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Published: October 12th 2005
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Louis view
Louis enjoys the view at the end of a long climb. This past weekend we took a break from Spanish lessons and spent two and a half days in Uspallata. This quiet and dusty town is 110 kilometers from Mendoza and is the main staging base for trucks and buses to cross the snowbound pass into Chile.
The mountain and desert scenery here is stunning. Our cameras were pointed in all directions the entire time.
We were all eager to explore and covered roughly 12 kilometers on our hikes on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, Julio first got us in the spirit by preparing an early asado. He was delighted to introduce us to the delicacy known here as "los chinchulines", which is grilled cow intestine. After eating too much, Julio guided us across the desert which had numerous channels and rivulets from the Rio Blanco, which carves it's way through the valley floor. We had a great time hopping and fording across these unexpected streams that are growing each day as the Spring snowmelt increases from the surrounding Andes.
On Saturday, we headed east into the barren and austere mountains behind the hostel. Daniel, Louis, and Alex brought their camping gear to spend the evening under the unfamiliar
Julio
Julio is happy (as always) to be taking all 5 "chicos" to Uspallata. stars of the Southern Hemishere. It was uphill all the way. As we made our way into a canyon filled with multi-colored, prehistoric rock sculptures, Julio pointed out a pair of condors soaring high above us. These birds often have a wing span of over 10 feet. The climax of the hike was a climb up a narrow canyon with a spectacular grey headwall.
At this point, the rest of us said goodbye to Daniel, Alex, and Louis and headed back ( downhill) to the hostel. Saturday night at the hostel, Julio treated us to another asado of some of the world's finest beef while Daniel, Alex, and Louis cooked chorizo sausage on their campfire.
Sunday afternoon, under another cloudless sky, we headed back to Mendoza to get ready for a more intensive week of Spanish lessons.
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Mom and Lisa
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Beautiful
Good to see where you are. It looks beautiful there. Got this web site from WEndy. We'll keep checking in. Love to you.