Click here for a video of our day on the Ruta 7

Sunrise over Mendoza from our apartment

We did a day tour that took us along the ruta 7, the highway to Chile. Though it is the route we took to get to Mendoza, I had been asleep the majority of the way over, and the landscape was so beautiful, we knew a re-visit would not disappoint. Our ride, our guide, our driver Juan Carlos.

Mendoza is actually in a desert. The way it manages to be so green with its many parks and old trees is through an irrigation system originally dug by the Huaraní, the indigenous of the area. Water from the Andes flows into this reservoir and is rationed to the city.

We had the whole bus to ourselves!

Heading to the Andes

Ruta 7

Aconcagua, the tallest peak in both the southern and western hemisphere at 6,961m (22,838ft)

A tiny cloud-poof constantly formed and disappeared over the mountain

The Incan Bridge and an abandoned thermal spa. The bridge was formed by sediments and decorated by minerals from the thermal waters; foot traffic to the hotel/spa wore down the bridge until an avalanche shut down the whole spa-operation in 1965. The bridge has been closed since and the brilliant colors shine through once again.

Erin really loved this corner.

Though there is no snow, the ski lift operates year-round to access a lookout point. Back luck for us, it is closed Mondays & Wednesdays, and being a Wednesday, we were only able to hang out in one of the chairs.

On our way back to Mendoza, we stopped at a roadside parilla (grill) and had the biggest, most delectable steaks. Our waiter claimed it was a 400g steak, but it was at least double the size of any 400g steak any of us had ever seen. Julien finished his, and Erin and I proudly finished about half each.

It was two layers deep

Back at the reservoir we snapped pictures and skipped rocks