A South American Sojourn: Adventure Sports in Mendoza

Argentina just keeps getting better. We´ve spent the last four days or so in Mendoza, a gorgeous and friendly city close to the border of Chile. We fell in love with the city immediately and decided we could all see ourselves living there. It is surrounded by desert, though there is a complex irrigation system that traces its way throughout the city, making it very lush and green. There are many beautiful parks, one that is quite large and reminded me a lot of Hyde Park in London, with a canal, a zoo, sports stadiums, a golf course (Jeff and Amanda went), etc. One thing that I just couldn´t get used to was the fall foliage in April. Trees are turning yellow and leaves are falling, and I can´t help but think that my birthday was two weeks ago.

We took advantage of a few of the many activities Mendoza has to offer. We of course had to visit some more wineries, as this region produces the majority of the wine that comes out of Argentina. Once again, Malbec was my favorite wine (I spelled it wrong in my last post), pick some up if you see it in a liquor store, very smooth. We also got to visit a plant that produces olive oil, which was very cool as I got to see olive trees for the first time.

Another first was paragliding! I know this may sound crazy, especially because I am afraid of heights, but for some reason I just really wanted to try it and I´m so glad I did. It was incredible! Here I am in flight:

It was really cool to just float above everything and see the city from a birds-eye view (in fact, the birds were below us). My guide even did a few swirls in the air which was really fun.

The next day, Amanda and I went horseback riding through a nature preserve. We got to gallop! ´Twas great fun... great fun indeed : )

If we had lots more time, we probably would have stayed in Mendoza for weeks or even months. But alas, we must move on. Today we hopped a bus and crossed the border into Chile. The road took us on another spectacular ride through the mountains, this time cutting right from one side of the Andes to the other. And when I say some of these mountain roads are windy, I am not kidding. This road made the Kancamangus Highway look like a wide open field:

We are now in Viña del Mar, Chile, right on the Pacific coast. We will be sharing our time here with the neighboring city of Valparaíso, before heading to Santiago for a night or so.

Also, I have been looking since I started this blog for a trackable map I could post to my site so you could get a visual picture of my route. Obviously, I never found a map I could use in this way, but here is an image and a link to maps of South America, if you wish to get a better feel for the areas I am travelling in: