Only about 200 km to the west of Mendoza, the Andes provide a dramatic backdrop to any visit in the region. From the gastronomic delights of the vineyards in the Uco Valley to the breathtaking heights around Aconcagua, this relatively small area packs a serious punch.

I love hot springs therefore the most obvious first port of call, only 38 km outside Mendoza, were the Cacheuta hot springs.  It is known that they were used by the Incas and they have superb mountain views. The TermaSpa Full Day includes the spa with lunch and is the perfect way to get over jet lag and relax – just don’t go anywhere near the Thermal Water Park in the holidays when it is likely to be overrun with children and asados!

On this eastern side of the Andes the country tends towards desert more than anything else and as we climbed up through Las Vegas the next day on the gravel 89 road to Tupungato, the dirty brown hills were bleak in the extreme with very little vegetation. However, a certain desolate splendor was revealed as we reached the high plains. Sagging wire fences allowed herds of horses to wander at will, whilst the fence posts were used as handy lookout spots by birds of prey. The huge snow covered face of Tupungato Volcano came into view, the highest volcano in the Andes at 6,820 m.

The Uco Valley

Tupungato is just a service town leading on to the real delight: the Uco Valley, one of the highest wine producing areas in the world. It isn’t as well groomed as some of the world’s wine regions, but it is arguably holding its own in the echelon of great wines.

I found it annoying that one had to reserve tours, tastings or lunch in advance, plus a tasting invariably came with a tour which we didn’t necessarily want – as well as a lot of waffling in Spanish! My advice would either be to join a good day tour of the vineyards with lunch, or if you have a hire car, pick your favourite and just have lunch, in which case their wines will be included anyway. If the food comes with a great view, even better! I can recommend Monteviejo for its snow capped Andes 360 degrees panorama or Domaine Bousquet for the perfect introduction to Argentian beef cooked BBQ style or asado. Don’t forget to team it with one of the region’s famous Malbecs. If you want to really immerse yourself in the area, La Azul does hearty vineyard lunches and has a charming guesthouse.

The valley road winds around with a succession of little farm stalls selling nuts, jams or olive oils amidst the scattered vineyards. We ended the drive in Manzano Historica and picnicked beside an icy mountain stream. The valley leads deep into the Andes and was another crossing point for the liberation army of General San Martin, whose giant monument stands in the town.

Rio Mendoza Valley

Backtracking to Potrerillos we followed a scenic valley to Uspallata and once again we encountered a derelict railway, this time the Transandino line, fully opened in 1910, which ran 248 km from Mendoza all the way to Chile.  Half way between the two, within a narrow gorge, we spotted a huge silver railway bridge and decided to check it out. I walked over it, thinking quite rapidly what a stupid idea it was: although laid with sleepers, there was a large gap between each through which one could see the void below, along with the rushing red muddy waters.

I told myself to just keep going, putting one rather insecurely shod thonged foot in front of another, and heaved a sigh of relief when I got to the other side. We then meandered along the track for about a kilometre in the Potrerillos direction to a long tunnel. The workmanship in the brickwork and building were superb and it seems such a shame that all this hard work has gone to waste. I was thinking what an amazing mountain bike ride it would be: one could follow it right through to Chile, with its assorted old stations, and the scenery is magnificent.

We did actually stop at the old station at Uspallata but it was sadly vandalised and filthy, with families living in some of the buildings. The track veered away from the town and we headed in. It was fairly chaotic as a Chilean Mustang Owners Club was filling up at the central garage with the biggest din of revving engines. The El Rancho parilla restaurant is a good a bet as any. Apparently some of the film 7 Years in Tibet had been shot in the area and the props had found a home at the El Tibet bar, but the place didn’t look very exciting to us.

Rio Mendoza Valley

Next stop: Aconcagua! We followed the Rio Mendoza river valley through Punta de Vacas, a backdoor route to the mountain, and up the valley, stopping to admire the old steeply arched Inca bridge at Puente de Picteuta en route.  

A few more kilometres along the road, a small tunnel veered off on a corner. It was the old road and led over a small bridge into another tunnel: it was strange to see how small the road must have been and even more scary to see that the modern bridge which replaced it already looked pretty dodgy around the edges.  We also gawked at the remains of a big truck that had missed the bend and still lay in the gorge – it had been stripped of everything despite lying in such a precarious place. Still, if the price of tyres and parts here are anything like England, I don’t blame the looters.

Penitentes is a non descipt ski resort but a little way past there is parking at the trailhead for the Cerro Penitentes walk. This 10 km return walk takes two or three days, most people choosing to walk to a refuge, then climb the 4,356 m mountain the following day and out the next. Best of all, it is free of charge and free of permits, unlike the Aconcagua side. There are spectacular views over Aconcagua too – the scariest part is actually the old wooden swing bridge over the river below the car park.

The Cementerio de los Andinistas is a rather forlorn spot but maybe should be obligatory for anyone wishing to ascend Aconcagua. A dusty walled enclosure holds the remains of those who died on the mountain, plus a few interlopers. There is a large rock with a white cross on its summit, hung with an assortment of decaying boots and rosaries. An ice pick scupture is just next to it. It is all rather neglected and dusty but moving in a sad way.

The attractions come thick and fast up the valley: you certainly know when you have arrived at Puente del Inca, one of Argentina’s strangest sights. A natural arch and the surrounding gorge have been covered with the multi coloured deposits from a hot water thermal spring creating a surreal fantasy landscape. In 1925 a hotel was built nearby to take advantage of the springs and some thermal baths erected on the side of the gorge. A tunnel connected the two and it was in operation until 1965 when it was destroyed by an avalanche. Only a colonial church still stands near the ruins across the gorge. Until fairly recently people could drive across the bridge and still access the baths, but these have all been closed off now and one can only admire it from a distance. It is free, but there are lots of souvenir stands and cafes to spend your pennies in.

Next up Aconcagua Park! This is a difficult one. Obviously everyone wants to visit the park and catch a glimpse of the highest mountain in the Americas, at 6,961 m high. If you want to climb it, it costs US$950 and the permit gives you a window of three weeks; whilst not the hardest of climbs, it does need some acclimatization.

For us lesser mortals, there are a couple of options. Initially I had wanted to do the three day walk which goes to Confluencia base camp, then to a view point at Plaza Francia the next day, then back from Confluencia on day three. However this necessitated the buying of a three day permit which cost US$160 which seemed a ridiculous sum to pay for a mere walk. It is also possible to buy a week permit – that costs US$310 (these are all prices for foreigners, not locals who get a better deal).

To add insult to injury, the Argentinians have devised a really devious way to annoy anyone wanting to pursue any of the above choices. First you have to visit the Ente de Turismo  offices in downtown Mendoza and register (not forgetting the middle of the day siesta!), but then you have to pay elsewhere in the city, before returning to the original office with payment slip to collect the permit!

The other option was a day walk to Confluencia, which at a distance of 16 km return takes about 4 to 6 hours, with a height gain of 440 m. However, even for this walk, they ask a price of AR$1,500. 

The easy option which we did was the Laguna de Horcones Circuit, which is only 1.5 km and costs AR$300. This easy hike up the valley to a viewpoint gives a very good view of the south face of Aconcagua and returns via a little lagoon, Admittedly we sneaked in another km or so further up the valley for an even better view and I don’t think anyone would have noticed if we had just gone ahead and done the whole Confluencia day walk. If you get as far as the bridge, you probably have a good idea of the walk anyway.

Both of the above are paid to the rangers at the actual park entrance, so less planning required, after which you drive up the hill to another car park to start the walk.  We had a beautiful day to appreciate the views but I think the highlight for us was watching the mule trains being whipped down the mountain by some pretty dodgy gauchos in real wild west fashion

The end of the line was Las Cuevas at 3,557 m, which had been built by Peron as an ideal border village after he had done the Transandino train crossing in 1950 which actually used a 3 km tunnel to reach Chile. There are cute wooden chalets with shingle roofs and a huge archway to mark the road to the border (which is now bypassed by a tunnel)  but sadly the town is largely derelict. The old train station is used as a horse stable and the covered sections of snowshed track in arched metal with corrugated sheeting now flap forlornly in the wind. The glass ventilation windows are riddled with bullet holes. The last train ran in 1979. An avalanche of huge tumbled rocks lies behind.

One interesting thing I found here was a Casucha del Rey, or Kings Shelter, a curious little round brick building rather in the Armenian church style. They were built every four miles on the old highway for shelter  and date back to the 18th century; there are another two squarer models further down the valley. They acted as early mountain refuges and were actually designed by the gloriously named Ambrosio O’ Higgens, an Irish military engineer. They had a vaulted roof so that snow could not accumulate and the door, reached by a staircase, was situated 6 feet above ground level so that it could not be buried.

On the old border road at 4,200 m, reached by a good if narrow gravel road, stands Cristo Redentor in all his glory. He was made in 1902 from the bronze of the Andes Army weapons and  erected to mark the peace between Argentina and Chile. Weighing four tons, it was hauled to the spot by mules but has now been sadly bypassed, though the road does continue through to Chile for the thrill seekers.

There is little at the border otherwise: the inevitable fluttering flags, a ramshackle collection of army posts and a shipping container selling hot chocolate and alfajores for AR$150. There is a good view of the surrounding peaks, including Aconcagua, partially obscured by those closer. The view down the valley on the ascent is superb, especially in the evening light when the setting sun brings out all the colours in the rocks.

Rio de los Platos Valley 

We had a night’s wild camping above Las Cuevas in order to do the Aconcagua walk the next day, after which we headed back to Uspallata. Here we checked out the weirdly photogenic Las Bovedas, three white conical mud constructions which as far as I could gather were used in the production of gold and silver; a millwheel outside crushed the stone at which stage the ore was run off using mercury and then smelted into bricks for transport.  Entrance was free and there was a minor museum within the interior courtyard.

Further north up the Rio de los Platos valley we crossed into San Juan province, at which stage the ripio turned into perfect bitumen. We turned east to visit the Parque Nacional El Leoncito on a hillside high above the valley. It used to be an old estancia but now is the home of a couple of observatories. There are supposedly 300 clear nights a year – of course, the night we arrived it rained and the sky was a tempestuous black.

The next day we consoled ourselves with a walk to Cerro Leoncito at 2,519 m leaving at 7.40 am to escape the worse of the heat. It was certainly hard core desert views, ending up on top of a very shaley mountain after two hours where brown hills tumbled around us and the snowtopped cordillera stetched along the skyline opposite with the high peak of Cerro Mercedario at 6,770 m – many climbers find this more challenging than Aconcagua.

Cascada el Rincon was a rather muddy small waterfall near the end of our trail but the sight of so much water in the desert was surprising and it was a refreshing end to our walk. Even better, than evening the clouds cleared sufficiently for us to visit the astronomical station of Dr. Carlos U. Cesco on a nearby hill where a couple of huge telescopes were pointed at the sky. These days they just put in the computer coordinates and they swivel obligingly around. Entrance was AR$200 and luckily the guide spoke English – although I struggled to understand what he was talking about even in English! 

We looked at Orion’s sword, a supernova that had just exploded – apparently a ‘really fun’ area of the sky for an astronomer – and another star that was on the verge of exploding, amongst others. How they discern these things is beyond me. A giant Argentina-China project is presently under way with the 6 m concrete base drying at the moment for a new radio telescope.

On the other side of the road from the park is the curious Pampa de Leoncito, a huge dry lake bed where carrovelismo, or land sailing,  takes place. It was a windless day on our visit but the pure empty space was impressive, rather like a salt flat without the salt. I suggested Simon should attempt a land speed record with our little hire car!

Villavincencio

It was time for us to start heading home. Backtracking to Uspallata, we took the scenic route to Villavicencio, a resort that supplys most of Argentina’s spring water. The Gran Hotel de Villavicencio was a prestigious thermal hotel when it opened in 1940 but is now closed up. and the area is now chiefly known for the scenic drive which leads to it.

Approaching from Uspallata, there were a few things of interest. Our first stop was at the Tundugeral Petroglyphs which were free though one could only visit with a guide. It was a fairly short tour but we toddled down to a rocky area, where the huge boulders had a dark patina. The petroglyphs had been chiseled into the stone and depicted a variety of zoomorphic, anthromorphic and geometric designs. They are worth a stop if passing by.

Someone else passed the same way: Charles Darwin on his peregrinations on 30th March 1835   – there is a stone plaque marking the event on an incongruous hillside beside the road! We then reached the Cruz de Paramillo, a puna-like high point at 3,100 m with the inevitable shrine and an old cross. It was a chance for a last glimpse of Aconcagua, but unfortunately the mountains were lost in cloud.

The Mirador del Balcon gave a bird’s eye view into an 80 m deep canyon that rose seemingly out of nowhere. It was most impressive, as was the chewed guanco remains in the car park – we wondered if a puma had also passed by! Nevertheless, it made a fine wild camping spot for our final night in Mendoza Province. There was no wind – just us, the stars and complete silence in the wilderness..

The road between the Cruz de Paramillo and the Villavicencio Hotel is known as the Caracoles de Villavicencio (the winding road) or La Ruta de un Ano (the year’s road) after its 365 curves.It is hard to believe that until the end of the 1970’s it was the main route to Chile. The final descent to the hotel wound steeply down the mountains with the plains of Mendoza hazy on the plains below, the hotel tucked in a deep cleft marked by a variety of green trees. The surroundings have been declared a nature reserve and there is apparently a healthy puma population – we had passed lots of guanacos en route, and where there are guanacos there are usually pumas.

We had to purchase the AR$340 entrance ticket at a ranger’s station a kilometre below the hotel and then backtrack. There isn’t actually a huge amount to see: it has been closed since 1978 and has changed hands frequently; it would now appear to be more valuable for its mineral water supply which is owned by Danone, with a bottling plant on the plain below.

However, the exterior is tidy and there is a quaint rustic chapel with a very vivid painting of Christ at the last supper. The gardens have obviously been neglected over the years; it is possible to meander down the pleasantly shady wooded valley past largely redundant water features but an hour should cover the whole site. Don’t miss sampling the spring water from the tap in front of the hotel.

A final swirl of winding road and then we were back on the plains north of Mendoza, on the right side for the airport. As we took off a few hours later, I was able to look back on the hills where we had spent the previous night. The area is so close to the city yet a world away in time and tranquility – such spots are surprisingly easy to find in Mendoza province.

NOTES

Getting There

We flew from Mendoza to Buenos Aires with Norwegian Air for £40 each, having arrived from Salta on the overnight (19 hour bus) with Andesmar (£50 each for the more spacious ejectivo seats on the bottom floor with some dodgy food included!). As Norwegian have now sold their Argentinian arm, other airlines will have to be investigated.

Getting Around

A rental car is really the only option. It was difficult tracking down affordable car hire for this area. We signed up with Cuyo Rental Car (WhatsApp them on +54 9 261 578-4737) and paid AR$28,000 for 14 days all in (about US$466). They were very helpful, meeting us at the bus station and then again at the airport when we dropped the car off.

Mount Aconcagua

If you want to register for anything longer than the Laguna de Horcones circuit or the day walk to Confluencia (these two being paid for at the park), you need to visit the first floor of the Ente de Turismo offices at 1143 Avenue San Martin (near the corner of Garibaldi) in Mendoza. It is open 8am until 1 pm or until 6 pm in the season. You register then have to pay elsewhere (they will tell you where), so allow time to get back after that to collect the permit. Check out the official site www.aconcagua.mendoza.gov.ar for up to date details and prices. The climbing permit lasts 20 days, and the trekking permits can cover 7 or 3 days.

The climbing and trekking season extends from 15th November until 15th March, although Laguna de Horcones is open all year if conditions allow. If you want to do some serious climbing in the area, I have heard good things of Fernando Grajales Expeditions – in the current season he is running 17 day trips up the Normal Route for US$4,270.

The walks, from the main parking area, are as follows:

Horcones @ 2,800 m – 1.30 minutes

Confluencia @ 3,424 m – 3-4 hours

Plaza Francia @ 4,200 m – 3 days

Plaza de Mulas @ 4,362 m – 2 days

Plaza Argentina @ 4,194 m – 2 days