Mendoza

Tired and hungry, we bickered about where to eat as we wandered around Mendoza for a while. The problem is that we were starving and it was only breakfast time (11:30 am). All the non-breakfast places were either shut or (worse, apparently) empty. Eventually we spotted the Liverpool Pub, full of old men drinking coffee - but smart enough to say yes when we asked for food at such a ridiculous time.

Liverpool Pub

It was quite a pleasant change for the music to be the Beatles (what else could they play in the Liverpool pub? - Dead or Alive? Echo and the Bunnymen? Space? The La's? Scorpio Rising? Frankie goes to Hollywood? - I rest my case). Anyway, what was nice was that it was the Beatles and not the CD that seemed to plague us on the Cruce de Lagos of "Andean Beatles" i.e. Beatles songs murdered by the Pan Pipes. I half expected Awatinas to jump onto the ferry and start moaning about the PA at any moment (an especially bizarre moment from my student days).

After a nice lunch (including, due to a miscommunication, a bottle and not a glass of white wine) we took our leave and went off in search of tourism.

We weren't drawn in by the marketing of the first company we passed - for some reason:

Perhaps not aimed at the Brit market

After a siesta, we then popped into the nearest one to the hotel (which I had seen in some guidebook) and were sorted out with a lovely place to stay (which Tourist Information had said was fully booked - liars) and a wine tour.

More admin was achieved at the bus station, as we booked tickets to Valparaiso, back to Mendoza and then on to Iguazu. We have busy week to look forward to.

At this point I should mention that both of us suffered from Travellers tummy. It may have been the Liverpool pub, or perhaps the toilet on the bus - which has a sign on the door that says "In order to prevent Cholera, please use only in an emergency." Who knows. At least we had a nice room to be in to run to the loo from.