Day 4 in Mendoza – we arise early for a full day trip
through the Argentinian side of the Andes. We board a bus (last) and discover
we are once again the only English speakers...
Our guide, a wizened old woman
with a funny sense of humour, leads us through the valleys and mountains of the
surrounding Andean range. We sat next to a lovely couple who offered us the
traditional, social, drink of ‘mate’ (pronounced mah-tay), which is essentially
a large clay pot of very strong tea. I’d been wanting to try it for ages, but
as restaurants don’t sell it, you must wait for a local to offer it to you.
Finally! It was nice and strong, like a pot of green tea that had been steeping
for ages.
Anyway, our tour of the Andes was beautiful and the video
below will do a far better job of describing the journey. Driving up the
winding roads we see small grey, then tall white snow-capped peaks. We stop off
at a famous bridge (San Martin crossed it?), view Condors flying gracefully
thousands of metres high in the air, pass by an archaic iron-rich British owned
mineral spa, drive by a ski resort (only just out of season), and finish in a
small town high up in the mountains.
We grabbed a hot lunch, had a little explore of the snowy
landscape, and then headed back to town.
All in all a very picturesque and worthwhile venture into
the longest mountain range in the world.
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