Cristo Redentor de los Andes
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2007
1
23
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Cristo Redentor de los Andes,
Chile
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Compared to our tours in Salta there was little time alotted to photos. After racing to make breakfast in a fancy hotel in Uspallata it became pretty clear who were giving backhanders & who they were out to screw. The bus then lead us along RUTA SANMARTINIANA which is the path San Martin took with his army across the Andes into Chile to defeat the Spanish forces liberating Chile with comrade Bernardo O'Higgins (his da was a Sligo man)
D overlooking Villavicencio
. Picheuta marked the area where Ambrosio (his dad) built a colonial bridge to cross the river with the troops & a short drive from there marked the scene of the Potrerillos battle although the mountain view is more eyecatching. As the car raced onwards the rocks on either side started to dwarf us & the mountains became more jagged. The route is revamped every 5 years because of the volume of traffic, the weather & mudslides/rockslides. We passed the old transando train route, presently delapitated as the constant landslides & brutal weather destroyed the track. We also passed through the ski resort of Penitentes (which in fairness looked like it only facilitated black runs) & amazing tunnels dug into the mountainside before reappearing at Puente del Inca. It's a colourful natural occurence. A hotel was built there back in 1925 but an avalanche devoured it in 1965. Each bath had its own thermal bath. The ruins are yellow in colour due to the large quantites of sulphur in the area & the crack in the ground is still spurting out water.
Just beyond this point is the viewpoint for Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in S. America at 7025m. Although it was covered by the clouds, you have to be impressed. Tours normally stop at the side of the road as it gives the best view otherwise you have to enter the national park which charges. In order to compel people to pay they are taking away the hard shoulder for that stretch. This pretty much lead directly to the beginning of the zigzagging climb to Cristor Redentor de los Andes
D Aconcagua
. The terrain is very arid , earthy & rocky. The top of it, marked by the statue of Christ the Redeemer, denotes the split between Arg & Chile with both flags flown on either side. Beside the statue is a ledge which overlooks the drive up & allows you to see the snowcapped mountains across the way from the Cordillera. It is very impressive & frightening all at once. After a spell of photos & videos we were taken back to the Penitentes hotel for dinner, where the '3* menu' was served for tourists, shafting gobsheens. Following on we made our way back to Mendoza following the Rio Mendoza path. We had even more impressive scenery once you weren't passing through one of the tens of tunnels. The final day was spent at Cacheuta once again to relax before our overnight bus to the Retiro terminal in BA, back to where it all begun.
