High Up in the Andes!!!

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I got picked up around about 7.30 am and we picked some more people from another hostel. We began out journey on the Ruta 40 (nothing special, just the suburbs of Mendoza) then we joined the Ruta 7 towards Chile. Our first stop, for a comfort break, was Uspallata, a village famed for Seven Years in Tibet movie and this was the village and the surrounding areas where the movie was made. We drove further into Alta Montaña stopping at some lakes after Uspallata then onto Fortin Puchueta. This colonial bridge has some significant history as the bridge was crossed by the San Martin forces during the campaign for independence from Spain in the 18th Century. We then began riding up to some amazing scenery until we reached Parque Provincial Aconcagua. We stopped at the entrance to pay our park entrance fee and did a trek to the Laguna de los Horcones where we got a view of Cerro Aconcagua, the highest peak (6959m) of the Andes and also in the world except for the Himalayas Range. We saw the peak with hardly any clouds and I felt humbled just seeing it in my very own eyes. This is probably one of my big highlights on my trip along with Volcans Osorno and Villarrica in Chile. The stunning scenery lifted my spirits as I have been feeling real down in Mendoza. After visiting Cerro Anconcagua, we had lunch at Puente del Inca and had a look round afterwards. The village has a Wild West feel. Puente del Inca is the ruins of a former spa resort built in the 1940s but was swept away by a flood. It has the infamous stone bridge but it was unsafe to cross it and was cordoned off. The ruins including the bridge are stained by a high small sulpher content of the hot springs nearby. It is an interesting site. Our final stop in the area was Los Penitentes, usually a bustling ski resort but now a ghost town for the summer. We then turned and began descending into Mendoza. We had another comfort stop at a service station in Uspallata and eventually made it to Mendoza. We returned approximately 6.30pm. This excursion is the last one on my overall trip and it is nice to finish my sightseeiing on a high!

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