| The main regret about this
trip has been my own shortcomings in the area of communication. I refer
not only to my rudimentary Portuguese and barely passable Spanish, but
also to my own language. One quickly runs out of superlatives to describe
what we have encountered here, and my photographic imagery also falls far
short. Complicating matters is a whole generation who have diminished the
value of a word that should be reserved for describing scenes like the
falls at Iguazú and the Andean Cordillera. They are genuinely awesome. |
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A first look at Aconcagua.
At 22,831 feet, it is more than one-and-a-half times as high as Mt. Ranier
in Washington.
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A view from near Puente
del Inca.
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Puente del Inca is a
natural bridge formation over the Rio Las Cuevas. It is formed by sulfur
deposited by nearby springs. Local visitors enjoy rolling up their pants
to soak their feet in the shallow pools. This former spa was partially
destroyed by flood. What remains is slowly being converted into part of
the landscape. Puente del Inca is a popular staging place for groups going
to climb Aconcagua and Tupungato. There are several places here that rent
mules to haul gear into base camps.
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At Puente del Inca we
met these German bikers. They had made several crossings of the cordillera
in the north, and had crossed the salars in Bolivia. They showed us 1/2
inch thick chunks of salt that had formed around thier exhaust pipes that
had to be chiseled off. That explains why we have seen other bikes coming
from Bolivia with their front ends covered with tape.
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At 10,528 feet, Christ
the Redeemer tunnel is the border between Argentina and Chile. Before its
completion the former crossing was some 2,000 feet higher.
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NEXT
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