Puente Del Inca

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  Upsallata, Argentina
Friday, January 4, 2008

We finally got on the bus and were on our way to Puente Del Inca. It was a very old bus, no Air conditioning and it was well in to the thirties. We hadnīt slept much the night before so it was really hard keeping our eyes open on the bus, but when we did manage to the views up through the mountains was amazing. We went on some tiny roads that took us right through the middle of the mountains and past some small but great pueblos (villages).

We eventually arrive at Puente Del Inca 4 hours later and we were very glad to get off the bus, which had no suspension and we were sat right on the wheels! We were kind off amazed at the size of Puente Del Inca, we had passed a few small places that looked like they had a bit off life, but Puente Del Inca was really small!!!

We were met off the bus and found the lady that had been recommended to us, she runs a small hostel at the back of the post office (we think she runs the post office too) called El Nico. She showed us to the hostel which has shared dorms for $25 Arg per bed (about four pounds, UK). The room was small but clean and had beds, which was all we wanted! We also knew that we wouldnīt have to share the room with anyone else as we had arrived on the last bus in that day. The hostel was small, but had everything you needed. We met some guys who were going off on an expedition to climb the Aconcagua Mountain - the highest mountain in South America. They were going off for 20 days- wow! We had planned to cook that night, but there was 2 tiny shops that had nothing but dried food for the campers and it was expensive, so we checked out the local eateries - of which there were 2!

We ended up having a really nice meal in the local hosteria after a shower and then headed back to the hostel.

Views from the bus were stunning in places

This is the highest I think that I have been (altitude wise) and we were both intrigued as to how it would affect our asthma. You could definitely tell that the air was thinner and at first it felt like someone was sitting on my chest, but it did seem to ease with time. We have decided that we need at least 2 weeks to get used to the breathing before we attempt the Inca Trail. I am sure we are ok fitness wise as we walk so much, but the altitude takes quite a lot out of you. We slept soooooo well.

We had hoped to go on a Mule trek whilst we were there, but were told they only did treks over a number of days, so we were out of luck. So we got the afternoon bus back to Mendoza and vowed to stay awake to see the scenery - it was well worth it.

I am glad we made the trip up to the Andes mountain range and got to see the highest natural sulphur bridge in the world. However, having been up there and learnt more now there is so much more we could have done. So in case anyone reads this and wants advice as to what to do, I am going to do my travel writing bit - the rest of you can skip to the next entry!

The bus to Puente Del Inca leaves from the bus station in Mendoza 4 times a day. If you want to go up there but are not a hiker or climber, this is my recommendation. You can either do this in a day, or stay overnight.
Take the first bus out of Mendoza, which I think gets you to Puente Del Inca about 11am. Get off and go and look around Puente Del Inca and take your pics of the sulphur bridge, you used to be able to bathe in the warm sulphur baths, but you are no longer allowed. That will take you all of 15mins! Take a coffee at the snack bar and then walk back the way the bus brought you towards the plaza de las mulas. From here you can walk back to the next skiing village and take a ride on the ski lifts up the side of the mountain. Then you can catch the next bus back to Mendoza, to take you back to Upsallata. We wished that we had stayed here for the night as there is lots more to do and a few more places to eat etc. When you do finally catch the bus back there is an amazing lake in the middle of the mountain range, we didnt get the name, but it looked really nice, wedidnt manage to get any photos as you would need to be off the bus to get them. You could possibly stay here for a night or even until the next bus back to Mendoza. This would make the trip a lot more worth while - only other thing is if you take a guided hike into the mountains, but it is not cheap!

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View from the bus journey through the mountains	A nearby Skiing village	The ski lift up the mountain	Puente del Inca - the town!
El Nico - the hostel	The sulphur bridge	Another view of the bridge	Remains of the Hotel, built for the hot springs
The view in the background	The St Benard at the cafe	So cute!!!

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