Luma has organised taxis to take us to the monument for San Martin. He was an Argentinian who trained as a soldier in Spain, then returned to help with the liberation of Argentina (from Spain) in 1808. He mounted a force of 4000 men to trek across the Andes to help free Chile too. The logical thing to do do would have been to take the Southern Pass, coming out south of Santiago, so the Spanish moved their troops there. San Martin takes the more difficult Northern Pass, and with the element of surprise, Chile is declared independent in 1810. His plan was to continue on and free Peru, but his health wouldn't permit it.
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| It is an extremely handsome monument - well worth the visit. |
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| The horse looks a bit tired |
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| It has been thoughtfully set on stones that resmble the Andes |
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| A view over to the Andes |
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The town of Mendoza
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After a walk in the park we head for the airport. Luma sweet-talks us through baggage checkin AND gets us priority boarding.
We are flying from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.
I fall a sleep for the first part of the journey, then spend the rest of the trip chatting to a young man involves with sustainable land planning in the US.
We board our minibus and head to the Estancia (ranch). The roads are very straight. Eventually we turn off onto a dirt track which, due to the recent rain is muddy and rutted and our progress is very slow.
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| Our destination |
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| This is the second time that our impression of Argentina is that it is flat and green, hence the drainage from the roads is not very good. |
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| Not warm enough for the swimming pool! |
Our rooms are very small, the plumbing is substandard and the bed is hard. WIFI is minimal. However the welcome is warm and the meal was very enjoyable.
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