How do you wrap up 9 months of travel??

Us at Lunch in Ollantaytambo

In less than 2 weeks time, we return to our homeland after 9 months of travel in South America. I have been reflecting on this and thinking of how I can distill this amazing time into one blog post and its really not easy. Just scroll down and go back to each month since December 2009 and you will see that we have seen and done and experienced so much.

It has been an amazing privilege to have been able to do this at this time in our lives….to coin a cliché, it has been life changing and I really mean that. South America has been an amazing place to explore, we have travelled through Argentina, Chile, Peru and were fortunate enough to go to Antarctica for 11 days. These experiences have shaped our thinking, moulded our ideas and brought us to the cliff edge of things that we never thought we would experience in our lifetime, let alone in 9 months.

We have been to one of Earths Last Edens…Antarctica. A place that truly embodies everything it is made out to be and so much more. It is almost like landing on another planet, a planet untouched by human habitation, unblemished by mans greed and materialism, a place of audible silence and silent magnificence. It is a place unlike any other I have visited and probably will remain so. To say that Antarctica is breathtaking is an understatement, to say it is majestic, does it no justice, you simply have to see it to believe it…and I believe that I will go back and see it again. The reason for this lengthy discourse is because on our way to Antarctica was one of my first crazy experiences that defined part of this trip. Our experience happened in the Drake Passage, the foreboding, treacherous stretch of sea from Ushuaia in Argentina to Antarctica. It was here, while “crossing the Drake” as it is known, that we experienced one of the most frightening experiences on this trip. On the morning of the second day we hit a gale force storm at sea that lasted for 2 and a half days. Massive 15 meter swells threatened to rupture our vessel, the sea angrily frothed and battered our ship. Fortunately it was a former Chilean navel ship and was built to cross the Drake Passage and was designed for precisely those conditions, but still, the water was a dark inky colour and ferociously smashed against the ship as if trying to expel us from the passage. There was a snowstorm at sea, a horizontal snow storm, that iced the ship up, making it look like a white phantom on the black sea. The windspeed was 100km per hour which pushed our ship around like a toy boat and made the 15 m swells even more ferocious and in my opinion more spectacular. In spite of this, we landed in Antarctica, much to the joy of 90% of the passengers who had been able to keep little food and liquid down as the ship was violently tossed to and fro for 2 and a half days, an amazing experience, one not easily forgotten.

Another memorable experience was seeing the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina. Before this trip, glaciers held no particular fascination for me, in fact I never really thought much about glaciers. So we left the partly frozen town of El Calafate and drove off to the National Park of the Glaciers. When you enter the park, you can’t see the glaciers, but once you round a particular bend, you get a glimpse of the massive monolithic bulk of the glacier called Perito Moreno. It is a sight that I will never forget, it was astounding, bigger than I ever imagined and more spectacular than any photo could ever convey. Once we got to the top of the hill where visitors can walk on a boardwalk to get a closer view of the glacier, you realize that we are very small beings in comparison to the sheer size of a force of nature that is a glacier. Perito Moreno Glacier towers 75 m above the water surface, its front wall is 5 km long and the whole glacier stretches for 30 km up the mountain valley. It is basically a moving city. It seems as if the glacier itself is alive, glaciers move as a result of pressure from ice forming high up in the valley. So when you stand in front of the glacier, it creaks, crack, groans and sounds like gunshots go off occasionally and this is because this massive ice city is edging ever closer to where we were standing. Millimeter by millimeter, this glacier moves, occasionally visitors are fortunate to witness a calving, this is when a chunk of the front wall of the glacier breaks off and a magnificent display of ice hitting water is seen. It was incredible to be standing before such a gigantic natural phenomenon and to be honest, I never wanted to leave.

Just in case we were short of experiencing natures power, we had the most terrifying experience yet, in Santiago, the capital city of Chile. We were there when an 8.8 earthquake shook half of Chile, the fifth largest earthquake on earth in the past 100 years. You can read about my remembrance of the quake here, but suffice to say that it was only the second time in my life that I truly believed that I was about to die. It is a sobering thought when you are faced with imminent death, I didn’t experience the “life flashing before me” thing, all I remember is that I was praying that it would stop. It didn’t….it went on for 2 and a half minutes, it felt like half an hour. I was genuinely surprised when it did stop and we were not dead, quite a surreal feeling of relief  and then the realization that once again, our lives had been spared, but to what end?

We moved on from Chile to Peru and in many ways Peru has been the highlight of our trip. We have loved it here and it really is an amazing place to visit. The Inca ruins and the pre Columbian civilizations remain a mystery. Machu Picchu is a site that still confounds most experts with its architecture, water systems and positioning, but Machu Picchu is only one of many such sites, some still to be discovered, Inca sites. There is a new site that has been opened up in the past few years called Choquequirao. This site, it is said, is bigger than Machu Picchu and in many cases even more spectacular if that were possible…having visited Machu Picchu, that statement amazes me and excites me.

So as we come to an end of nine months, it is impossible to summarise what we have seen, felt, done and experienced on this continent known simply as South America. We have learnt to speak a new language, even though we are not proficient, we can be understood, we have eaten unusual foods, sometimes we have not been sure what it is, but it tasted good, other times we have known what it is and it has been great (delicacies like Cuy, or guinea pig, and Anticucho, cow heart, cooked on a skewer, to name but a few)

Of course the best thing that has happened is that we have met amazing people on this trip, from university professors to cab drivers, you name them, we have met them. People from diverse backgrounds like a polish woman who escaped from Poland and sought refuge in Canada, Russian Jews who fled from Communism and rebuilt their lives in the USA, A Dutch man and his family who live in the Carribbean and are involved in helping the government of Bonaire integrate into the Dutch system. We have met Australians, New Zealanders, Orientals, Asians, Russians, Europeans from just about every country in Europe, Americans and of course Canadians. We have been astounded at how many new friends we have made and how many of them we are sure we will see again.

So at the penultimate leg of this incredible journey, we know we have managed to capture many images photographically, we have tasted new flavours physically, we have felt the violent shakes of an earthquake under our feet, but more than all of that, we have grown richer in this time. We have memories that will last as long as the rest of our lives.

We have seen things that in many cases seem unbelievable, but only when you emerge on the other side do you look back and see just what has happened. It has been an honour and a privilege, “once in a lifetime” cannot encapsulate the true meaning. Either way, we are greatly blessed to have done this and that the next leg of our journey will begin again shortly… we hope that you will travel with us again!

Ushuaia – Antarctica’s waiting room

Ushuaia has been our home for the last few days. We have had to stay longer than expected because of our trip to Antarctica. In the process we have been really just relaxing and as a result, both Francis and I have been a bit sick with a cough and a sore throat, basically a head cold. The weather here hasn’t been helping much either, in the morning, you can go out and it will be sunny and warmish (Ushuaia never really gets very warm, it is a sub polar climate…) and within 20 minutes, the clouds descend over the mountains and it will be drizzling a fine icy rain. When the clouds lift, you notice that there is more snow on the mountains and then the wind blows off the snowy mountains into the city, can be a bit nippy then…Having said all that, Ushuaia is set in a beautiful setting. The city is down on the harbour and once you go three streets up you begin to climb some steep stairs as the mountains are literally just out of town, they are huge and beautiful and can be seen from anywhere in the city. So, this has been our home for the past few days and will be until the 8th Feb (only 4 days away) when we leave for the White Continent.

Ushuaia Harbour

Two nights ago the clouds lifted for a few hours and Ushuaia revealed her true beauty, so I quickly put on my camera backpack and went out and caught some of the last light of the evening. It was fun and I had a photography buddy with me. We met a Canadian couple in El Calafate called Paul and Sandra and they were coming down to Ushuaia too, so we got here before them and we booked some place in the hostel we were staying for them. Paul is a keen photographer and shoots weddings in Canada and was very keen to get some shots too. So, the light looked good and Paul and I went out and captured some of it.

From the boardwalk

The images you see in this post are the ones done on that evening, the big ship you see in the harbour is a cruise ship, the ship we will be going to Antarctica on will be smaller than that and we are going on an expedition trip. The cruise ships go down to Antarctica too, but they generally don’t to landings i.e. they don’t take the passengers onto the actual continent. Expedition ships do anything up to 3 landings a day and because they are smaller, they can fit into tighter spaces than the big cruise ships. So we are off soon, the countdown is on!!

Harbour Scene

Creative shot of the sunset at the end of the world!

Land of the Ice Giants

Panoramic of Perito Moreno

El Calafate is home to the National Park of the glaciers. Located just 80km out of El Calafate, this park is home to 47 glaciers, but only  3 of them are accessible, either by boat or land. The most famous of these glaciers is the Perito Moreno glacier. We were driven up there by bus and went into the park. When we arrived, it was raining, so we couldn’t get onto the mountainside to see the glacier, but when we did, we could not believe our eyes. This may sound contrived, but the sight of that glacier was the most amazing and spectacular natural phenomenon I have ever seen.

Full length of Perito Moreno

Perito Moreno - HDR shot

Francis as we enter the walkway to Perito Moreno

Big Blue

The Perito Moreno glacier is 30 km long and in total is 250km square of ice and rock. The front face of the glacier is 5km long and on average it is 74m tall (above the water) To say that it is majestic is a gross understatement, this glacier is nothing short of breathtaking. Firstly, when you stand in front of it, you realise that it is not static, it groans and creaks, sometimes it sounds like rolling thunder as it heaves forward. The glacier is constantly moving, but it is not noticeable, but you can hear it. Every now and then you hear a loud crack, similar to a gunshot, as it moves…occasionally pieces of ice from the front wall will fall off, this is called calving. Calving happens on a regular basis, but it is totally unpredictable, so you will be looking in one direction and hear shouts from the other direction, you swing around quickly and will see only the last pieces as they fall into the water below. It is spectacular to see it, there is a sharp crack, a deep rumble and then a roar as a piece of ice, the size of a few small houses, comes crashing into the water. I managed to catch one calving, you can see the pic with the 3 shots of it happening.We spent a few hours just looking at the glacier and it was mesmerizing, it was as if you couldn’t stop looking.

Perito Moreno Calving

The next day we went on a boat trip to see Glacier Spegazzini and Glacier Upsala and then to see Perito Moreno, from the water level. This too was completely amazing. We came up close to an iceberg in Lake Argentino, there are plenty of them floating around, and lots of amazing sights to see.

Up close with an Iceberg in Lake Argentino

Francis view the iceberg

Up close to the Blue Giant

The Blue Giant, from a distance...

Glaciers Spegazzini’s front wall is over 100m tall above the water, but not as wide as Perito Moreno, but still impressive. We could not get close to the front wall of Upsala Glacier. In recent time, because of the increasing temperatures, Upsala is calving much more often and when it calves, the whole front wall comes off. This is now happening once ever 20 days or so, therefore the bay in front of it is packed with icebergs and pieces of ice. This debris is 3km long, so the closest we could get to Upsala was 3km away.

Glacier Spegazinni - full front wall

By far, the trip to the glaciers was the highlight of our trip so far, these Ice Giants are something quite spectacular and no photo can do them justice, to see, hear and almost feel them is what makes a visit to them so worthwhile…a once in a lifetime experience.

Chacra Millalen – Organic farm

Sunset at Millalen

So, let me be honest, the idea of working on an organic farm for 2 weeks wasnt necessarily high on my list. There were a few things that concerned me, one was, the lack of meat on the menu for that time. Other than that, I wasnt overly concerned. By the end of our time there, it was really quite special to have spent so much time in such a beautiful place. Yes it was a farm, a working organic farm, and we learned so much. Our day basically went as follows:

07:30 – Wake up

08:00 Breakfast – consisting of homemade bread, Jam, Oatmeal and Te Negro (Black tea)

09:00 Work assignments handed out and that could range from weeding the beds in the veggie garden (a large veggie garden) to picking raspberries, cleaning certain areas, making adobe bricks etc etc

09:10 – 13:00 Work!

13:00 Lunch – always a hot cooked meal which could comprise of lentils, potatoe bake, veggie stew, millet casserole and so on, sometime with rice and other accompaniments

14:00 – 16:00 – Siesta time, literally

16:00 – 20:00 Work

20:30 – Dinner time

230:00 Bed Time

Raspberry pickings

Peas picked by Francis

Pickings for the last half hour

We were only working half day on the farm, so generally after lunch we had time off, so we relaxed, read our books, typed up blogs, edited photos etc.

The farm, as I said, is a working farm and so it generates income off the produce. A lot of the fruit is made into jams or preserves and sold in the local town up the road called El Bolson. The nearest town is El Hoyo, but it really is very small, so not much of a market there. Most of the tourists end up in El Bolson and that is where a lot of the produce is sold. The veggies and fruit really is very good and very fresh and of course all natural, so no chemicals or pesticides have been used in growing the produce.

We were on the farm with about 10 other volunteers, 5 of them were from the USA andthe rest were from France. This made for many interesting chats as the French group could not speak much English apart from one of the girls, Lena, who was actually very fluent, more fluent than she let us know. Then the USA group, all girls, were mostly out of college and travelling for the next few months before they returned to the US.

We had a lot of fun and laughter, two of the French guys were highly talented musicians, Nico was a really good guitarist, so good that he could listen to a song one or two times and begin to pluck it out on a guitar. Antoine made music with just about anything, he turned pots into drums, PVC pipes into Didgeridoos and he had a mouth organ which he played with great aplomb. It was really amazing to be sitting around after dinner listening to an informal jam session that they would strike up…

The scenery at Chacra Millalen really stole the show. The farm is surrounded by beautiful rugged peaks that seem to push up effortlessly from the valley. In the distance are snow capped mountains and just beyond that the border with Chile. The valley is green and lush and is home to a lot of cherry, raspberry and strawberry farming, so it really is a great place to have a farm. Also, there are plenty of horses in the area, we would be walking down the country road and two horses, by themselves, would amble by along the road…really rural, but very very pretty.

Chacra Millalen Snowfall

Mountain at Millalen

The owners of the farm we also such lovely people, Fabio (who didnt speak any English unfortunately) had a lovely open and smily face and was always joking and making people laugh, Josephine who is fluent in English, Swiss, German, French and Spanish is always in control of what is happening in her garden. Every afternoon, she would walk through the garden with her clipoard and make notes of what needs to be done next.

Overall we had a great time at the farm, and learnt a lot about how things get done on an organic farm, a good experience and as always, great new friendships were made..

The cooking team of that evening

My sweetie in her gum boots

Hmmm, nice gum boots

Some images from Chacra Millalen

We had a really good time at Chacra Millalen. The setting was absolutely beautiful, we were surrounded on three sides by some amazing mountains each of which was 2km high or taller. On our first night there, snow fell on the mountains overnight, so here are some of the images I captured on the days after that.

Chacra Millalen Snowfall

Mountain at Millalen

Sunset at Millalen

Please be patient…we have..no access

We have been working on a farm in El Hoyo for the past week and they don’t have any internet access on the farm for us to use. So, today we came into the town of El Bolson (15 Jan) to book our bus tickets to Calafate and check emails etc. We are leaving El Hoyo on the 21 Jan 10 and will probably only be back online by the 23rd. The bus trip to Calafate is 26 hours and once we are there we will be online again. We are doing well, working in the sun and roughing it a bit, to see where we are staying, check out the farms blog (mostly in Spanish , some English) http://www.chacramillalen.blogspot.com

Will post as soon as possible!

Bosque Arrayanes and Isla Victoria

Bariloche has some amazing attractions and if the weather is good,  you have to get out there and see them. Bariloche’s climate can change rapidly in a day from being reasonably warm and calm in the morning to winds so strong in the afternoon that the lake is whipped up into sea sized waves and the foreboding clouds all but cover the surrounding mountains. So, when we saw it was going to be a good day we opted to go on a boat trip on the lake and visit Bosque de Arrayanes (Forest of Arrayanes) and Isla Victoria (Victoria Island) We set off and caught the bus to the jetty where the boat leaves from, which is set in one of the most picturesque areas in Bariloche. It is so picturesque that Bariloche’s premier hotel, Llao Llao Hotel perches on a nearby hill overlooking the mountains and lake, absolutely stunning…

Boat Ride on the lake

When we booked out boat trip, there were two choices of boat, we could have booked on the modern catamaran or the older schooner type boat. We opted for the older boat, it had much more character and from what we could understand, had been running these trips since the 1940’s. The boat was beautiful, it was a true old maiden of the sea (or lake) she was brassed up and shiny and pretty much in excellent condition. She was slow, but you were able to really take in your surroundings while she took you to the destination.

Docked on the lakeside

The boat trip is beautiful, the lake water is amazingly blue and clear and you are completely surrounded by huge snow capped mountains, in the lake are the small islands which are covered in pine forests and we couldn’t help thinking of Canada. The boat trip was so reminiscent of taking the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver that for a minute we had to remind ourselves we were in South America.

Our first stop was Bosque de Arrayanes or Forest of Arrayanes. The Arrayanes is a shrub, although it looks like a tree. It has a reddish brown bark and it grows tall and thick, giving it a fairy tale effect. It is believed that Walt Disney wrote Bambi after visiting Bosque Arrayanes, being inspired by its absolute beauty and uniqueness. The forest is a natural forest and is unique to Bariloche, these bushes and forests don’t occur anywhere else in the world. It was amazing to spend some time walking through the forest. The park is protected, so you walk on a raised wooden deck and it is serene and inviting. We only were able to spend 45 minutes in the forest but we could have spent much more time there.

Bosque Arrayanes

Bosque Walkway

Next stop was Victoria Island. This is a large island in the middle of Lago Nahuel Huapi (Lake Nahuel Huapi) and has a few walking trails, a restaurant and a hotel on it. It is a large island, but very natural and very beautiful too. We got off and spent almost 3 hours on the island. We were a bit disappointed to not be able to do 2 of the 3 walks as they were closed off for some repairs or something, so we walked the only open route. This route took us through the natural pine forests and along the peninsula of the island which gave some great views of the surrounding islands and the lake. We then were back on our boat, really tired by now, and back to Bariloche. We had a long day, but stopped off at a coffee shop for something to eat and that is where we met Walter, Deborah and Matteo. We became instant friends and in fact, they live in Seattle in the USA, Walter is Argentinian and Deborah is American. They were on holiday in Bariloche and were having something to eat. So we chatted for a while and then swopped email addresses and said goodbye and hoped to visit them in Seattle one day. The next day we got an email from them inviting us to dinner with them and Walters family at their holiday place. So, we went, but that is a story for the next blog…

Disembarking

Bariloche – The Switzerland of Argentina

We arrived in Bariloche and were amazed at its incredible beauty. After being in the semi – desert area of Mendoza, Bariloche was the complete opposite. Officially known as San Carlos de Bariloche, it is a true gem in the Patagonia region of South America. It is a magnificent region and the town itself is nestled into the mountainside overlooking Lago Nahuel Huapi (Lake Nahuel Huapi) This lake is so big, that it actually looks like the sea, but of course it isn’t, it is fresh, clean and very clear mountain water. The lake itself is 529km square, so it’s a large lake and has been measured as 438m deep, but no sign of Nessie here, maybe it would have to be Jorge. Bariloche has an interesting history and even some Nazis were found to be hiding here as recently as 1995, so its an interesting place. The town is clean and the air is fresh. Right now, its summer, but its not warm (just ask Francis) and if the wind blows, woohoo, it is really cold. The wind blows off the mountains and across the lake and up into the town, if you happen to be in the crossfire when it hits the town, you freeze, good practice for Canada….

The buildings here in Bariloche seem to be influenced by European Alpine villages and look very much like Swiss or Austrian log homes. In many ways, Bariloche reminds us of Canada, on the west coast with the high mountains, huge lakes and stunning alpine scenery.

Civic Centre in Downtown Bariloche

Swiss Home in Bariloche

Swiss Influence

So, to make sure could see the view properly, Francis and I went up Cerro Otto, or Mount Otto. We had to go up via cableway, so once again Francis had to face her fear of heights and this one was quite steep and high. Once at the top though, the view was amazing. You could see a 360 degree view of the whole town and surrounding mountains. The larger mountains are still snow capped, but in winter, the whole area would be white and snow covered. We spent an hour at the top (there is a revolving restaurant there too) and then came down.

Cable Car

Francis taking in the view

View from Cerro Otto

Surrounding Mountains - Cerro Otto

Bariloche is famous for its chocolate. There is a chocolate shop literally on ever block of the main streets and each one of them MAKES their own chocolate. No Cadburys here…only hand made stuff. So we visited the chocolate museum and it was really fantastic to see how it gets made, we wanted to buy some there, but it was really expensive. We walked a bit further down the road and went into another shop and you could see them making it there too, so we watched, caved in and bought some there, a little cheaper, but wow, really tasty stuff and very fresh. The amazing thing is, every chocolate shop is full of people, the Argentinians certainly have a sweet tooth and so each chocolate shop seems to be really busy. So we bought our first chocolate and we were hooked, each day since, we now go for a choccie run at about 4pm in the afternoon.

Chocolate Museum

Chocolate Mixer

Cherries dipped in Chocolate

Also, on this same evening, we went to dinner at a local couchsurfer called Julie (pronounced Hoo – lee) She made a traditional Asado (similar to a braai) for us and prepared us some food. It was great, the meat, of course, was amazing. Argentinian beef is really good and she was a very interesting person. She is a scientist and is involved in researching the wildlife in Baricloche…so she was very interesting company to say the least.

Julie and Francis

Asado - yes, thats meat..

After dinner we headed back to our Hosteria, but here is the interesting thing. We walked down about 500m of dirt road from her house at about 11:15pm and then got to a main road where we stood for about 10 minutes and waited for a bus back to town. We then got on that bus and were dropped off safely in town about 20 meters from out Hosteria. It is incredible to think that we could never attempt this in SA and that the infrastructure here works so well…buses here, even in a small place like Bariloche, run until midnight. The next day, we went out on a boat trip, but that will be my next post, so keep on looking…should go up soon.

The Stone Sentinel – Aconcagua

Mendoza is surrounded by mountains, tall and strong and mistakenly I thought that these were the Andes. Technically they are part of the pre cordillera of the Andes and there are two more ranges between Mendoza and the Andes proper. Nonetheless, when we started getting out of the city, it was a perfectly clear morning and we started to see some of the giants that were sitting out there. On average, most of the peaks around Mendoza are above 4000m high, but as you get deeper into the mountains and enter into the Andes then some of the peaks tip 6100m some even 6200m.

Remember – Click on the images below to see them MUCH bigger, they are far more impressive that way….

The Start of the Andes

It is impossible to give you the scale of these monsters, they are so huge and it seems like you can get out of the car and walk a few hundred meters and touch the mountain, until the tour guide tells you that the snow capped peak that we can see (the one you can almost touch) is actually 150km away. That blew me away, 150km away and it looks like it is just over the next hill. As we got deeper and deeper into the mountains, slowly the vegetation starts to disappear and the cruel, hard and yet beautiful high mountain landscape starts to become prevalent. It is dry, rocky and sandy, but has a stark beauty that is captivating, it almost lures you in to see more and we went deeper in.

We stopped off at an old bridge along the way, it was the place where General San Martin fought against the Spanish and crossed over the Andes (no small feat there) and took on the Spanish and won! He is hailed as a national hero across Argentina and there are special memorials to his battles all over.

Area where General San Martin fought

From there we continued in and then we stopped at a ski resort. There is no snow in the lower levels of the Andes right now because it is summer (even though it’s a little chilly up there) but we took the ski lift up to one of the peaks to have a look around. It was amazing and quite incredible to see the height of some of the mountains around us. You soon realize just how small man is in comparison to these incredible mountains and this vast terrain. The size cannot be comprehended unless you are there. I have seen images of the Andes before, but truly, nothing can prepare you for the size that you are seeing. The ski lift ride was really fun, even though Francis had second thought about being suspended on a thin cable and being tugged up the front side of some steep slope. Once we were up there the view was worth the tension.

White Knuckle stuff

View from the top of the Ski Lift

Vertical view of the Ski Resort and the Mountain behind it

Once we came down from the ski slope, we then were off to the big one, Aconcagua or the Stone Sentinel. In Inca language Aconcagua means Stone Sentinel. This is a massive mountain that is 6959m high and stands head and shoulders above the rest of the mountains in the area. It is also the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere (that is in North and South America)

At the place where we are staying, there are two American mountaineers who have just come off an 18 day expedition from climbing Aconcagua. I was chatting to the one guy yesterday and he said that from the summit, on a clear day, you can see the Pacific Ocean, which is probably 300km away. This is not a small piece of rock, it is utterly majestic and impressive. We saw as we came around a corner and there it stood, massively impressive and fully white and snowy, simply because of its altitude. It is huge and it looks BIG, but not as big as you would think, until we had to be reminded that it is 40km away. If you want to climb Aconcagua you have to go to the Aconcagua National Park (which we stopped in and took the photos from) and from there hike the 40km into the base camp at the base of Aconcagua. There is no road to get you there, so before you even start climbing you have to hike 40km in, with all your kit, food, clothing etc. The area that Aconcagua is in is really pretty. There are some green meadows in the foreground, but apparently as you get closer to the mountain it takes more of a wasteland feel with very little growing there. When we got out of the car to go and get some photos, we were blown around, literally, but the wind. It was really gusting down the valley from Aconcagua and it was pretty cold. At this point, we were at an altitude of 3100m above sea level and we were looking at almost 4km of rock that is the Stone Sentinel, very impressive. To be honest, the photos can never do this kind of landscape justice, the scale is just too big and there is nothing to measure what you are seeing. Even standing 40km away, the sight was breathtaking and rekindled in me a desire to climb these big mountains. This is of course a dream, but one that I hope to fulfill in the next few years, I guess that means that I will one day return to the Stone Sentinel, hopefully to tackle the summit and see the Pacific Ocean in a way I have never seen it before, from 6959m up!

The Stone Sentinel (Snow Capped)

Aconcagua Close up 6959m above sea level

Wine and Olives in Mendoza

On Saturday we went on a half day outing to visit some of the local wine and olive farms in the Mendoza area. Mendoza is famous for its wines, most particularly its Malbec wine. Mendoza has a very interesting geography which enables it to produce some very good wines. Technically the Mendoza region is a desert, approximately 3 – 5% of its land is arable and a lot of this land is used to produce wine or olives. The area only receives about 200mm of rain per year, so it really is dry in that sense. The interesting thing is that, whilst there is little rainfall, there is a fair amount of water because of the run off from the surrounding mountains and some of the water comes in from the Andes which are not far away. The city is surrounded by the gigantic mountains, and their snow capped peaks can be easily seen, even though the actual mountain is 150km away. So we began our tour at a small family run wine farm, the vineyards were about 40 years old and the farm produced red wines and only 1 white wine. We tasted both, the white wine was really very good, slightly dry, but a little sweet and very refreshing. The red wine was good too.

White Wine

American Oak Barrel

We then moved onto an olive farm. This farm produces 1 million litres of Olive Oil per annum and that means that they harvest 8 million kilograms of olives in a year. We were quite taken aback at these stats, the farm certainly didn’t look that big, but that was their production. Most of the process now is automated, but we were shown the old way of pressing olives to extract the oil, quite laborious to say the least. At this farm they produced extra virgin olive oil and we were given some to sample and it was really good.

Laur Olive Oil

Olive Tree

Our next visit was to another wine farm, they had produced and international award winning Malbec wine. This wine was made from a batch of grapes harvested in 1999 and the reserve made only 4200 bottles of which 166 bottles are left at the estate. The price for a bottle of this wine in Argentina would be the equivalent of R 580.00 and in the USA well over R 700.00 or R 800.00, needless to say we never got to have a taste of this. We did sample some of their red wine and Rose wine and both were really good especially the red.

Red Wine at the Granatas Farm

Wine Cellar

Our last stop was at a church in Mendoza called the “Church of the Vine” This church is mostly frequented by local farmers from the area and hence they pray that their harvests will be plentiful and so Mary is depicted on a wagon with the farmers offering her grapes as an offering. The interesting aside here is that in 1861 Mendoza was struck by a huge earthquake and 60% of its inhabitants were killed. Almost the whole city was flattened by this quake, but miraculously (according to locals) the Church remained standing and was unharmed. The Church has become somewhat of an icon in the area and so we stopped to look in.

Church of the Vine Courtyard

Church of the Vine