Date of Entry: January 14th 2016
Date of Writing: January 25th 2016, Garden House Hostel, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Again flying proved cheaper than buses in Argentina, and my flight from Cordoba to Mendoza cost just 60 dollars Canadian, and I’m still feeling fresh by the time I get to the wonderfully comfortable and welcoming Hostel Empedrado, a quick 15-20 minute walk from the city centre.It’s worth mentioning that booking this hostel on hostel world dorms come as low as 120 Pesos (13 CAD) but if you book direct with the hostel the cost is 180 pesos (20 CAD), but it’s definitely a great place to stay in Mendoza and both prices include free wine from 7-9 pm every night, and a high quality buffet breakfast with eggs, crepes, croissants and bread every morning.
Mendoza itself is a beautiful city and stunningly green considering it’s in the middle of a desert beside the Andes mountains. It’s also probably the biggest and most famous wine growing region in all of south America, and being here is one of the few times that I do wish I could drink. Either way after arriving I’m quickly invited out to a bar to meet my friend Ceci who I travelled with in Chile, Peru and Bolivia a while back. It’s great to see her and her friend Naomie from Switzerland, and I’m glad to get some extended time speaking Spanish but before too long I head back to the hostel knowing I’ve got a tour fairly early the next morning.
The tour, which I booked through the hostel is called Alta Montana, runs about 11 hours and costs a pricey 650 ARS (70 CAD) but it winds up through the Andes mountains near Mendoza, also getting to a viewpoint of Mount Aconcagua, which, at 6962 meters or 22841 feet is the tallest mountain outside of Asia, plus lots more stops, but it all starts at 830 Am the next morning with a drive out of the city and through the seemingly endless vineyards which cover the and between the city and the Andes.
From here we start winding up into the mountains proper in the mini bus the clouds clearing briefly giving me my first glimpse of snow in a good long while as a jagged white dusted peak, peeks through the clouds.
As the clouds return shrouding the beautiful peaks in the distance we round a bend in the road and come to our first stop on the tour, a lake/ reservoir nestled in the foothills of the andes. The sparkling deep blue waters look very inviting but we’re up on a hill above the lake and don’t have time to run down for a swim. Still I take advantage of the stop hurrying up the hill and exploring all the different views of the lovely lake, appreciating the crisp breeze.
Eventually we’re called back to the minibus and we continue onwards, climbing higher into the mountains on winding but well paved roads. The mountains here aren’t quite as varied and colourful as they were up near Salta but the scenery as viewed from the window is still quite impressive.
We eventually wind in to the charming mountain town of Uppsala where most of the tour enjoys a buffet breakfast (50 pesos) but I opt to instead go for a walk out towards the edge of town, which is surrounded by rolling green mountains and some rockier ones in the distance beyond. Horses, sheep and cows graze on the green fields alongside a small mountain stream the the entire scene is very peaceful. So peaceful in fact that I don’t notice a little piece of metal jutting out from the side railing and end up cutting my shin on it, bleeding lots, because that’s what I do. Still it’s a minor injury at the end of things.
I meet them back at the restaurant just in time and we hop back int the bus heading towards our next stop, which is honestly not that impressive. It’s a famous ski resort, but it’s summer time so the whole place is shut down except for the chair lift which for 150 pesos (17 CAD) will take you up the mountain, the view doesn’t look all the impressive though so instead of spending the money I wander for the next hour on either side of the road, singing, dancing, and taking pictures of the beautiful if unspectacular mountain scenery around me.
By the time some of the others, who are all Argentinean, are done with the chair lift I’m eager to get going looking forward to a different place. While this tour is so far going better than the one I did out of Salta, it’s still quite expensive for an awful lot of time in the bus, and so far, only the lake has been special for me. Luckily the tour does soon start to improve as we wind higher up into the Andes and get our brief and distant view of the ceiling of the Americas.
Somewhat frustratingly it’s just a quick photo stop and I get in trouble for hurrying up the hill for a better view since apparently we haven’t gotten clearance to hike there as it’s part of a provincial park. Oh well. For those interested climbing Aconcagua is very possible, and there’s even a route which doesn’t involve more than hiking, though the altitude may be tough to master and doing so is a 2-3 week endeavour. Still it would be pretty cool to look down on all of the Americas.
We hop back in the car and keep driving towards the Chilean border climbing higher and higher into the Andes on a road that is only sure to be open in these summer months, in the winter it’s often bogged down in snow, and as we go the mountains only get more and more impressive. Narrow waterfalls of glacial melt water dot the landscape too bringing a bittersweet smile to my lips. Waterfalls are beautiful, but Glaciers are dying off at a record pace.
We eventually get to our final stop after a path through a long tunnel, the tiny mountain settlement of Cuevas in the final reaches of the Argentinean Andes. It’s beautiful, though for some reason the only thing we’re doing here is stopping for lunch, lucky for me I’ve evolved past needing food, so I ask our guide for a time limit and take off, most of the Argentineans shaking their head in confusion. It’s cold up there for them and the wind does have a certain bite to it, considering I’m in shorts and a T-shirt, they are just discovering the meaning of being Canadian.
While they head in for a nice meal included in the tour I do something so much better, crossing some rail road tracks and climbing up on some boulders looking up at the mountains ahead and wondering how far I can get in the 45 minutes allotted to me. I stop briefly to snap some photos of a couple on the rock for them and they are kind enough to return the favour.
From there I waste no time hurrying across a sketchy looking bridge over the little river and hurrying through some giant boulders and starting up the hill entering the bigger field of the giant rocks, breathing hard at around 3500-4000 meters as I scramble up the hillside leaping from rock to rock trying to get as close as I can to the jagged peaks above frosted with glaciers. Up ahead I see a rock that looks remarkably like pride rock from the lion king. I want more than anything to get up to it, and to have a person below to snap the photo, but I’m the only one who opted against lunch and sadly time runs out with me only two thirds of the way there.
I make it back to the restaurant just in time only to find that frustratingly no one is ready to go and I probably could have Completed Simba’s journey had I known, instead I use the time to check out one of the refugio’s up here, as I’d love to come back to do more hiking (though as it works out I didn’t get to). The name escapes me but a dorm including breakfast was 280 pesos and that was probably negotiable, especially if you are staying more than one day.
Eventually we’re ready to head back towards Mendoza though mercifully the tour has saved a pair of stops for the way back, the first being the highlight of the trip for most of the people in the bus. It’s called Puente del Inca, though it has nothing to do with the inca’s and is instead a strange rock and mineral formation made from hot springs and rare mineral compositions in the mountains.
It’s fascinating and beautiful and historically interesting also since in the early 1900’s there was a medical hotel set up here for european’s with sifilis and leprosy came to enjoy the thermal springs and take advantage of their healing properties. It kept going until a landslide destroyed most of the hotel, though a few remnants including the tunnels down to the springs can still be seen.
The colours and way the bridge has naturally formed are all fascinating but for me at least the mountains at cuevas we’re the highlight of the day.
Near Puente Del Inca there is a huge set up of artisans stalls who are selling one truly fascinating thing, random day to day items that have been submerged in the spring for around 2-3 weeks and have calcified, thick layers of yellow stone over shoes, boots and other things. It would be a distinctly odd souvenir.
From here we head back driving a long way through the mountains until finally we reach the reservoir in the foothills once more. The angle of the sun has changed the colour of the water to a lighter more incandescent blue, as well as strange sections with a chocolatey brown colour. Unlike most brown water though, especially thanks to the contrast with the clear blue, it’s quite beautiful.
After some more pictures we climb back into the car and head back into the centre, one by one dropping people at their respective hotels. I’m surprised to see a walmart sign, something I’ve not seen since coming to south america, although Chile did have a chain of stores owned by walmart, it had a different name. All in all it was a very impressive day and a tour that is probably worth doing despite the fairly high price tag. Next up on the blog will be a brief post about exploring the town of Mendoza, which won’t do the beautiful green city in the heart of the desert enough credit, since my explorations there were brief.
