Andean Adventure--Part I

Our day in the Andes is in two parts.  Events demand it. We left Mendoza about 09:30 and headed south, then west toward the Chilean border--the same route we would have taken had our bus trip from Santiago not been abruptly cancelled by a landslide on the Argentine side. 

An hour and a half later we passed by Uspallata (oos-pie-YAH-tah), probably the western-most municipality in Argentina but by then we were already well past the front-line and into the Andes.  

Although this was not my first trip along this highway—the first time was 30 years ago when I was a Fulbright professor at the Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires and came to Mendoza for several days—I felt I was seeing the Andes up close for the first time.  More recently, five years ago, we traveled from Santiago to Mendoza by bus—the trip we hoped to repeat this year but didn’t, thanks to a landslide that closed the highway on the Argentine side for three days. 

 The sheer size and power of these mountains is stunning. And there were other things that gave us pause.

--There is far less snow on the mountain peaks than we remembered from our last visit five years ago.  We were forcibly struck by this when we stopped at the one place on the highway that offers an unobstructed view of Aconcagua, the highest peak in the western hemisphere.  five years ago the top one or two thousand feet were completely snow covered. Now there are broad patches and streaks of black all over the peak.

--This lack of snow is reflected in the low levels of the large reservoir and the level of the Rio Mendoza.  Before we saw several rafting parties on the river: this time there were none.  Only short stretches of the river are deep enough for rafting: new islands--with vegetation--have appeared. 

One of the many tunnels on the road with the Rio Mendoza on the right-

 --As we journeyed on we were forcefully hit by the startling colours of the mountains. No solid black or brown but reds, oranges, yellow, cream and, most surprisingly, green. There has been a lot of rain this summer (and we were forcefully reminded that, when it rains, even deserts bloom. So, there are green swaths across the mountains and flowers here and there. The peaks and jags of the Andes led our friend, Susan Hidalgo, to comment, "This looks like the Grand Canyon on speed!"

---This is vacation time in the Southern Cone and people are traveling across the border.  Landslides put a crimp in the flow.  Actually more than a crimp, it's a major backlog of traffic both personal and commercial.  The first reminder of this reality is an enormous parking lot for tractor-trailers--several hundred of them parked in neat rows at a customs holding station about 20 km. from the border.  The second was the hundreds of private vehicles queuing up--many in a separate holding area next to the immigration building a few kilometers from the border. This clearing centre is very efficient for those entering Argentina: Chilean and Argentine officials sit a few meters apart; you leave Chile, walk a few steps, and enter Argentina.

The highlight of this part of the trip was a stop at the Puente del Inca, a natural bridge where highly mineralized water pours out from underground springs and, over millennia has built up thick, multi-coloured layers of mineral deposits. It's a great tourist attraction with the requisite shops selling everything from sweaters (probably from Peru) to figurines made from--it looks like--placing ceramic figures in a place where they are coated with the minerals.

 We also discovered that Mendoza produces wicked chocolate and we bought three varieties to sustain us in the following days. Little did we know that we would make a major dent in the chocolate before the day was out.

Back in Uspallata we found a restaurant flying several national flags, one of them Canadian. David decided that was a good sign so we dropped in. Empanadas and pizza were served by Axel, who is studying to be an English translator and hopes to spend three months in the USA soon on a "work and travel" visa. 

We wanted to take an alternate route back to Mendoza and asked Alex about the condition of the road.  “No problem,” he said.  “It's gravel and you’ll see guanacos.”  That was enough for me so we headed north on a road that is shown on the map as an arch or upside-down "U". Axel did not know what he was talking about--except for the guanacos. That's Part II of our adventure.