After the initial frustration of more cloudy weather for a couple of days, we were blessed with a perfect day on our third day. So we hit the wineries. We decided upon the bikes and wine option. So we caught a local bus a bit out of town, hired some bikes and with a map in hand we were off to find some wineries. Wine tourism is a bit of a new thing here, but it has caught on and is growing. We only made it to 3 wineries and a wine museum but it was a great day. Some old wineries from the late 1800´s and some newer ones. We were just happy to be outside in the sunshine. Most of the grapes grown are Malbec, although they do also have the Cab Sav and Merlots. But they also have some specialties. I confirmed that I quite enjoy a Syrah and now also like Tempranillo, a grape from Spain. Muy bueno!!
Next on our agenda was to get up into the Andes. After trying to work out if we could do it on our own via public transport, but giving up due to South America difficulties, we decided to take a bus tour right up to the Chilean border to see a natural stone bridge called the Punta del Inca. We were on the bus before dawn (7:30am) and were finally off to the Andes. It was really great to get up close to the mountains and see the aridness of this area. Although it is a wine producing region, it doesn't rain much and pretty much relies on the snow run-off through irrigation channels. We also managed to see our first condor and some Llama/Alpaca creatures (I can't tell the difference). It started snowing at about 2400m which is were the snow line pretty much began as well. We were driving through the snow for about 30 minutes before we made it to the bridge.
I have seen far too many sun rises in this country. This is on the way up. I think this is our first photo together in South America.
The Andes
Punta del Inca
On the way back, we stopped at the local ski resort for 2 hours. I'm not sure what we were expected to do, but we just sort of walked around for a bit and enjoyed being snowed on. This was Bella's first snow experience, ever. Apart for some snow on the side of the road near Bateman´s Bay. Needless to say she was excited.
After our two hour stop at the ski resort, we then proceeded down the mountain a bit to have a 2 hour lunch stop. This was about 3:30pm. So yes, this tour did have its share of South American idiosynchrocies, and confirmed why we preferred not to do these. None the less, it still allowed to see some really good stuff.
At the end of the week we had a cold snap, that is the whole of South America had a cold snap. It actually snowed in the city of Mendoza, which it hasn´t done for as long as our lovely old cleaning lady could remember. It also snowed in Buenos Aires, which is hasn't done since 1918. So yes, our run of great weather continues. But we moved on, and walked to the bus station in the snow, heading for Salta, the supposedly warm Northwest.
