I rented a mountain bike to head out to Cerro 7 Coloyres which is mountain of 7 colours. It was actually a little hillock! By the time I got there the clouds had come in and there was thunder and lightening with splatterings of rain.

I also went to see an old structure that was built in the XVIII century of mud. They were used to process the gold and silver mined in the area by the Spanish.

On the way to the little coloured hillock there were a bunch of horses being driven down to the valley.

There were also a ton of roadside shrines.

Total distance ridden was 34km and I went through all my water. Afterwards it was time for a large ice cream!

The dogs at the hostel are very cool there is about 5 of them mostly golden retrievers. They aren’t allowed into the hostel so they sit in the window looking for someone to play with them or pet them.

So the reason the hostel was so booked up might have something to do with the Dakar rally coming through town. All morning the helicopters flew over and the motorbikes, quad bikes and vehicles and trucks zoomed past. The start of the special was at Uspallata.

In the afternoon I rented a horse again and we went up to some old copper mines above the valley. The horses worked hard climbing the hills. I wanted to get off and walk up alongside mine but the guide would have none of it laughing at me!

There was a small entrance into the old mines and we just kept on walking back through a low tunnel you could see where they had dug out the seam of copper.

The horses waiting for us at the copper mines mine was the older and more relaxed horse the guides was young and a little skittish!

The erosion of the rocks is amazing it shows all the types that I learnt about at university.

I was getting myself organised in Mendoza to take an afternoon bus to Punta del Inca but was concerned about finding a place to stay and getting a bus back to Uspallata. Then a Belgium couple who had been up at the hostel in the mountains for new years came in and we were talking about what we were all going to do in the next few days. They were renting a car they said in 15 minutes and heading for Punta del Inca. So I asked if they would be willing to take me along if I paid for part of the rental car. The bus was about 10% of the cost of a rental car but they were going to be going over the old dirt road instead of HW 7 which I have been up and down three times now. So throwing caution to the wind I thought I would be certain of finding a place to stay or there would be room in their hostel. I had to get out of mendoza as it was 38.5C around 101F.

Sten and Heather are from a village outside Antwerp. They have been travelling for 4 weeks and are coming to the end of their 5 week trip. Sten works for 3m as a chemist designing all the glues I used on the race boats and Heather in water treatment as an engineering designing the sewage pipe lines.

Anyways we headed for Uspallata and the road quickly became very winding. We were on
the ancient colonial road leading to Chile that was built in the XVI century. In San Martin’s time it was the only road available for ordinary travelers and for San Martin’s forces. It was important for the development of the mineral fields in the area. The English naturalist Charles Darwin, amoung other famous travelers, visited the area in 1835 and discovered the fossil remains of petrified araucarias in the area of Curva de los Ingleses. Various archeological sites with remains of primitive hunter peoples are found along the road.

Along the way there were quite a few small shrines and when we got on the high plains the temperature thankfully dropped to a more bareable 22C (72F). There were quite a few animals – cattle, a fox like creature that ran across the road in front of us, a llama/alpaca type animal and numerous small colorful birds.

The vegetation was thorn bushes and cactuses. The earth is very red and generally it is quite a bleak arid landscape. I believe we climbed to about 4000m before dropping down into the lush green valley of Uspallata.

After a picnic stop at Uspallata we continued onto Punta Del Inca passing Penitentes which is where we start our Aconcaua expedition. Unfortunately you can’t enter the Punta del Inca site as it is unstable.

There are trinket vendors including items that have been left to be covered with the minerals leaching out of the hillside.

We continued on route 7 to the Chilean Argentine border but instead of heading through the tunnel we took the old road to see the statue of Jesus. Running alongside the road is the old train line. Just after turning off to start the 1000m ascent up another winding dirt road we saw some people pulled to one side whose car was 5 years old and the coolant hose had exploded they were attempting to limp all the way back to Mendoza with a 2L soda bottle attached to the engine full of water. We checked all the fluids in the engine of the rental car and filled up our water bottles with water just in case.

These mountain range huts were colonial shelters for travelers, messengers and post men. Mr O’Higgins had them built in the XVIII century. They were scattered along the Royal Road and four fo them were in Argentina’s Andean mountains.

This road had existed since pre hispanic times. Huarpe Aborigines, Incas, discovers of Cuyo and founders of their cities, missionaries, travelers, postmen and traders travelled along it. On February 2nd 1817, the troops of the military division headed by Cnel Las Heras and under the command of General San Martin followed this road to liberate Chile from the Spanish.

Cuyo’s Archbishop, Marcolino Benavente, built a statue to pay homage to Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, once the dispute over the borders with Chile had been solved with the Pacts of May 1902. It was decided to place it at the border line between the two countries as a symbol of continental unity and peace. The monument, a work by the Arentinian sculptor Mateo Alonso, was inaugurated on March 13th 1904, on Santa Elena Mount at 4000m.

At 4000m on the border between Chile and Argentina looking down into Argentina.

We headed back down and stopped at the gate to Aconcaqua park. The peak is in the clouds up the valley behind me.

By the time we got back to Uspallata it was 9:30pm and as the hostel was towards Mendoza we stopped off to eat and by the time we got to the hostel it was 11:45pm. Sten and Heather had a reservation but the hostel was full so I spent the night sleeping in the car!

I decided to treat myself to a day of River Rafting on the Mendoza river. I took the bus from the hostel to Portrelles where I was met by one of the staff of Argentina rafting and taken to their base which is a very modern facility on the side of the river.

We were given wetsuits, helmets, splash jackets etc and were driven 25 minutes upriver. There were two couples in my raft both were from New York and three of them were at Columbia Business School together. Gustavo the guide had been working on the river for 18 years for the same company and in the winter he works in Colorado. There is also a safety kayaker who is next to the raft just in case someone comes out and doesn’t hold onto the raft. The kayaker Roman is on the under 21 Argentine national kayaking team.

We stopped for lunch at an old railway station from the 1800s and the guides put together a beautifully presented lunch on two tables even a table cloth.

The old station.

The rapids on the river were Grade III and IV. The guide gave us all the commands – paddle hard forward, paddle back, right forward, left back, get down etc. I was at the front for 2 hours or so. The river is brown with sediment so when you go under it is best to keep your mouth closed and just keep on paddling! I had a ton of fun. The guide afterwards said btw you are an excellent paddler – I guess all that kayaking etc on the Thames paid off mum and dad 🙂 Or maybe he was looking for a big tip.

A km from the end of the trip a lab jumped into the river and the guide told us to paddle to him and pull him into the raft. I put my paddle down and pulled him in the bow. What a cute dog. Apparently he is owned by one of the river guides working for Argentina rafting and he recognized the raft and the guide and wanted to be taken back to the base so every now and again he jumps in like that and catches a ride.

By the end of the trip we were fully covered in mud even in my ears and nose! Time for a hot shower before heading back to Mendoza on the bus with what seemed like the whole population of Mendoza who had headed out to the mountains for new year.

It was hot but not as hot as Mendoza so I decided to go for a 15km walk to a waterfall in a sort of nature reserve. Lola was meant to take me but she gave up after 200m.

Just up from the hostel is a reserve with mountain refugios and days of trekking to do but I felt vulnerable without a map and compass at least so I stayed along the river to get to the waterfall. I got off the main path straight away by accident so ended up following wild horse and cattle trails through the bush which led to very scratched up legs! I had trousers to put on but it was just way too hot.

On the way back I was on the wider path which was a bit less lethal to the legs.

There were tons of beautiful Andean flowers along the way which I was a bit snap happy over.

A bunch of people came up from Mendoza for a New Years BBQ at the hostel. The place was full. Margaret came up as well as Erin who just climbed Aconcaqua with the company I am climbing with. She gave Margaret and I lots of tips on kit and the low down on what to expect with regards to the altitude and what it does to your body. As well as the unpleasant aspects of having to carry everything out which is what should happen as we don’t want to damage the environment but it doesn’t sound appealing walking behind everyone carrying their shit bags!

After the BBQ a fire was lit to sit around until midnight. After wishing everyone Happy New Year I lay on the grass looking up at the stars thinking of all the guys back at base in SG and what a great year 2011 was.

I think the highlight has got to have been my parents coming to see me in SG it is great to have them understand what a special place I lived for 14 months and be able to appreciate it.

Happy New Year everyone I hope 2012 bring you everything you wish for.