it. Crazy Brazilians (who are, by the way, generally the jolliest and friendliest of our Latin American brethren) and crazy Argentinians. Got lots of Spanish practice in although we wimped out when invited to have a go at the singing. All fun. So, we mooched about a couple of bodegas - Don Bosco and La Familia Zuccardi - (in Mendoza now, by the way) and tasted many interesting wines. Here is our wine tip of the month: 2002, 2006 & 2004 are good years for Mendoza wines. That's it, I'm afraid. We're going to have to learn to use the spittoons to prevent these things from becoming too jolly - there's a bit too much trying to look serious whilst tripping over pumps and suchlike and walking into doors. Obviously mainly from Elizabeth.

Hmm. What else have we been up to? Well we spent a few days in Punta Del Diablo, a quiet beach place on the Uruguyan Atlantic coast, staying in a yellow gnomes hut, sitting on the beach and swimming in the sea. We also reached new highs of sociability by making friends with 5 of the local dogs and a cat, who came at various times to groak at us in our little patch of garden. Then back to BA where we popped into our local for a few glasses of Argentinian India Pale Ale. It's pretty good actually, very much a England meets Germany ale. Very bitter and hoppy, but cold and fizzy. Nourishing. Things took a turn for the worse the next day at the bus station where we managed to get our small bags nicked but everything is replaced (apart from Scrabble...booo) and we're fine. Although now without guidebook for our remaining time in Argentina. Nice to wing it sometimes though.

Then we spent a day and a half in San Antonio de Areco, Gaucho country, where among other things we rode horses (surprisingly OK from my point of view although, as is always the case with these things, I had a contrary brute for a steed who kept stopping, turning around and taking me through low-flying trees. Although I was quite shocked that Elizabeth didn't ride side-saddle) and I had the most enormous Bife de Chorizo steak. About as big as your head and I ate it all. Had a particularly lengthy "beef high" (or "behaving like a cow", as Elizabeth would have it) afterwards and my appetite hasn't been quite the same since.

And, lately, Mendoza where we have been mainly shopping and larking about the aforementioned bodegas. Not sure where we're off to next, but heading north-westwards. Hope everyone is well. Moo. X