Mendoza - High Mountain (Andes) Tour

Yesterday was our final day in Mendoza. When we arrived in the windstorm we were under the impression that Mendoza was a horrible place and wondered why any one would want to visit and why the Lonely Planet book spoke so highly of it. I'm glad we stuck around for a few days and got to see the town in a better light.

Before we left, we went on a guided tour up into the Andes mountain range, which is visible from town. We went 200 km, all the way to the top of the pass, on a mini bus (Sprinter van), stopping at many points of interest along the way. The route we took into the mountains was the same one that we took to get to Medoza from Santiago, and it was even prettier than the previous time. We had clear blue skies. :) It is a very barren landscape of jagged rocks, tall peaks and many sandy slopes where rock slides have taken place. The dirt and rocks come in all colors, orange, red, yellow, brown, black and white. There is very little vegetation, some low growing cactus and a few types of grasses and some drought tolerant bushes, most all of these are under 2 ft tall. The landscape reminded me of many of the national parks in Utah and also of the Polychrome Mountains in Denali Park, AK. It was a leisurely drive with many stops for pictures. The highlight was getting to see Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Western hemisphere at almost 7,000 meters! ( I have no clue what it is in feet, but it must be close to 22,000 ft since Denali is 20,320 ft.) We also saw a cool natural stone bridge spanning a river that was stained yellow, orange and green from the thermal spring in the area, it's called Puente Del Inca. Another cool thing to look at was the remains of the old road and railroad tracks. I tried all day to remember to take pictures with my phone but only remembered once at the view point for Aconcagua.

After the tour we took an overnight bus to Neuquén (pronounced Nay-ooh-ken). We were not sure what we'd do in Neuquén, if anything but it is 12 hours down the road in the direction that we want to go (South) and we didn't really want to be on a bus much longer. However we arrived to Neuquén early this morning and decided there was nothing of interest to stick around for. We got on another bus, and 6 hours later we are in San Martín de los Andes. It is a fancy ski village. But it is summer and there are roses and mountains and green trees everywhere! (:

We rode nice double decker buses with the lounge chair like seats. And to our amazement they served us a hot dinner and breakfast when we woke up! Argentina is very long, over 5,000 km, no wonder it takes so long to get anywhere.

For the most part we hate Argentinian food. They really don't have much in the way of traditional foods. They are mostly foods borrowed from other countries. For breakfast pastries (danish and croissant) and this thick paste like jam. Lunch is pizza, pasta or gross sandwiches with thick dry crumbly bread and one ultra thin slice of ham and one ultra thin slice of cheese. These stupid sandwiches are available all day long, as the Argentinians participate in tea time to hold them over during the hours of 3 and 8 when most restaurants are closed. Dinner is from 8 to midnight in most restaurants and consists of meat and potatoes or more pizza or pasta. So it's processed carb overload with very little nutrition! And it's driving us nuts, we want real food!! It's so strange to me that most restaurants here are closed during the time when almost everyone in the US would be eating breakfast! Oh I almost forgot they have empanadas here too with are baked and filled (with meat usually) turnover type pastries. Those are good. Service at restaurants is insanely slow, which is irritating. We will plan to cook our own food at hostels.