Mendoza Nov 21 - 22

The trip over the Andes from Santiago to Mendoza was utterly spectacular - quite simply one of the greatest road journeys I have ever taken. The road gradually climbs through a valley with a incredibly fast moving river - the sun is very hot and the large amount of winter snow continues to mely very quickly, albeit only at increased altitudes now. We then climb steeply up a series of hairpins and are well and truly up in the snow.





All around us there are towering peaks, and massive mountains of rock. The summit is around 3200m but we continue with no fan-fare and descend a few hundred meters to the border post. Just before here we catch sight of Aconcagua - the highest peak in the Americas at just shy of 7000 metres.





Descending in to Argentina the valley is vast and the road is far shallower in gradient. The colours are amazing - the rocks vary from brown to red and grey, the flora varies from straw colour to light green, and everywhere it is merged and smudged like an artists palette. A photographer would have a field day here - we had to make do with the odd snatched shot through the window.





Mendoza itself is on the plains and we arrived here around 6 hours after leaving Santiago. The area is awash with wineries - around 1500 of them, most producing Malbec. We had a bit of a trudge to the hostel we had booked which was a good bit of exercise (he says euphemistically) in the afternoon heat. It is hotter here than Chile - low 30s rather than high 20s. The hostel itself was a dump and our plans to stay 4 nights were quickly whittled back to 1 night.

We were understandably already starting to wonder what it is with Mendoza that makes people fall in love with it, but I am now writing this from a new hostel where we have been greeted by the incredibly affable host Arrial who has given us plenty of info in order to plan some activities for the next few days. A trek up towards Aconcagua would seem to be in order, as is the possibility of horse riding (dont laugh) and white water rafting.

For now, its 1.30pm and we´re off to get some lunch and then explore the 450 hectare city park. Presumably éxploring´ will involve a fair degree of horizontal exploration - Arrial has told us to take a book - not to read, but to use as a pillow.

Hasta Luego mi amigos