Southern Summer, Argentina, Chile and Y Wladfa Gymreig 1st Feb

Two problems loomed the evening before we set out for our final long bus ride, namely the email telling us that the road was closed due to a landslide and the fact that I only had two copies of my bus ticket and none for Helen. If you have read "from one crisis to another",  you will know that we eventually got away on what is one of the classic road journeys in the world.
The road from Santiago to Mendoza goes via the a pass called Los Libertadores, from the Chilean side and Uspallata Pass from the Argentinian side. It follows the historic pack horse route, which was also the route chosen by the Anglo-Chilean Clarke brothers who were responsible for the building of the railway line that opened in 1910. The line completed the coast to coast railway connection of South America. It closed in 1989 but there's still plenty of evidence of it, as you will see. There's talk of it reopening but there will need to be more money and goodwill than presently exists. What a train ride if it were ever to reopen.
Back to the road which climbs gently out of Santiago passing through the industrial region. The climbing gradually gets steeper and the road down to two lane single carriageway. The scenery also becomes more dramatic as we climb.

 The road takes a left turn and lurches upwards. It goes in a series of 28 hairpin bends. This part is 7kms long and takes about 45 minutes  The view looking back down gives you some idea, but as ever the picture doesn't do justice to the view. The picture was taken from about half way up the hairpins looking down to the start . You wonder how the road gets up to here. We then enter the Christ Redeemer Tunnel which is 3 kms long and not long after this is the border crossing. There is good cooperation between the two countries, at least as far as leaving Chile and entering Argentina where immigration works side by side in one large shed.

 Avalanches are a constant risk on this road so these concrete sheds reduce the dangers.

For you railway buffs here are some pictures of what remains. 

You can see the somewhat decrepit avalanche sheds below.

Although you can't actually see it as it is covered by cloud, the mountain in the centre of the picture below is Aconcagua which is the highest mountain outside the Himalayas at 22,838 feet.

After the most dramatic of scenery, the mountains become less precipitous and a softer stone which is a brown colour as we enter the Mendoza valley.

Beyond the mountains the Mendoza valley becomes a desert. The famous vineyards and olive groves are purely the result of irrigating. We arrived in Mendoza half an hour early, helped by our swift border crossing. On to the Hotel Mallorca and to meet Mariano our helpful host. The evening saw us go out for another wonderful Argentinian steak.