Bec & Simon

Only two days (well technically one and a half) in Mendoza, but Simon and I would both have loved a few more. Mendoza is a very different city to Santiago. It's much quieter, cleaner, more trees and a whole lot more laid back! It is a very beautiful town. After our trip through the Andes, Simon and I shouldered our packs and set off in search of a hotel for our two nights here. We have since discovered there are some hotels you just shouldn't even bother walking into if you are wearing a backpack - not because the people will be nasty, purely because there's no way we can afford it! We ended up finding a pretty good hotel and crashed for the night (still not quite recovered from our jetlag). The people at this hotel were great (again!). We spent a couple of hours one night just chatting with the two young guys that run the hotel. They were keen to practise their English on us (we were happy to practise our Spanish too), and very curious about Australia. They were very intrigued in the fact that our most popular sport was not soccer. AFL they understood pretty easily, but cricket took a bit more explaining... and sign language! They were also fascinated with our money and the fact that it's made out of plastic. Scrunching and flattening money out was a bit of a novelty! We have wandered the streets a bit in Mendoza, hanging out in the parks, eating and drinking at the cafes that line the streets (1 litre of Stella for 13 pesos or AUD$5!), but mostly we have just relaxed. Now we are all rested and ready for the next stop... Valparaiso, Chile!