Argentina 2013: A Wonderful Hunt and Fantastic Vacation; Into the Andes

Tuesday June 4^th, 2013

We were up fairly early this morning and just had time to grab a quick breakfast in the hotel before the bus showed up.  We were headed up into the Andes and were off to an early start.  I sort of thought the roads would be all crooked and curvy, cut out of the side of the mountain, like back home in the Appalachians.  I could not have been more wrong.  We drove along the center of the valley, from one valley to another.  Sometimes we went uphill and other times we went downhill.  We seemed to be staying at the base of the mountains rather than climbing up into them.

The mountains were beautiful and multicolored due to the different types of rock that formed them.  Most of the peaks were snow-covered and the white of the snow made the colors of the rocks stand out that much more.  There were shades from tan to dark brown, plus shades of red ranging from pink to burgundy, and some pale yellow to orange were thrown in for good measure.

We did take one curvy road detour ending up at a small river or small creek.  Janice and I were on the side of the bus away from the mountain, and when I looked out the window all I saw was blue sky and distant mountains.  There seemed to be nothing in-between us.  I was enjoying the view when my bride finally noticed it, and that was the last I saw of it.  It seemed being that close to the edge made her nervous and decided to climb over the top of me to get away from the edge of the precipice that appeared to be mere inches from the bus and much, much too close for her liking.  I know there was actually plenty of room but it was a pretty cool illusion.  There were some neat rock formations and a hand-built rock bridge over the river.  The bridge was built by someone to do something that I did not get the translation of (and probably never will), but it was still pretty cool.