It would be false to refer to myself as the South American Struggler in this post. And this is why…

Cruising into Mendoza on the Andesmar Executivo Cama Suite bus with fully reclinable seats, wifi, food and bevvy service, my own telle to watch movies and a good old fashioned game of bingo! For the first time on this trip I’m doing something right! I had heard of these buses in Argentina and when I discovered it was only eleven dollars more than a normal bus I didn’t hesitate to try this bad boy out.

Pulling into Mendoza, aka wine country, I only had that day to explore. I got a local bus to an area called Maipu, hired a pushy and was on my way down the road to have a squizz at a few of the Argentinian wineries.

A 12km ride to the first boutique French owned winery, that produced only 90 000 bottles of wine per year, called Carinae. I learnt the process of making wine and learnt about barreling the wine and how the barrels flavour the wine through a separate fermentation process (that’s what this winery did at least). I tasted a Malbec, Rosé and a wine called Octans that can only be bought and tasted at that winery.

Moving back towards my origin I stopped off at a much fancier winery called Tempus Alba. I only did tasting at this one and indulged in a bit of lunch. Tried a Syrah, Tempranillo and Merlot with potentially the most delicious homemade burger I’ve ever eaten. I got given a bottle of Loco Sauvignon Blanc, one of their other labels, which was very nice of them but going to be a pain in the ass to carry around.

For the first time on this trip I’ve been a little bit disorganised and it stung me pretty badly for a while. Trying to sort out a hostel for Santiago, Chile, I came across the rookie mistake of forgetting it’s the weekend and everything gets booked out. Searching for hours to find a hostel that was decent and in an okay location, I think I finally found one. Well at least I booked it so I would have a bed to sleep in. It’s those moments of traveling that really build character and push frustration to a high. At least pancakes for breaky at Hostel Mora made me feel better. Ahhhhh, the pan-sized things in life!