Chile

Driving through the Andes to cross the border into Chile was spectacular. We only had time for one night here and being our last night in South America we decided to treat ourselves to one last steak then a few drinks. The next day we had a little walk around the city before boarding our flight to New Zealand!!!

Mendoza

Famously known for its wine we spent the first day on the wine tour. We hired bicycles and cycled to the different vineyards tasting plenty of red wine, liquors and chocolates. We tried to be sophisticated, holding the glass at the base, swirling it to let it breathe, sniffing it twice and swishing it around our mouths for 6-7 seconds before swallowing... but realised we had failed miserably after laughing at the question "do you spit or do you swallow?", Jenny smashing a wine glass all over the table, not being able to tell a blind bit of difference between the wines and Kim tumbling off her bike after a few too many.

Mountains form the backdrop of Mendoza due to it being next to the Andes. To get a closer look we decided to go quadbiking through them... a lot more fun than hiking! We kept getting the giggles as we both looked ridiculous in our orange sunglasses, vest, and massive helmets... but as we all know safety comes first! We spent three hours racing up and down the mountains, enjoying all the breathtaking views.

Mendoza is a beautiful city, with lovely parks, shops, restaurants and bars! Could have easily spent more time here.

Buenos Aires

In comparision to Brazil it is cheap and has a european feel. We spent many hours bustling around the brilliant shops and markets trying to resist the bargains, especially on leather goods.

We arrived at midnight assuming we had missed our first night out due to our delayed flight, however we still had time to find a hostel, have a shower, drink a few bottles of wine and still make it to a club. BA is definitely a party city!

We stayed at Millhouse hostel which hosted a fancy dress party on halloween. A few hours before kick off we decided we would dress up... looking at the pharmacy across the road we decided we would go as mummy's.. a slight underestimation of bandages left us with bare arms and legs, but we made up for it with our crazy hair and makeup.

We attended a killers concert and went to Pacha (one of the biggest clubs in BA)... both were absolutely amazing!! Unfortunately in Pacha our money and camera were stolen which put a bit of downer on the evening. To make up for it we decided we come back the following weekend and go to the creamfields festival... best decision ever! Partying from 6pm - 6am we loved every second of it.

By day we visited the famous Recoleta cemetry where Evita was burried. It was like walking down streets rather than through a grave yard with the gravestones towering above us with amazing architecture and statues. We also visited the colonial town of La Boca, which had live music, tango dancers in the streets all the buildings were multicoloured.

Link to photos of the east coast of Brazil

http://leedsac.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2231122&l=694fa&id=197810485