Even though we were in Mendoza 1 1/2 weeks ago, I don't think that we did it justice by only telling the story of the day that didn't go as planned.  So, the bottom line about Mendoza is that we didn't have enough time there to really see and do the highlights.  It is a nice city (population of entire area is 1.5M) with a fantastic, large park akin to Central Park.  We thought that Mendoza was all about wine so we only allowed 3 days there.  Enough time for a couple of tours in the mountains  and a day to visit some wineries and perhaps an olive oil estate.  Our intel was bad because there are really lots of things to do around Mendoza that aren't wine-related.  If we had known all of the things to do while we were planning the trip, we would have included a few more days.  The "extended adventure day" got us home at 1:30 AM and we were all bagged so we decided to cut our wine tour for the next and last day in Mendoza down to one winery (but a really good one) and a nice lunch.  So, it turned out that we should have planned for a few more days in Mendoza.

There haven't been many disappointments on this trip but I am disappointed that we didn't see Aconcaqua while we were in Mendoza.  Aconcaqua is the tallest mountain in The Americas and is on the list of mountains to climb for serious mountaineers.  We were supposed to get to it on the now infamous day that we had to revise our plan but it didn't happen.  Technically, we saw the mountain on our 1st day but the peak was covered in clouds so we just saw a part of the entire mountain.   I'm not hung up on having missed Aconcagua since we did inadvertently trade that for another memorable experience.

After Mendoza, we were off to Salta.  The city of Salta is nothing to write home about but it is the hub for travel around the province so we rented a car (SUV) and did a 5 day driving trip to see the area.  It is very beautiful and much greener than further south.  The people who live in Salta and Jujuy Provinces (which are directly south of Bolivia) are much more traditional and are largely indigenous.  In this area, we really got to experience the very obvious difference in cultures between the south, middle and north.  Something that really stood out to me is how simply the people in the north live.  A lot of the adults (especially women) dress in some type of traditional/indigenous clothing.  Their houses are very small (usually adobe) and they all have property on which they grow their own vegetables and raise animals for their own use.  Outside of the cities, we've seen absolutely no large houses or any properties that would indicate afflence.  It's like another world altogether up here and their lives bear no resemblance to the lives of people living in the cities.

We dropped off the rental car in Purma Marca and were picked up by a driver and guide to go to Tolar Grande.  It is on a plain in the north western corner of Argentina on The Puna (Quechua word for desert) at an altitude of 11,800 feet, sandwiched between lines of The Andes.  The town has a population of 350 people and looks just as I'd imagine a 1-horse town right out of a western movie set but without the horse.  There are no services to speak of. It is not at all touristy and our hotel (the only one in town) had only 5 rooms.  Breakfast at our hotel consisted only of coffee or tea and crackers and there are no stores or restaurants.  Well, there was one restaurant but it only offered drinks and candy before 8:30 PM.  So breakfasts were a health conscious combination of cookies, chocolate bars, apples and juice.  It was a lucky coincidence that I bought a bunch of apples before we left Purma Marca because they were the only things with any nutritional value to be had.   Ham and cheese would have been a luxury.  They can't grow anything up there and absolutely everything  gets trucked up once per week.  It's got to be a tough life there.  Almost everything about the last 3 days that we spent in the Puna was a new experience.  Some of that was expected but the towns, our hotel, the meals, facilities, etc. were primitive far beyond what I imagined.   The entire excursion was a unique experience.

The scenery has been spectacular everywhere that we've been, although the scenery has been different in each location.  My biggest regret is that neither of our cameras have a polarizing filter so many of our photos aren't as colourful as what we actually saw.  We both have terrific Nikon digital cameras that take high quality photos and have all sorts of great features (some of which I haven't even figured out) but there is no coupling to attach a polarizing filter.  In spite of that short coming, we have taken a gazillion photos and will have a big job to cull and sort them when we get back to Toronto.

Now, the adventure part of the trip is over and we have arrived in Buenos Aires.  We have 6 days to enjoy all that B.A. has to offer before we leave for home, and, unfortunately, winter weather.  So I'm going to continue to enjoy the warm summer weather for the next 6 days.  We rented a condo here and it's really nice.  We have lots of space and a fantastic, outdoor patio.  Once again, Gord did a great job at finding good accommodations for us.

And here's more on the continuing ham and cheese story.....While we were on our driving tour in The Puna on Thursday, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant and, having consumed a load of junk food for breakfast, I decided to order a vegetable omelette for lunch.  I was asked if I wanted anything other than vegetables in my omelette and responded that I only wanted eggs and vegetables.  So my vegetable omelette arrives and, of course it contains about 200 grams each of ham and cheese.  Not a shred of plant matter to be found.  Gord and I both cracked up.   It was hilarious.  And I am 100% certain that it had nothing to do with my Spanish language deficiency because our guide did the ordering and I watched the server write it down as ordered.  I believe that there is now irrefutable evidence that ham and cheese is legally required to be included in all meals here.  Those guys up in Tolar Grande are so far off of the grid that the authorities probably don't know that they are breaking the mandatory ham and cheese rules.

Did you know that potato chip bags explode at around 8,000 feet?  Apparently, Gord and I are slow learners because we conducted that experiment twice.

As it turns out, the Mendoza off-road experience may not have been the most dangerous thing that we've done on this trip.  We drove a recommended "scenic route" to get to Purma Marca and the road was in a cloud forest, on the side of some mountains and had a sharp, blind curve about every 200 feet (which makes the drive feel like you are continuously rocking back and forth and can be hypnotizing/sleep inducing so you have to really pay attention).  To top that off, the road was only 4 meters wide so the lanes were not nearly as wide as the car.  Of course there was almost no shoulder because of the sharp drop into the valley from the side of the road.  Summary:

• Endless sharp, blind curves 
• One lane each way that was about 3/4 of the width required to pass oncoming traffic 
• Only a few feet of shoulder 
• No real opportunity to pull over if your car had a problem ( truthfully, there were a couple of places but only a couple) 

And this is a road that all of the tour books recommend! 

Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic ( probably because the road is only used by the stupid tourists) but it was the most tense "scenic drive" that I've ever been on and I didn't see any scenery.  Thank God that's over!

Now for a laid back, un-adventuresome, danger-free walk to check out our Buenos Aires neighbourhood.

Hasta luego.

Week 6 photos can be found here .