MENDOZA IN ARGENTINA REPORT TRAVEL.

 MY NEXT GOAL IS MENDOZA IN ARGENTINA.

My next goal is to cross the Andes Mountains, in a point not far from Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas, with a night bus, thus arriving in pretty Mendoza, Argentina. The journey takes about 8 hours, plus one time zone and therefore I absolutely have to take a bus that allows me not to arrive in Mendoza at an inconvenient time (from midnight to six in the morning), which does not allow me to go to a hostel or to go around Mendoza. Let's see what I can do.

I'M IN MENDOZA, I'M IM ARGENTINA

Back at the Rodoviario Terminal in Valparaiso, at 9.30 pm I take a bus to Mendoza of the Cata International Company (price 14,000 Chilean Pesos). The bus is comfortable and comfortable, even if a little cold. There is the bathroom and there is the gentleman in charge who brings you food and drink. Take the Statale n. 40 through the Andes to reach the Chilean - Argentina border which is crossed without too many precautions. Then you go down the hill at mt. 3,300 taking advantage of the Cristo Redentor Tunnel, built to avoid the more inaccessible Passo della Cumbre or Passo di Uspallata mt. 3850. Then you go down using the Argentina state road n. 7. There is an impossible darkness, but I see an ocean of rocks alongside the road. An incalculable amount of stars seems to fall on me, but then at the end at 8.10 I arrive in Mendoza and immediately dedicate myself to visiting the city. From the Terminal del Sol located about 1 km east of the center, I take the road just adjacent to it, located north of it. Here the buses to the center pass. The ticket costs 1.40 Argentine Pesos and is done on the bus with a machine that accepts only money and does not give change. I go down to the central Piazza Indipendenza and start my visit. Mendoza is very beautiful I would say, very close to the Andes. The expeditions to Aconcagua leave from here and it is here that the necessary permits are obtained for the ascent to the summit. The Argentine people are very friendly and helpful. The city is clean. I spend the whole day in the center and then take a bus back to Terminal del Sol, where there is also a tourist office. A small consideration comes naturally to me: now I have no doubts; after 5 days of traveling I realized that hardly anyone here speaks English even on the buses and at international stations. Rarely any young people. So by now I speak only in Italian which in any case understand me a little. As for my cell phone, it hasn't shown any signs of life since I entered Chile and hasn't recovered in Argentina either. I don't understand if he died due to the time zone and excessive transfers or if it doesn't work like in the United States because it's not Dual Band.

MY MEMORY GOES TO THAT INCREDIBLE TRIP THROUGH THE ANDES

From the Terminal del Sol in Mendoza I take a bus to Santiago de Chile at 2.30 pm of the O'Higgings Internacional company at the price of 110 Argentine Pesos. There are many companies that operate this route and depart almost every hour (there is also the night bus) but the cheapest price I found for today is the one mentioned above.

The mythical National Road n. 7 rises slowly and impetuously and almost seems to crash into the Andes range. It penetrates straight for kilometers, in the middle of the arid Mendoza Valley, adjacent to the river of the same name. On the right at an altitude of 1381 meters, you can see the beautiful Artificial Lake of Potrerillos. Then at mt. 1450, we meet the Village of Uspallata, the largest in the Valley. The bus still runs fast on the straight road in the middle of an ocean of mountains, overcoming and crossing large Cammion and skimming the precipices. You can see the snow-capped mountains, the highest in America, including Aconcagua. We then pass the Puente del Inca Village mt. 2720 and that of Las Cuevas mt. 3200 (here starts the dirt road that leads after 8 km to the Statue of Cristo Redentor 7 meters high). Then you go down the hill at mt. 3,300 taking advantage of the Cristo Redentor tunnel about 1 km long, built to avoid the more inaccessible Passo della Cumbre or Passo di Uspallata mt. 3850. Immediately after we arrive at the Argentina - Chilean border. We all go down; it is not cold, even if we are surrounded by a lot of snow that you can touch. Logically I'm the only European. Two Polizziotti, one Argentine and the other Chilean put the relevant stamps on the passport and issue a special stamped sheet of paper, to be delivered when leaving the country. Then we head to a room where they make us put our suitcases and backpacks on a shelf and a well-trained dog passes by to smell them and find something in a poor Argentine's backpack. The bad gendarme makes him open it and here's the surprise. No drugs, no alcohol, but 2 fresh apples. The gendarme with an increasingly nasty air beats him and prescribes a very high fine. Heroin. Yes, because here it works like this: it is forbidden to import fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. and therefore the dog is trained not to find them. Before arriving at the border, you must fill out a self-certification in which you declare that you have or do not have everything I have described above and that it is forbidden to import into Chile. Things from another world. Then after the dog check they make you pass the suitcase and / or backpack into the scanner that sees all fruit, vegetables, ect. They even put my fanny pack with the camera and camera in it through the scanner. Anyway I had no problems as I was informed before and therefore I proceeded to eat in a hurry before the border, the fruit and the ham sandwich that I had in my backpack. After unscathed the border a very long descent on the State Road n. 40 full of bends and precipices takes us back to Santiago at 20.00 in the evening, after 6 hours and 30 '(calculating an hour of time zone) of a very exciting journey.