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.

A relaxing morning then repacking of my bag for a few days away from Mendoza. I headed to the bus station and took a local bus for an hour and half into the Andes and got off at Manantiales which is a village next to Potrerillos.

There is a hostel that is owned by the same person as the one in Mendoza and it has the same renovation needs.

The hostel dog is called Lola, she is very friendly and enjoys going on walks with you. Which after being dogless for the past 15 months I very much enjoyed – sorry Draeger!

The hostel is at 2000m and is surrounded by mountains with a mixture of vegetation including large rushes along the river, cactus, wild sweet peas and fragrant honeysuckle.

A 5km walk downhill from the hostel is a large number of horse riding stables so after leaving my bag up at the hostel I went on a horse ride.

It was great to be back on a horse after what I think must be a few years. My bum is a bit sore to be honest.

The horses are ridden western style which is with the reins in one hand not two like I was taught. To be honest the horses know the way so well you don’t have to do anything with the reins besides hold them!

There is a horse tied up next to the hostel which I fed with lots of green grass from across the road as she had fully stripped the area within her reach. Every time I went to leave her she walked after me to the extent of her rope so I had to go back and stroke her some more. Seems like I have bought myself a friend for the next few days.

Luckily I brought myself up some food so I didn’t have to use the mini market which is due to it being a village in the Andes is a little more expensive than town.

I was slightly bleary eyed all day with the lack of sleep from the night before. The guide company I am with had neglected to make a reservation for me but luckily there was a lot of room. The place is a lot scruffier than the hostel in Santiago it needs a bit of a renovation. After a shower and leaving my bags at the hostel I wondered around Mendoza doing all the must see sights in one day. There isn’t a lot to the city very easy to walk around and on a grid pattern hard to get lost.

Plaza Espana had a tiled display depicting what I am sure is history of the place however, I can’t read the Spanish that was on the sign.

Plaza Independcia has a fountain, craft stalls and a Museum of Modern Art. The Museum is small and the artwork was odd. I think I am more of a landscape oil painting fan type of person than speakers playing voices and projections of peoples various body parts on plastic bags hung from the ceiling. Some of the wood carvings were actually quite good.

I met up with two other people set to climb Aconcaqua next week at the hostel. One is Margaret from Germany who is climbing with the German Alpine Club and the other is Derek from Lexington Kentucky who is with my group. Margaret decided she was interested in the last year of my life and wanted to see some pictures so I showed her a few until I was bored amazingly she was not! She is a freelance writer who specializes in science journalism and is heading of to climb a 5000m peak before Aconcaqua. I was hoping to join her but the guide wanted a very large sum of money for a 5 day climb which I couldn’t justify to myself after spending so much money on the actual climb. We had a laugh over the differing amounts of kit we have. Looks like she is going for the light approach and I am going to be a mule but a toasty warm one at that. I did bring everything on the list I was given – Margaret thinks they sent me the Everest one not the Aconcaqua one!

Rob and I were leaving later in the evening him to NZ and myself on a night bus to Mendoza Argentina so we had the day to explore more of Santiago. We came across a statue which included what looks like a fur seal being clawed by a lobster!

First stop was the Presidential Palace which has a few statues surrounding the front entrance and two fountains.

There are two ceremonial guards on horseback just inside the crowd control fencing. I guess they don’t have the same rules as the ones in front of Buckingham Palace as they were not statue still. There were also police around the fence line.

Across from the palace is one of the most massive flag poles and flags I have seen.

While we were standing there a few protestors jumped over the barriers and headed for the fountain carrying a sign which unfortunately Rob couldn’t translate and waving some odd flags. There was only one guy the rest were woman and one of them made it to the water. The police in their nicely polished shoes had to jump into the water after them and drag them out. Meantime the riot police were called in along with their dogs and the protestors were being handcuffed. A little bit of excitement ?

We went to the house of Pablo Neruna who was a Chilean Poet who got the Noble Prize in the early 70’s. The house is in three parts. The first part he built for his mistress to live in on her own while he divorced his wife. When he moved in with his mistress he added another part and then yet another part. He had a fascination with the sea so his houses are all in a ship theme. The first one is very narrow as it was built to one side of a stream and he must have been a short man as the ceilings are very low. Definantly a man of eclectic tastes with lots of different collections from around the world as he worked in the Chilean consulate in a few different countries.

Rob left before me it was odd to give him a hug and see him walk away after living with him for the last 14 months. Hopefully Tommy and Rob will be coming to see me next Northern winter for some California skiing if we are not all working South again! He is on to an adventure of cycling around the South Island of NZ and then to India to a course in guitar making (although he has already made a beautiful one).

I spent the night on the bus which was actually quite comfortable. It is necessary to take times with a pinch of salt in S America also the estimation of distances or numbers of blocks when taking directions. The supposed 6 hour trip was more like 9 and half hours which was fine as it meant we got to Mendoza at 7:30am. Getting through the border took about 3 hours as four people got full interrogation like me and my apple I guess. I was a little worried about using my British passport to enter but it seems there was not need to be – they are happy to take the pounds in tourism it seems.

We attempted to do the cultural things in Santiago and only got to see a fraction of what we wanted to. It seemed like everything was closed for renovation and was meant to re open 6 months ago – Pre Colombian art, Santiago Museum etc.

We got to the Museum of Fine Arts finally after going on a wild goose chase as google maps had it about 5km away from its actual location. The exhibits were a bit odd in that there was a Hungarian photographer who had taken photos of New York, Paris and Hungary between 1914 and 1965ish I am not quite sure what his connection was with Chile. There was also a lot of artwork by Matta who is Chilean but his stuff is surrealist style which seemed like he had been at the BAS base of Halley for the past two years. Not quite all there! There was one piece of art by a Chilean whose last name was Scottish made of about 40 old record players which were spinning. On each spinning record player was a globe – all different constructions and sizes (one was a hacky sack). I was pretty certain Tommy would have had a fit if he had seen how overloaded the electrical strips were.

Lunch in a grassy park in the shade of the trees as you can see from the photo my skin is so white you almost need sunglasses to look at me with the reflection.

Next stop was the Cathedral at Plaza De Armas which had its midnight mass at 10:30pm which is why it was closed up when we got there at 11:30 for 12 on Christmas Eve. There was a nativity scene set up and some very beautiful flowers decorating the dais. The Natural History Museum was not in the google maps location so we headed back to the hostel for some refreshments and to re group and get a better map of where we were headed.

Off again in the right direction we past the train museum so I got a few pictures for my nephew Henry of Thomas, Annie and Clarabelle (I think those are the right names!).

The Natural History museum was in a beautiful building with some nice flowers in front of it but it was closed!

Santiago is full of these outdoor gyms they are great. I would jump on if it wasn’t 30 degrees!

More grapes of both the off the vine variety to eat for breakfast and in the bottle variety today. We woke up and thought it was a day for culture however, all the museums etc are closed on Mondays. So what to do! I checked out the top 50 things to do in Santiago and found a winery we could get to by metro.

The winery we went to is the second largest in the world and has 18 different grapes including one that was thought to be extinct after a disease killed all the vines in France. There are two different types of casks to age the wine – american oak and french oak. The french oak casks are double the price of the american so the special wine is put in those and the barrels are used 4 times with the wine being aged for up to 18 months. Rob had my wine though I had a sip of each and the white was OK but the red was very strong.

On the way back we got an ice cream (a rarity on base) and stopped to get my bus ticket to travel to Mendoza which I will do overnight on Wednesday. We stopped at the supermarket and got yet more fruit and lunch makings. Also some fresh lemons for lemonade which is something I have been craving.

The meal at Vacas Gordas (Fat Cow) was very very good at an amazingly cheap price.

We are well a truly full to bursting after potatoe gratin, an 8oz+ fillet steak, spinach and a mixed salad.

Looking back at this post it is rather food orientated which is slightly odd seeing as we do have very good food on base. The fruit and veg though is in short supply hence my excitement with it 🙂