Andean Adventure for the Magnificent Seven

Today we took a bus tour, high up into the Andes. We awoke to rain, thunder and lightening and were quite convinced the trip would be cancelled. But, the weather is often fleeting here and by the time we were all set to go, it had cleared up and was preparing to become yet another hot day in Mendoza.

The vistas were amazing and the roads at times quite astounding! They certainly seemed almost too small for a bus, but there were many more even larger than ours making the trek. Mendoza City is at approximately 700 ft above sea level and by the time we stopped for the last time, it was extremely cold (maybe not quite freezing, although we were as high as some peaks with snow on them) and we were thereabouts of 5000-something feet up. Tupungato was right across from us, which is the highest peak in the western hemisphere. In fact, we were very briefly in Chile as the highest visitor area is right along the Argentine-Chilean border. It was an allday trip and certainly a great experience to round out the winery tours, since from every winery we visited we marvelled at the view of the mountains in the background. The mountains are simply incredible, and we weren´t at all surprized when our guide noted that the movie Seven Years in Tibet was filmed in these mountains and not in the Himalayas or New Zealand.

Of course, hundreds of photos were taken, but for now they remain on happy little memory cards that I guard as closely as my passport. Punky and Hollywood have already set back on their way to Buenos Aires, and the rest of us will take flight tomorrow morning.

And so, the Magnificent Seven must amend our previous calculations : Seven girls, six destinations, three countries... trouble and laughs no matter how you add it up. Oyo and Ole!