Cordoba

Excitement - that was the word I was looking for. Mendoza is nice, but a bit, well, bland. Wide tree lined avenues and pretty scuplted squares, but nothing much happening. Maybe we just stayed there a day or two too long.
We successfully shrugged off the slump with a day at the Parque de Agua, set high in the Andes, where we splashed in a series of open air pools and progressively hotter thermal baths, with a constant view of mountains, palm trees and cloudless blue skies. And we didn't even get sun-burned. Bonus!
After saying we needed to get out of cities, we've arrived in Cordoba, Argentina's second most populated - but we love it! It's got a buzz to it that Mendoza lacked. The streets are narrower, busy but not frenetic, and it's full of life. We stuffed ourselves silly at a Vegas style all-you-can-eat buffet (£5 a head and it even had an artificial waterfall and stream running past the tables) and waddled back through the central square where the Cathedral's facade is mirrored in white cobble stones (not sure why, but it's different). We almost skipped stopping here, but I'm glad we did. Suddenly South America is exciting again.