Wayward Travels

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Los Andes...

Turns out, "Andes" is more than a deliciously minty chocolate confection. A whole lot more. This extensive mountain range is actually three somewhat parallel chains running the length of South America and serving as part of the border between Chile and Argentina. Today I went to the Andes, and while I didn´t climb any mountians (probably a good thing after the whole Glaciar Martial incident), I was able to appreciate this lovely mountain range. I was able to understand our Spanish-speaking guide for the most part and learned a fair bit of history, legend, geology, and more. One site we visited was Puente del Incas, a natural stone bridge that was formed when mountain sediment collected atop a valley glacier. The sediment, along with minerals from the thermal waters, petrified and became stone, forming a bridge that remained after the glacier had retreated. For those of you that read Wayward Travels during my Guatemala trip may remember another "puente natural" by the name of Semuc Champay. I probably raved and raved about that place and in truth it was more beautiful to me than this. Still, I am glad to have seen Puente del Incas. We also stopped to see (from afar) the south face of Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western hemisphere (I believe). We made it to the Chilean border and turned around. On the return trip, I saw another flock of circling Andean condors. Sadly, I also saw a Wal*Mart Supercenter. I can´t believe it, and yet I´m not surprised. Once again, as with the glaciers, I´ll refrain from attempts at description of the Andes. Go eat a mint chocolate and wait until I upload the pictures.
Tomorrow: I shall make attempts at taking a bus to neighboring Maipú (I love that name, every city here has a Maipú street...yes, I´m turning 5 this year), visiting another bodega or two, and (gasp) doing laundry for real (not in the sink).

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I eagerly await your pictures! I myself just returned from the beautiful Green Mountains of VT. Rolling hills compared to what you're experiencing... but beautiful nonetheless. Good luck getting to the laundrymat! I bet your missing the convenience of Maple Manor's machines :) Miss you!

12:08 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home