Our mountain guide in Mendoza was called Marcelo and he was a lovely Argentine with a smile as wide as a bus. We instantly liked him and he showed us a great time in the mountains around Mendoza, where he grew up.

We set off with Marcelo and an Israeli couple to do a mountain trek with three rapels down rockfaces. It was a challenging way to see some of the area but worth all the sweat and fear.

First of all we strapped harnesses and helmets to our backpacks and climbed Virgin Peak. It was only about an hour's climb but it was straight up and I was grateful every time Marcelo indicated a spot to have a rest. It was another hot day and we were bright as beetroot at the peak's summit. I stupidly thought going down would be easier. Yeah right.

What a terrifying descent. There were slippery stones and sheer drops, the path crumbled away in many spots and we had to battle the plentiful clumps of cacti - those evil spiky plants more than ready to pierce new holes in bodies. Marcelo told us: ¨More cactus, more careful¨and he didn't need to tell me twice. I went down the first part like I'd been put in slow motion.

Luckily there was much quicker ways to get down the rest of Virgin Peak. We abseiled down a 12m rockface and then a 7m one before getting to "the beast" which was a rather traumatic experience at 44m. I couldn't even look over the edge of this one for fear of totally chickening out. About 2m down I lost my footing and fell like a sack of spuds against the rock. The rest of the way was a terrifying struggle as I tried not to burn all of the skin off my hands, while trying to reach the bottom as quickly as possible.

Once it was over we were rewarded with an afternoon at the local hot springs where loads of locals were bathing in very hot water in the 30 degree heat! Talk about loco. We explained to Marcelo how this is quite an insane notion to a couple of Kiwis and then we headed straight for the coolest pool we could find.

The complex was fantastic - set into the mountains and running alongside a river, there were pools with waterfalls, cacti gardens and even one which had a shoreline and generated its own waves. Out there by the Andes Mountains, far from any ocean, the Argentines have built themselves their own beach. Fantastic!

Check out more photos from my trip in my Flickr album.

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