the tour - THE GEOGRAPHY OF MENDOZA AND THE ANDES

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I took a bus tour to Alta Montana where the guide explained all in both English and Spanish. It was great for me because I could listen to the English explanation to get the general idea and the Spanish explanation to fill in the details, and re-check again by listening to the English version and asking more questions.



The geography of Mendoza, Anconcagua and the Andes

The tour started with the artificial lake created to act as a reservoir ] to supply water to all the people in Mendoza which then is brought down from the mountains and then transported through open canals which pass through each street in the city. It was built in 2005. This lake is the only source of water for people in Mendoza and in right now in the summer months it is only operating at 50% capacity. There are no natural lakes in the desert, all of the natural lakes are in the South of Arngentina in Patagonia.

We then went on to a village called Pataya, we passed a famous prison called Alma Fuerte, we passed Perrientes where you can be taken up the mountains by stairlift, we saw the silver mountain range and the ‘sierra de las 7 colores’, we went to Aconcaguas park, then ‘Las Cuevas’ which is 3K from the border with Chile and we ended up at Puerta del Inca.

MENDOZA

Mendoza is half desert, it has no natural trees and all the trees it has have been imported from other countries. 90% of Mendoza is covered by a yellow flower called Parilla which is Mendoza’s flower. It takes 25 years to grow so it is therefore forbidden to cut it.

ANDES AND THE INCA TRAIL

The Andes mountain range is 35 million years old and stretches through Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Argentina. The Inca trail is defined by 4 corners around the jungle and mountains with Cuzco in Peru serving as its centre (Cuzco in Quechua means centre) The Inca trail is now a UNESCO site. On our last stop we ended at Puerta del Inca which is around 8,000 to 10,000 years old and has hot spring which supposedly have healing properties.

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