I’ve been here two years and had some awesome experiences, but I think last weekend was one of my best weekends in Mendoza. Two days of horse riding in the Andes, sleeping under the stars and learning the tricks of the trade with a hoard of rowdy gauchos…
Very near The Vines’ own vineyard in the Uco Valley lies the Manzano Historico – a mountain crossing to Chile made famous because it was here where General San Martin rallied up his troops to liberate Argentina. Tunuyan’s council recently decided to increase the area of the nature reserve and to celebrate they invited a few hardy journalists out to explore the area on the back of a horse with a few people from the council and around 30 gauchos to lead the pack.
I have to admit from the beginning that I am terrible on horseback- a complete novice- so two days horse trekking, tripping over large rocks and jumping across rivers was quite a baptism by fire (and my butt has been reminding me ever since). But the rump ache is totally worth every last twitch as the experience of riding through the Andes is once in a lifetime.