Day 5 -Mendoza

Our first time on the bikes! Freewheeled 7km downhill to Mendoza and went straight for ‘Café con Leche’. Mendoza was re-built after an earthquake last century and now boasts broad avenues and squares into which people can apparently escape falling masonry. The result is a spacious centre with leafy avenues and lots of traffic. The smell of diesel from the thousands of classic 1950’s/60's cars and lorries (still going strong) was nauseating at times so the squares also became a fresh air refuge. We came across more flag waving demonstrations on our hunt for a place to buy some decent maps. Despite trying the tourist information, numerous book shops and even map kiosks, detailed maps do not seem to seem to exist. Had a fun hour asking for directions to a supermarket and being directed in an ever decreasing spiral which led to a tiny shop with the usual big queues and guards on the door. The main park, just north of the city centre, was quite stunning with over 15,000 trees planted and over 750 different species!!! We cane across ice cream sellers on bikes, gardeners on bikes, path sweepers, pool cleaners and even a man on a bike with a set of paint pots to touch up lampposts and railings! On our way back up the hill we past some more 'gated communities' where the grass was green, the railings high and houses obscenely ostentacious. Stopped at a petrol station where a man filled our stove fuel bottles with a smile. The locals seem very friendly and love to chat at speed…if only we knew more than the odd word. Despite our best efforts the accent and speed make it hard. Our standard reply is ‘I’m sorry it’s only our second day and we can only understand a little’. I have a feeling that will become our phrase for a little longer than 2 days! Despite reading our phrase books every night communicating is still very hard at the moment. Back at the campsite we endured the usual noise and excitement from next door combined, this time, with flashes of lightning in the mountains.

The park in Mendoza