Argentina!! Of Wine and Bikes and Bus Accidents.

I left me shoes in Mendoza. Of all things to leave behind, I left the only shoes that have any arch and ankle support to help me with my 19 kilo backpack.
 To start from the begining, my last day in Valparaiso was marked by an horrendous hangover and one of the coolest moutain bike races that I have ever witnessed. It consisted if a 2 kilometer course that began in the favela-like slums at the top of the hill and careened through the cobblestone streets of Valpo over twenty foot drop offs, wall rides, and table top jumps admist a racous crowd of porteños who cheered on every rider and made a party of the whole event. The layout of the race was incredible, including a final jump through small buildings and into the cental plaza, and one could see little old ladies, groups of chilean teens... basically the entire community cheering at the sidelines. Facinating juxtoposition of extreme sport and picturesque urban environment with a festival atmosphere.
I then arrived in Mendoza after an overnight bus from Valparaiso planning on storing my backpack at the trainstation and spending a tranquil day tasting wines until I took the last bus to Buenos Aires that night, but after an overnight bus ride throught Andes that left me exhausted at 6 am in Mendoza, I was ready for a night in a bed before continuing. As a result I got to spend a full two days exploring beautiful Mendoza, which is the heart of Argentinas thriving wine industry. The city itself is spacious and beautifully laid out, with a thriving artsy bar district and a fantastic public heart complete with a zoo and abandonded velodrome. I easily spent the first day wandering through the park and climbing Cerro de la Gloria, which had an emormous bronze and stone monument to the Army of the Andes at its peak.
The highlight of the city, however, is its winery "crawl" that most people tour by bicycle. I ended up with a group of fiove working our way down the main drag by bicycle stopping at wineries to taste their signature Malbec wines. Incredible variety of antique, ultra-modern, and even frech-owned wineries, though we weren.t riding quite as straight and clear on the trip back, and the policia seemed to be following us the whole way back....
Regardless, I came within minutes of missing my overnight bus to BA, and consequentially entirely forget what I was wearing on my own. Such is life. But Buenos Aires has proven to be an incredibly rewarding and intimitdating metropolis, being that I have had to find new places to sleep every night after wandering the city for hours and in its sheer size and complexity of public transport. We will see what it has to offer yet. Tango tonight, maybe even see Julie Fair tomorrow. Now where to buy shoes...