I had heard that there was an active volcano in Chile that you could climb up, look down into the cone and see lava. There was not much info in the Lonely Planet guide, just a mention of an active volcano. The whole idea seemed pretty wild to me. So I started asking around. It was sort of like a ghost, people had heard of it but no one had too much information on it. I finally found some people who had climbed it. It was real. Volcan Villarica was the name of it. Pucon, Chile is where it was located. I was a bit south but only a few hours, nothing a bus ride couldn't take care of. I wasn't able to buy a ticket from Bariloche to Pucon, Chile. I had to get closer to the boarder to get a bus in. I took a bus to the small town of Junin de los Andes, a stones throw from the Chilean border. I arrived mid-day and hoped to get another bus in the afternoon into Chile. No such luck. It would be two days before another bus was going to Chile. No worries, it is summertime and there is a crystal clear river running through Junin. I have been beating myself up for being a sloth and spending a lot of money on steak and wine in Mendoza so I beelined right for the campground which happened to sit on the river. So for two nights I paid $6 dollars, U.S., to sleep on the ground. It's been a week since then and I have not slept in a bed since! I bought a used, one man tent from a guiding agency in Mendoza a couple of weeks ago. The bivy sac that I brought is a good emergency shelter but when the rain hits my pack is still out in the wet and when the bugs are out I have to be shut in my Gore-Tex cacoon which is hot and not very enjoyable. So I have a new found freedom to camp in relative comfort. It saves on cash and provides a private shelter that hostels do not offer. o I killed two days loafing around this little Argentine town, swimming, sitting in the park and eating ice cream (Argentines LOVE their 'healados' or ice cream, parlors everywhere!)

Mendoza, Argentina is a very 'tranquillo' city in the heart of wine country. Sidewalk cafe's fill the shady, tree lined streets. The city of almost one million people boasts many beautiful plazas, parks and good restuarants serving 'famous' Argentinian steak and delicious wines from the area wineries. I spent almost two weeks here, it's easy to get used to the summertime pace of sitting by the pool, drinking cocktails, walking to the park and eating two hour meals. I almost got stuck there! With the exception of my journey to Cerro Aconcagua, I didn't do much but relax here. After over four months of travel in developing countries, the very western style wine region of Argentina was a nice place to unwind and be spoiled. Mendoza produces about 70% of the country's wine. Over the last few years it has become popular around the world, with good reason. I embarked on a 'wine tour' before I headed south to Patagonia. I visited two of the area wineries and a liquor distillery before sitting down to an amazing spread of food at the conclusion of the tour. The first winery was Viña Amalia. A small, quaint place where I was able to see the process of how wine is made. Very interesting to walk through and see the barrels of wine fermenting and picking up their flavor. The 'flavor' of the wine is determined by the type of wood the barrels are made of. Sampling the wine was, of course the highlight of the tour! The wines produced here are very delicious, one of the local favorites is called 'Malbec'. If you are in the wine shop look for the Argentina section and find a Malbec from Viña Amalia Mendoza! You won't be disappointed! We moved on to the much larger Weinert Vinyards a bit further down the road. This property was really impressive! As we descended 25 feet underground into the high ceilinged, brick cellar I couldn't help but think of Edgar Allen Poe and his story The Cask of Amontiado. It was dark and spooky! Exactly what I had picured a wine cellar to be. Here they have a wooden keg that holds 44,000 liters of wine!! It's huge! Once it is empty, they clean the inside and shave a layer of wood from the inside walls so no flavor is mixed into the next batch of wine. I did enjoy the wine here but it was a bit more bold than the samples earlier in the day. Keep in mind that I am no expert on wine! The last stop was the Tapaus Distillery where they produce fine liquors and brandies. This structure was very cool. Made of stone taken from local riverbeds and recycled wood from old buildings fallen during earthquakes, the property is made almost entirely of recycled materials. In one very dark room they had stored hundreds of jugs of liquor! One lucky individual has the job of taste testing every one of the jugs produced! Quality control has happy new meaning! At the end of the tour we were lucky enough to do some sampling of our own. I tried each of the six different liquors that Tapaus produces. My favorite was a honey liquor that went down smooth and was very tasty. All the wine and six shots of liquor before lunch gave everyone in the group a good buzz. So the 'all you can eat and drink' feast at the end of the tour was welcomed by all! I met some more great people on this tour which made the day of learning and drinking very fun! All said, I would highly recomend visiting the Mendoza area to anyone who is planning on visiting Argentina! If you can't make it to Argentina, which would be a shame because it's a beautiful place, just visit your local wine shop and pick up a bottle of Mendoza's finest vino! Chow, Jeff.