Day 23 - Mendoza, Horse riding through the wine valleys

Our third day in Mendoza. At this point, we’re fed up of the hostel. Little flying ants would randomly appear here and there – the room would remain damp after using their tiny shower – and at one point I had to dispose of a cockroach. Blegh.

Anyway, day 3 brings us on our first excursion – a tour of the valleys surrounding Mendoza, by horse, finishing at a local vineyard. We are picked up by a well-spoken, well-travelled Argentinian named Carlos, who would be our guide for the day. We drive for maybe 40 minutes into the countryside and arrive at the Bodega.

Carlos shows us to the horses, beautiful large creatures, strapped with traditional Spanish riding saddles. We climb aboard our steeds and head out into the warm, beautiful valleys – trotting at a comfortable speed amongst the thorny cacti and craggy rocks. We ride for around 2 hours, just relaxing and taking in the beautiful views. We ride through, across, up, and down many winding trails, eventually finishing at a small vineyard (small being a few hundred thousand bottles a year). We have a short tour through the winery – having explanations of how they generate their various vintages – and end up in the cellar where we’re given three lovely wines to taste.

After getting sufficiently inebriated (not actually), we jump back on to our horses (Rach with a little less finesse than before) and head back to the Bodega. Awaiting us back in the home is an Argentinian asado, or barbeque, with of course, more wine. Having a lovely late lunch with Carlos – discussing the state of Argentina and various political agendas throughout South America, we call it a day and head back to Mendoza.

After having such a large lunch, we take it easy in the parks of Mendoza, enjoying the people watching, and eventually grab a small dinner and call it a night.