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One day we decided to drive to the foot of the tallest mountain in South America: Cerro Aconcagua. As we drove South-West from Mendoza, the peak loomed in the distance. The road winds through the foothills, more or less following the muddy Mendoza river, swollen by the recent rains. Rafting is popular here, though mostly earlier in the spring and summer, when snow melt gives a more reliable flow.
The drive is quite spectacular, going by strange formations and very colorful rocks. It is difficult, with small pictures, to convey the enormous size of these mountains. Everything is very dry and rugged. The road is very good. It is the main road between Buenos Aires and Santiago, Chile, so it carries a constant flow of big trucks. It is also steep, though not quite as steep as this sign wants you to believe.
We had started a bit late and by the time we got to the pass near the Chilean border and at the start of the trail to the peak, clouds were completely covering the high peaks. Nevertheless, we walked for a half hour or so to a small lake where we had our lunch, protected from the wind by a big rock.
We got back to the car just in time: a huge thunderstorm started a few minutes later. They say it never rains in Mendoza. We can testify that, when it does, the storms are on the same scale as the mountains: enormous. On the way home a break in the clouds gave us a last glimpse of Aconcagua, sparkling with a fresh coat of snow. A little later we tried to take a short-cut via a dirt road, but we quickly decided it was not such a good idea when a flash flood started flowing across the road!