January 3, 2009 -- We took the Andesmar double-decker bus from Buenos Aires to Mendoza. We had booked first-class sleeper seats downstairs. After a hot beef dinner (with red wine) we went to sleep in the fully-reclining seats and slept away the next 8 hours while the bus headed west to Mendoza. We awoke when the sun rose and spotted the white caps of the Andes out in the distance. We had a small breakfast with instant coffee. And then we were in Mendoza – looked like we were an hour late until we realized that we were in the next time zone (same as Chile, 3 hours ahead of Wpg). We disembarked, got our luggage, lined up in a long queue for a taxi. The cab took us directly to Plaza Independencia and our hotel, the San Martin Hotel. We wondered about checking in so early (8:30am) but the lady at the desk didn't bat an eye. I asked if it would be possible to have a room with a view of the plaza – no problem, but we'd have to wait until 10 so the room could be cleaned. No problem. How about breakfast? Yes, right here in the front lobby. So we sat down along with some of the other hotel guests and had coffee and croissants. Soon our room was ready. We went up several flights of stairs and were surprised at how large and clean and open the room was. No CNN, but we get BBC and lots of movie channels. No WiFi, but that's apparently available in the large 'internet' and TV room one floor down. We went down to the internet room and did some email. We were happy to learn that Alex and Tim made it home on Saturday, although they arrived about 6 hours late (plane on the runway in Wpg prevented Chicago flight from landing – 45 minutes from home it turned back to Chicago and waited for the Wpg airport to be cleared).