With apologies to Charles Dickens, it's days like this that make me wish I had grandchildren. Before you get too excited, my reasoning is that then I would have someone to tell this story to for the next 25 years or so. Read on to find out why.
The day began like any other day on the trip. We were picked up at the hotel by our driver/guide for the day, Juan Cruz Dominguez. We had Juan Cruz (he uses both names) for the previous two days and liked him a lot. As a driver, it would be tough to find someone with better credentials.
Michele had asked him if he had any other jobs aside from being a driver/guide for Kahuak, which is the company that our tours were booked through. He said he was a driving instructor. That was true, but a massive understatement. He instructs the Argentinian armed forces in all manner of off-road driving skills and techniques for all of their vehicles in all types of terrain and hazardous conditions. Not exactly your basic driver's ed. kind of guy. As well, he consults for the Argentinian portion of the Dakar rally and helps design and set up the course. And is the head guy for the Land Rover club of Mendoza. In short, this guy knows how to drive.
Anyway, he picks us up in his 1998 Land Rover Defender because the road we're scheduled to take that day is gravel and rocks, so it's a better vehicle for that than his regular passenger car. But it's just a regular road travelled by many tourists every day. It's very scenic and is called "the way of 365 curves". For the non-car people, the Land Rover Defender will basically kick any other vehicle's butt off-road. It's a monster of a truck and his has all the gear - extra tires, 10 spot lights, 10,000 pound winch with 50 metres of cable.
So, off we go. The first 50 clicks or so are on paved road and not particularly impressive. Then we hit the gravel and start our upward climb. Good scenery, lots of turns. I stopped counting at 38. We arrive at the Hotel Villavicencio, which was closed in 1978, but was a luxury spa when in operation. After a short look around, it's back in the car for more twists and turns. We haven't gone far when we encounter another motorist on his way down the mountain. He tells Juan Cruz that there has been an avalanche up higher and that the road is impassable. Bad news. We don't know how bad yet, but that's coming.
Juan Cruz says he has a Plan B. Great, you might think. This is the part of the movie where it gets dark, a door slams, a wolf howls and eerie organ music plays. But we are happy to go along.
His Land Rover club friends are taking two guests from the Buenos Aires club on an off-road day trip as a special treat, since the terrain around Mendoza is much more challenging than what they are used to. (Red flag #1). Juan Cruz says that we will take the same road and we will love it as it is spectacular. Yay! Let's go off-roading!
So we backtrack for a while until we reach the new road. I use "road" in the very broadest sense of the word. "Goat track" would also work, but let's go with "road". We drive, climb, turn, climb, drive and turn some more. True to his word, it is exciting and spectacular. Driving right along the edge of cliffs that drop away into the valleys below. We are loving it. We eventually meet up with the four other Land Rovers, including the Buenos Aires people.
I should note that our trip was to include an Argentian BBQ lunch at a local ranch. The original plan was to eat at 1 P.M., but with the change in plans, now it was going to be more like 3:30 P.M. The other four vehicles were going to have their own "asado", which is what they call a BBQ, but now they decided to come to the ranch with us. (Red flag #2).
Now we have a convoy of five headed for the ranch, over some tougher ground. All of the vehicles are in constant contact via VHF radios. They alert each other of problem areas on the road and if anyone is having difficulty. After a while, we all stop because one of the vehicles has a flat. (Red flag #3). These rocks are razor sharp and will shred tires easily. The tire gets fixed and we are on our way. Juan Cruz notes that we are moving slower than normally, because of the inexperience of the Buenos Aires people. (Red flag #4).
We climb higher and slower, into the clouds above 10,000 feet on much worse terrain until we are above the snow line. Along the way, we had to stop for a while and Juan Cruz had to pull one of the other vehicles up a steep hill covered in scree, as it just couldn't make it up on its own. No problem for Juan Cruz, though. (Red Flag #5).
The Buenos Aires people slow us down some more when they get stuck, but it's not a big deal. (Red Flag #6).
I should add that the other group shared some of their salami, cheese and bread with us since we were getting hungry by now and had no food. Thank you.
By now, we're at 10,800 feet, visibility is about 150 feet and it's cold. The "trail" has become snow covered in spots and is hard to find at times. (Red Flag #7).
We spot a herd of guanacos running alongside of us and off into the clouds. We drive on. Then, out of the clouds appears a herd of wild horses. Juan Cruz says that no one ever gets to see these horses. Then, they vanish into the clouds. (Premonition #1).
Now we get to the good part. Get some popcorn and settle in.
It's almost 5:00 P.M. and we are only 6 km. from the ranch according to Juan Cruz. Visibility has worsened, the ground is slippery, the snow is deepening and the road is almost impossible to see. We are the lead vehicle, and Juan Cruz is clearly the team leader. We approach one slippery, snowy patch and he stops. He says to us that some of the others will have trouble with this section. He radios them to stop and hold their positions. We start to back up slowly, but the Defender begins to slip sideways down the mountain. Our wheels are all locked, but we continue to slide slowly down. Finally, we come to rest about 10 feet down the mountain and off the trail. And we can't move. Any attempt to move starts us sliding down again. Juan Cruz starts to get out and says: "Don't worry. This is not a problem for us." Really?
At this point, we (Michele and I) are only moderately concerned, as there are four other vehicles and lots of equipment to unstick a stuck vehicle. Then we get out and look back to see four other stuck Land Rovers. (Red Flags #8,9,10,11,12).
So, to recap, no visibility, over 10,000 feeet up, snow, slippery mud, cold, and all the vehicles are stuck. Being stuck is usually not too big an issue for these guys. They just hook up a cable and/or winch and pull each other up. Or, they attach the cable to a tree or a big rock and winch themselves out. Did I mention that there are no trees or big rocks up there? Well, there are not. And in order to pull each other out, you need to have: a) at least one vehicle that can get to solid ground, and b) enough cable to reach the other vehicles. It also really helps if that vehicle is heavier than the ones it's trying to pull out. We had: c) none of the above.
Before total despair had a chance to set in, one of the guys managed to free himself and get to higher ground. I'm going to condense the next two hours worth of activity into a few sentences. One by one, everyone was pulled or winched up to a flat plateau. Cables were added to cables, people got very cold and muddy, but it all worked out. Now everyone is safe, and we can all retrace our steps and go home.
Or so we thought. Juan Cruz decided we should forge ahead because we were so close to the ranch and it was all dry and downhill from there. Plus, we had BBQ waiting for us. So, on we go. Very, very slowly. Through mud and snow, slipping, getting stuck, then unstuck we make it to the top of a rise where we stop and wait for the others. It's now 8 P.M. The others take 30 minutes more to catch up.
I like to think that I have a pretty good command of the English language, but words cannot truly express what went through our minds next. You would have had to seen the fear in our eyes. We're on the top of a hill with a very steep downslope on ground that you can barely stand or walk on it's so slippery. At the bottom of the hill is a steep, snow covered upslope that disappears into the clouds and darkness. Juan Cruz gets out and walks the trail to see what to do. Clearly to us, the decision is to turn around. He comes back and says that if he drives UP the hill at an angle, then straight down so he doesn't slide sideways, he should be able to make it up the upslope.
Have you ever been so nervous/anxious/scared that you start to shake uncontrollably? Well, we can now say that we have. Michele and I bail out of the truck and tell him we're walking. He's not too crazy about that idea, but he has no say in the matter. We tell him we'll wait at the top of the next rise if he makes it. Off we go into the clouds and increasing darkness. We get to the top and it's getting very dark and very cold. We stand back to back in case of pumas. I'm not kidding. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Now, this doesn't seem like the best decision.
Then we can hear the drone of the turbo diesel in the distance, but geting closer. Then we see his lights, coming straight down the hill on the other side of the valley. He reaches the bottom, then begins the slow climb up to where we are. And, son of a bitch, he makes it. We get back in the truck and on we go. The whole ordeal took about 20 minutes.
A short while later we reach a point where the trail is no longer visible. The snow is a foot and a half deep in places. We stop to wait for the others. But they don't come. Finally, one radios that he can't get up the hill. Juan Cruz says that the guy didn't follow his instructions and got stuck. So we go back to the top of the hill and turn on all of our lights to give the guy something to aim for. Juan Cruz talks him through it and he makes it up. We head back to the snowfield to search for the trail.
By now it's pitch black. Juan Cruz takes his GPS and a head lamp and walks into the darkness in search of the trail. 10 minutes pass. Then 20. Then 30. A couple of the other trucks have finally reached our location. Just as I get out to talk to the other drivers (who speak no English) to see what we should do, Juan Cruz's head lamp appears. He has been gone for 40 minutes. He gets in the truck and can't understand why we were worried. "I'm a mountain man!" he says. "You're completely nuts!" I think to myself.
10 minutes later, the last two trucks appear. Juan Cruz says that the trail is actually only six feet to the left of where we are, and it's all downhill and easy from here. We're off again. It's around 10 P.M.
Surprisingly, he wasn't just trying to keep our spirits up. The trail is better and easier to see. Once it gets dark, the clouds disappear and the spotlights work great. It's on to the ranch, where they are still willing to feed us. We decide it's too late. Just take us home.
But we're still a long way from home (and the ranch, as it turned out). The trail is now what they would have called a "dry wash" in the old cowboy movies. Basically, it's a dried up river bed. We're feeling better until Juan Cruz tells us that we're not homefree yet. WTF?? He says there is one more very technical part left to negotiate. We get there, and it looks impossible. Between two boulders that seem to be closer together than the truck's width, then a three foot drop. But, they have a guy get out and navigate each truck through, an inch at a time, until we all make it.
The rest is easy all the way to the ranch. We get lost twice, but manage to find the trail eventually. By the time we reach the ranch turnoff, it's 11:30. Six and a half hours to go six kilometres. After the ranch, we get on maintained and asphalt roads all the way home. We get home at 1:30 A.M.
The moral of the story? I wish I could think of one. How about: Enjoy life while you can because you never know when you might get eaten by a puma while waiting in the dark at 10,800 feet for a Land Rover that you got out of because you were too nervous to be in it since it had a good chance of sliding off a mountain. Too wordy? Maybe, but it's all I've got.
Oh, and I've got videos to prove most of this. And I forgot to mention the tarantula. Another day.
On a brighter note, new Week 5 Photos can be found here .
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