Malbec and Aconcagua

14hr bus ride from BA and you find yourself in Mendoza. Beautiful plazas, the Andes and good wine , lots of it. Everything seems to work slower over here . A holiday destination for Argentinians and to prove it I find most of the residents at hostel Damajuana to be Argentinian. I sit by the pool and 2 hours later I find myself badly sunburnt playing poker with some Argentinians and alomost drunk. Second day we headed to the bodegas with the Bike and Wine option which turned out to be a lot of cycling and much less wine than we had expected, so at the end of the day we decided buy a bottle of Tempus Alba Malbec and enjoy the lovely view from the terrace of the vineyard. After moving to Hostel Lao, which I strongly recommend, I met up with a German and two American guys, and we decide to rent a car and head to the Andes. So we leave at 7am next morning 2 hrs later than planned and after a couple of wrong exits we start heading in the right direction. We first drive by Uspallata, a lovely valley surrounded by polychrome mountains, 105km west of Mendoza, at altitude of 1751m which served for filming 7 years in Tibet. Further into the Andes at 2720m we got to Puente Del Inca, a natural stonebridge spanning the Rio Mendoza. Underneath it lie ruins of an old spa stained yellow by warm sulphurous thermal springs.
We finally reach Aconcagua which at 6960m above sea level is the highest mountain in Americas. The contrast between Aconcagua and the rocky mountains and valley surrounding us is simply amazing.
On the way back, due to the amount of driving and lack of sleep the previous night, I miss one of the many Immigration stops for the Chilean border. ooooopsss.... So I reverse and a pearshaped officer asks for license and registration, gets us all out and asks for passports. Seeing nothing wrong he starts threating to take my licence and to fine us for overspeeding. Figuring out the scam I reply "non intiendo" to most of what he said, at the end he lets us go with just a warning.
That same day I bus it back to my lovely Buenos Aires, where i head to Janaina´s place, Julian´s friend and a great girl, where i stayed all throughout my stay in BA. Mucha gracias chica.
My last bife de choriso at Des Nivel in San Telmo, a must for whoever is in BA, a night out at Opera house and in the morning Rio Baby, where I will meet Julian, so i´m not alone any more ma ok.