Over the hills and far away - Chile to Argentina

We really enjoyed our short stay in Valparaiso. Our quaint hotel was in the district of Alegre (which means happy) and used to be dotted with brothrels which the sailors at the port frequented. Co-incidentally the next District was called Concepcion and is dotted with churches - should the sailors or the prostitutes feel the need to confess!
It is an early start to the day, and we have breakfast in our room, then taxis take us to the main bus station as we will be using public transport over the Andes from Chile to Argentina.

 Our first stop is at Vina del Mer, a more modern city not far from Valpo, then we pass through dormitory suburbs, and on to scrubby land with large cultivated areas of horticulture.

Entering the Andes

To start with it is all quite scruffy and we both have a short doze, but wake fitfully as there are a huge number  of toll gates to go through.

The sky is brilliantly blue and there is a smattering of snow on the Andes.

In the bottom of the picture you may just be able make out the bends of the dusty road as we start to wind up the pass.

Love this shot - I took it to show the opensided tunnels - yellow, but the motorbike gives it great perspective.

Inside one of the open-sided tunnels.

Now I think this is a glimpse of Aconcagua, the highest mountain out of the Himalayas. It is actually in Argentina, but I think this is a view from Chile.

This says Curve 26 but there were at least 29 signs that I saw - not to mention many more "curves". We'd call them hairpin bends.

Suddenly the road starts to straighten out as we reach the top of the pass

Small buildings flying the Argentinian flag start to appear. If you look closely you can see a condor in the sky.

Going through immigration takes some time, and it is very cold. I think Duncan is glad he borrowed my polyprop, while I have layered up with merinos.

The layers of strata start facing a different way! Walls hold back the shingle rock slides.

The geology is transformed in the space of a few kilometers!

The weather becomes cloudier, and long straight roads lead us to Mendoza - soon we start to see extensive vineyards.

Tonight is a group dinner as we have been travelling about 7 hours. We choose our dinner, and the idea is that you go upstairs to choose your wine from the temperature and humidity controlled room which is called the cellar. We decide the first wine we are offered ( a Cab Sav) is too young and then get offered a bottle of Sapere Malbec blended from vintages of 2013, 2014, 2015. It is superb - we are highly impressed. The rest of the group just have house wine.

We don't offer to share!!

The open kitchen. I have a cheesy pasta and Duncan has a risotto with chunks of beef through it which is indicative that 60% of the population have Italian ancestry.

We ask for salad or green vegetables but they are not available. The land is too dry to grow them.

There are original artworks everywhere