Magical Mendoza Part 2

So after our lomos, Kira and I headed back to our hostels for a good night's sleep before our big day out on Tuesday. We had decided to take a private car into the high mountains and so were up bright and early ready for our trip with Juan. It was really great doing this type of tour as we could ask Juan to stop whenever we wanted to for us to take pictures and between the two of us it worked out to be really good value (just 20 pesos more - less than a pound) than if we'd done an organised tour. Plus we were able to get to know Juan and learn about his life and experience of living in Mendoza. Before meeting Kira and planning this trip, I had wanted to go to Potrerillos dam which looked incredibly beautiful and this was included as part of our trip. It seriously didn't disappoint.

From here we went further into the Andes and the scenery was just amazing. 

Once when we stopped, at first glance there appeared to be shedloads of plastic water bottles along the side of the road and it really concerned us. Littering is somewhat of a problem here, for example on our bus back from the wine tasting a guy opened a sweet and then just threw the wrapper out of the bus window. However, it turns out this was a shrine...

And as people drive past, they leave water for the Saint to protect them on their journey.

Driving along the roads, the scenery was just incredible...

Our second stop was at Puente del Inca. This used to be thermal spa and there was a hospital there once but following a serious rockfall in the area they have closed it and it's now a natural monument.

From here we carried on through Uspallata valley (which is where 7 years in Tibet was filmed) and was very beautiful and on through more stunning mountains until we arrived at Aconcagua. 

Aconcagua is the highest peak after the Himalayas. We were walking round about 2700m and the peak you see in the background is not the highest part, there are two summits, this is the lower of the two, on the south face. In this area, you really feel very small and inconsequential surrounded by these stunning mountains.

People can do treks through the mountains on horses...

But having sworn off 4-legged animals after my experience of camels, horses and a donkey on Blackpool beach you were never going to get me on one!!

The view in the opposite direction to Aconcagua was my absolute favourite of the day. The mountain had so many different colours in it, including greys, greens and reds it was just stunning ❤️

Coming back and seeing the scenery in the opposite direction, it felt like we were driving in a completely different area, it was incredible how changed it was put to what we'd seen on the way out...

Half way back it started to rain. Properly hammering it down! It turns out that I have not lost my rain conjuring abilities from my trip 10 years ago. We were told in the walking tour that it rains around 25 times a year in Mendoza and it's rained twice since I've been here! Juan was very happy as unlike most Argentinians, he loves the rain!

We got back to the hostel around 6.30pm and Kira was then heading off to go to Córdoba at around 8pm so we took the opportunity to drink one of the bottles of wine we'd bought the previous day until it was time for her to leave...

As Kira and I had spent so much time together, I hadn't had much opportunity to meet many people in the hostel and so that night I met a lot of the people I was staying with. We all sat out on the lovely roof terrace and chatted; there was Jack, Amit, Aoife, Enda, Shannon and Hannah. 

At the time it had seemed like a good idea to finish the bottle of Malbec I'd bought on my first night in Mendoza, but obviously it wasn't, which I then discovered the following morning! So after a very chilled day I was feeling much better and enjoyed the hostel Asado (BBQ) that evening. This tray was refilled around 4 times between 8 people!

Along with bowls of salad and potato salad - it was super delicious! We have a vegetarian dog in the hostel and even he wanted some!!

After being told off by both my dentist and hygienist as to the colour of my teeth following my Eurpean Advenure, I decided that the travel electric toothbrush had to be replaced for this trip. I bought myself a  new Oral B brush with a travel case but foolishly brought only sensitive heads wth me so I decided to get some new heads. I hadn't been able to find any in pharmacies and so Dario, who is one of people running the hostel recommended a shop for me to try. In Mendoza they take a siesta from 1-5pm and I unfortunately turned up at the shop at 12.55pm to discover they started their siesta at 12.30pm! I looked through the the window to see if I could see the brushes through the window but soon realised that police were also looking over my shoulder into the shop too! I was a bit concerned where Dario had sent me, but when I returned out of siesta time yesterday, it was just a regular shop and I managed to get the heads I was after! That evening we had a new person, Julia, in the dorm. She has just spent 6 months in Santiago on a semester exchange from her Universtiy in Germany and was spending a few days in Argentina before heading home. We went for a wander around Mendoza and discovered lovely craft market in Plaza Independencia and then went for a drink. A popular drink in Argentina is Fernet Branca and so I decided this was the time to try it!

You have it mixed with coke and I'm glad I've now tried it but it's an acquired taste! (Which I've not yet acquired!). I've wanted to try it for the last ten years as on my last trip I read the book 'Cooking with Fernet Branca' by James Hamilon-Paterson which was absolutely hilarious and I did remember seeing a bottle of it in a shop in San Francisco but I've not had it before now. Think bitter and medicinal and that's Fernet Branca!

On Friday, after successful buying my toothbrush heads I went to the market... 

which was again, as in Córdoba, really fascinating, but this time I didn't eat there and just bought some bits and bobs for lunch and I actually had a siesta! It's currently 35 degrees in Mendoza and it was that temperature yesterday too. In that heat, there's not a lot you can do other than sleep! And so today, I've painted my toenails (which as my feet are warm for the first time in decades are growing super fast!) and written my blog posts, and in between the two went for lunch at another vegetarian place with Julia. My visit to Mendoza has been really wonderful. This place is just beautiful, I've stayed in a great hostel (Windmill Hostel), had some fantastic experiences but most importantly met some incredible people. I wouldn't have missed it for the world and have some very special memories of my time here. 

Tomorrow I'm heading over to Santiago and so I doubt I'll be doing much for the rest of today, just getting everything ready for my trip. It's scheduled to be 7 hours but is completely dependent on the border crossing. So keep your fingers crossed for me that everyone is very efficient and I'll be in touch again when I get to Chile!!