If at first you don´t succeed

After a lovely, sunny, drunken week in Mendoza I am leaving today for the nearby town of San Rafael, before heading further south to see dinosaur footprints, blue lakes, huge mountains and glaciers.

While Mendoza is a busy city and a hub of activity for outdoor sports and, of course, vineyards, I´ve actually done relatively little of all there is to offer as my attempts at excursions haven´t been altogether successful. Firstly was the failed cycling tour of local bodegas (vineyards), as Lindsay, the mad Texan woman I was due to go with, fell down some stairs and was in no fit state to cycle. Then there was the moonlight horseriding, which I sat around all day waiting for only to be told that it was cancelled as not enough people had booked. This is not to mention the barbeque at the hostel where the food I was assured was perfect for a vegetarian turned out to be lettuce and tomato salad.

So you can imagine how I felt when I woke up on the day I had booked rafting and abseiling to see that the heavens had opened. Still, rafting, I thought, gets you wet anyway, so I clambered aboard a little minibus for the drive into the moutains to find the rapids. By the time we reached the lake the clouds were lifting and its surface was starting to reflect the blue sky in patches of brilliant turquoise.

And here we have, ladies and gentlemen, my first piece of evidence that I am really here and not just fabricating this entire story from my living room (that´s me on the far left at the back). If you look closely you will see that stlyish blue helmet I am wearing says ´Argentina Rafting´, so it´s really true, you see? It was lots of fun although it didn´t go on long enough and was easier than I expected.

I never did quite make it to the abseiling, but maybe in San Rafael.