The drive from Santiago to Mendoza on Sunday (approximately 12 hours) was spectacular. We executed about 100 hair-pin bends to climb up about 3500 metres into the jagged-peaked, snow-capped, Andes through mountain walls of grey, red, yellow and black rock. In some areas, the rock face was sheer cliff, in others it looked like a smooth volcanic beach, and in others there were huge bolders which looked poised to tip over any minute on to the road below. There was no vegetation to speak of although in the distance we saw one or two unexplained patches of bright green. A dis-used railway ran along the side of the road and we passed several hostels or small hotels which formed primitive ski-resorts. Other than the trucks and a few cars, we were pretty isolated.
Amidst this panorama of mountain views and and breathtaking scenery, we had our first introduction to altitude.A few in the Truck were not affected, but most suffered varying degrees of nausea, headache, and weakness. Apparently altitude sickness does not differentiate between age groups,sex, or fitness levels. I just felt light headed, a little squeamish, and a very slight headache. Expending any energy, such as walking behind a rock to pee, was a mini-chore. There are 3 levels of sickness - accute, moderate, and severe, and then various more- severe forms of altitude illnesses.The main goal is to become properly acclimatized which is going to be hard when driving. We only reached "high" (i.e. 8,000 to 10,000 feet) on the altitude scale. We still have to experience "very high" (i.e. 12,000 to 18,000 feet), and I remain quite concerned about handling this.
Once in Mendoza we stayed at the hostel Itaka on Aristides Villanueva. A respectable hostel with a restaurant-bar patio facing the street (www.itakahostel.com.ar), but we found the organisation at this hostel poor compared to others we visited in Argentina. For example, the breakfast was not laid out at the times advertized apparently because the lady who organizes it didn't turn up, we waited at least one and a half hours for a pizza one night - no idea why, they ran out of hot water, then the night before we left there was no water at all. On top of all of this, there was a robbery. The story is that the person on the desk let 4 people in then became suspicious of them, but his story is that he couldn't leave the front desk to go and check, so he kept calling them; eventually, they ran down the stairs and out the door. At least 3 of our group had stuff stolen including camera flash cards, a portable hard drive, and an I-pod. Fortunately, we had all our valuables locked in the locker.
Mendoza (population about 1 million) is a base for mountain climbing and wine tours. It is situated in an arid valley .... and is subject to earthquakes and tremours. There was a major quake in 1881which destroyed the city so most of the buildings have been built since then. Our guide told us of the most recent tremours which varied between 6 to 7 1-2 on the Richter scale.
The city of Mendoza has a good feel.It is modern, pretty, and very laid back. Ray and I did a walking tour around the city centre and visited, among other places, Independencia Square, the Legislature building, and of course the central market. The market was fun, a little like the St. Lawrence market in Toronto but much more uncontrolled. Meat products, cheese, fruit, dried fruit, spices, nuts,etc.etc. all lay out uncovered as local people buzzed around picking up their provisions. The streets of Mendoza are lined with trees and cafes, and the bougainvillea is still flowering. The temperature is probably Mediterranean and we were able to walk around during the day in short sleeves with a jersey for the evening. We are so happy to be getting back into the warmer climes.
The area around the city of Mendoza, in the Region of Mendoza, is one of the largest wine growing areas in Argentina; so, of course, we did a wine tour - on bicycles. It was a full day, but becauseof problems with the bikes,such as the pedals falling off,three flat tyres, seats coming loose,and the bus driver not knowing whereto drop us off, we werelate starting and only managed to cover two wineries, an olive oil factory,and a liqueur and chocolate factory. To reach all of these, we rode down the "second most dangerous road" in Argentina (the most dangerous is still to come!) without helmuts, between articulated trucks, local buses, tourist coaches, and mad drivers - but we survived. The two wineries we visited were very special.The first was Carinae one of the top 20 wineries to visit in the area (www.carinaevinos.com). This is a small boutique winery in Maipu. It is owned by a French man with a love not only of wine but also the stars - hence the name "Carina" which is a star constellation in the Milky Way which shines brightly in the grape picking season - i.e. end of March and April. Carinae is sold in Quebec through an agent and we thought it might be fun to import a case - however, the wine tasting didn't introduce us to anything we enjoyed drinking. The second winery "Familia di Tomasso" is the oldest winery in Argentina, and we toured the old wine cellars and tasted about five varieties of wine, but once again didn't find anything we really enjoyed. That was disappointing because Argentina produces many good wines - many of which we have already tasted - at 14 pesos ($5.00 Cdn) its hard not to!
Mendoza brought bad luck to another member of our group - Robin went para-gliding and her guide (there are two up together) got caught in a thermal down draft which pushed them into the side of the mountain. Robin was litterally smashed against the rock face and ended up being supported by the guide on a precautious ledge.A helicopter tried to get them off but because the cliff face was too steep to get the cable close enough, two rescue guys ended up rapelling down the cliff and brought her up on a stretcher. She has handled it all very well emotionally,still wants to paraglide again, and apart from sprained neck muscles, and one or two bruises, seems to be otherwise OK. The downside was that once off the cliff, she spent a considerable time in the hospital, being examined, getting x-rays, etc.
This is the second time one of our group have been to the Dr. Emma, sprained her ankle in El Calafate. She too ended up in hospital being examined and having x-rays. The medical system so far has been great. For Argentinians it is free although there are private hospitals and doctors too and the locals tell us you get better service there. Robin had a follow up visit in Cafayate to check out her neck and also to check her knees which have been bothering her since Ushuaia. The consultation fee was 14 pesos and the drugs about 5 pesos! I don't believe Emma paid anything for her hospital visit which included x-rays and analysis of sprained ankle.
So, Mendoza, although a sleepy town,proivded some dramatics.
Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and set off for Cafayate - after Cafayate it is Salta - all camping.- stay tuned for further excitement!
Amidst this panorama of mountain views and and breathtaking scenery, we had our first introduction to altitude.A few in the Truck were not affected, but most suffered varying degrees of nausea, headache, and weakness. Apparently altitude sickness does not differentiate between age groups,sex, or fitness levels. I just felt light headed, a little squeamish, and a very slight headache. Expending any energy, such as walking behind a rock to pee, was a mini-chore. There are 3 levels of sickness - accute, moderate, and severe, and then various more- severe forms of altitude illnesses.The main goal is to become properly acclimatized which is going to be hard when driving. We only reached "high" (i.e. 8,000 to 10,000 feet) on the altitude scale. We still have to experience "very high" (i.e. 12,000 to 18,000 feet), and I remain quite concerned about handling this.
Once in Mendoza we stayed at the hostel Itaka on Aristides Villanueva. A respectable hostel with a restaurant-bar patio facing the street (www.itakahostel.com.ar), but we found the organisation at this hostel poor compared to others we visited in Argentina. For example, the breakfast was not laid out at the times advertized apparently because the lady who organizes it didn't turn up, we waited at least one and a half hours for a pizza one night - no idea why, they ran out of hot water, then the night before we left there was no water at all. On top of all of this, there was a robbery. The story is that the person on the desk let 4 people in then became suspicious of them, but his story is that he couldn't leave the front desk to go and check, so he kept calling them; eventually, they ran down the stairs and out the door. At least 3 of our group had stuff stolen including camera flash cards, a portable hard drive, and an I-pod. Fortunately, we had all our valuables locked in the locker.
Mendoza (population about 1 million) is a base for mountain climbing and wine tours. It is situated in an arid valley .... and is subject to earthquakes and tremours. There was a major quake in 1881which destroyed the city so most of the buildings have been built since then. Our guide told us of the most recent tremours which varied between 6 to 7 1-2 on the Richter scale.
The city of Mendoza has a good feel.It is modern, pretty, and very laid back. Ray and I did a walking tour around the city centre and visited, among other places, Independencia Square, the Legislature building, and of course the central market. The market was fun, a little like the St. Lawrence market in Toronto but much more uncontrolled. Meat products, cheese, fruit, dried fruit, spices, nuts,etc.etc. all lay out uncovered as local people buzzed around picking up their provisions. The streets of Mendoza are lined with trees and cafes, and the bougainvillea is still flowering. The temperature is probably Mediterranean and we were able to walk around during the day in short sleeves with a jersey for the evening. We are so happy to be getting back into the warmer climes.
The area around the city of Mendoza, in the Region of Mendoza, is one of the largest wine growing areas in Argentina; so, of course, we did a wine tour - on bicycles. It was a full day, but becauseof problems with the bikes,such as the pedals falling off,three flat tyres, seats coming loose,and the bus driver not knowing whereto drop us off, we werelate starting and only managed to cover two wineries, an olive oil factory,and a liqueur and chocolate factory. To reach all of these, we rode down the "second most dangerous road" in Argentina (the most dangerous is still to come!) without helmuts, between articulated trucks, local buses, tourist coaches, and mad drivers - but we survived. The two wineries we visited were very special.The first was Carinae one of the top 20 wineries to visit in the area (www.carinaevinos.com). This is a small boutique winery in Maipu. It is owned by a French man with a love not only of wine but also the stars - hence the name "Carina" which is a star constellation in the Milky Way which shines brightly in the grape picking season - i.e. end of March and April. Carinae is sold in Quebec through an agent and we thought it might be fun to import a case - however, the wine tasting didn't introduce us to anything we enjoyed drinking. The second winery "Familia di Tomasso" is the oldest winery in Argentina, and we toured the old wine cellars and tasted about five varieties of wine, but once again didn't find anything we really enjoyed. That was disappointing because Argentina produces many good wines - many of which we have already tasted - at 14 pesos ($5.00 Cdn) its hard not to!
Mendoza brought bad luck to another member of our group - Robin went para-gliding and her guide (there are two up together) got caught in a thermal down draft which pushed them into the side of the mountain. Robin was litterally smashed against the rock face and ended up being supported by the guide on a precautious ledge.A helicopter tried to get them off but because the cliff face was too steep to get the cable close enough, two rescue guys ended up rapelling down the cliff and brought her up on a stretcher. She has handled it all very well emotionally,still wants to paraglide again, and apart from sprained neck muscles, and one or two bruises, seems to be otherwise OK. The downside was that once off the cliff, she spent a considerable time in the hospital, being examined, getting x-rays, etc.
This is the second time one of our group have been to the Dr. Emma, sprained her ankle in El Calafate. She too ended up in hospital being examined and having x-rays. The medical system so far has been great. For Argentinians it is free although there are private hospitals and doctors too and the locals tell us you get better service there. Robin had a follow up visit in Cafayate to check out her neck and also to check her knees which have been bothering her since Ushuaia. The consultation fee was 14 pesos and the drugs about 5 pesos! I don't believe Emma paid anything for her hospital visit which included x-rays and analysis of sprained ankle.
So, Mendoza, although a sleepy town,proivded some dramatics.
Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and set off for Cafayate - after Cafayate it is Salta - all camping.- stay tuned for further excitement!
Pictures Added May 7th.
Famila di Tamasso - Carinae Winery
Hairpin Bends - Market and street cafe
1 comment:
I hope you had a view of Aconcagua, the biggest mountain in the Americas.
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