High Altitude

We decided to take a day trip up in to the Andes for our first experience of the mountains.

We were picked up from our hostel at the very early 7.30 this meant a rise of 6.30 to sort out breakfast and lunch.

The ride out to the Andes takes you though the preliminary line of mountains which the Argentineans’ refer to as hills! These hills can be up to 3500 meters!!! That’s not a hill, in the UK anything over 700 meters is a mountain!

The drive up to the preliminary mountains included drives past lakes and volcanoes with some stunning views! The entire area is volcanic with hundreds of dormant volcanoes in the region.

Our first stop on the bus journey and 3 ½ hours on the mini bus was at the entrance to the Aconcagua national park, The mountain can be climbed but is for the extreme members of the community, not us. The mountain as previously mentioned is the highest mountain outside Asia at 6962m.

We now started the ascent to out highest point of the day and by far the highest point of the trip, The site of the Christ the redeemer statue at the Chile \ Argentina border. This statue was placed at 4000 meters above sea level to signify border peace between the two nations.

Once we reached this altitude we were all immediately hit by the effects the lack of oxygen has on your body. I was extremely surprised how affected I was with shortness of breath, dizziness and a slight headache. The temperature had instantly dropped but the views were spectacular!

After a rapid descent from this altitude the affects disappear as quickly as they appeared…

We now headed for our final stop the Inca Bridge

The bridge was formed during the period of the glaciers, this volcanic area has many hot springs and minerals that seep from the ground and debris sat on the glacier mixed with these minerals to form a solid platform, as the glacier melted the bridge was left. As time went by more and more sediment and minerals fused to the bridge making it larger and larger.

During the 1970’s a hotel resort spa was built and the hot springs by the bridge used as a spa with thermal pools, continual growth of the bridge led to the area becoming unstable and the hotel closing. The Orange colour over the rocks is caused by iron minerals in the hot spring water staining the rocks.

After this stop we were left with a 3 hour bus ride back to the hostel which allowed for us to see the sun setting over the Andes and a whole new vista could be admired.