In Mendoza now, which is a whole new level of warm. Whoever designed the city, however, was brilliant. There´s a series of aquaducts throughout the city that water the trees that line pretty much every street. So really you can walk around most of Mendoza without dying of heat stroke. Nice bonus for temparate folks such as ourselves. Went wine touring through the Maipu wine region on bikes. We went with a very international crowd from our hostel. Went to 3 wineries, a chocolate maker (divine), and a olive oil producer. By the end of the afternoon the red wine was losing its appeal in the 30 degree weather. Then the guy who owned the bike rental place shared his own wine with us... and very generous with his portions he was. Then we went back to the hostel and drank more wine. Fortunately it´s cheap here. Went hiking up at Cerro Aconcagua, the highest peak in S. America the past few days. Only made it to the first base camp, altitude is not our friend. I (Kate) was gasping for air if I walked up about 10 steps. Not too pleasant. Well worth it though. Had to pay to use the toilets... which isn´t so bad considering you had to carry your own excrement if we went any higher. The joys. The days were mild, but night time was a little on the freezing side. Really wishing for big puffy down jackets. We fairly ran down the mountain in the morning so we didn´t freeze to death, dodging big mule packs that carry supplies along the way. Stayed in a hostel in Los Penitentes, about 10km from the mountain base, for one night. As it turned out, we were the only people in the hostel. Penitentes is a ski resort that is fairly dead teh rest of the year. We met all of 2 people there. Now back in Mendoza and the heat. Planning to leave for Buenos Aires tomorrow night in our ¨suite class¨ seats. We´re going all out for our last bus trip.
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