Mendoza, Argentina

Crossed the Andes by frog (OK, it was actually a very comfortable bus) yesterday in search of something active to do for a few days. So here I am, amid the fertile land of the grape, the home of fine wines of the sort wot you can buy in Tesco´s.

The journey was interesting. It seems that, as you ascend in the Andes, you go from sparse mediterranean vegetation directly to bare rock, pretty similar to the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, but at twice the altitude. You could see Aconcagua from the road. The thought of climbing it crossed my mind, but it looks like I`ve missed the boat:

• 04/April/06 ACONCAGUA - All Routes
  THIS REPORT IS GENERATED FROM OUR GUIDE'S DALY REPORTS LIVE FROM THE MOUNTAIN, IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE PARK'S RANGER STATION DAILY REPORTS. THE PARK IS CLOSED FOR THE SEASON, SO WE WILL DISCONTINUE THIS SERVICE UNTIL NOV. 15th, 2006, DATE WHEN WE REANUDE OUR 2006-2007 SEASON OPERATIONS. WE HOPE THIS REPORT IS USEFULL TO YOU ALL AND WE SEE YOU ON THE "HILL" NEXT SEASON!

Phew, that`s a relief. Last time I went high altitude mountaineering (seems incredible that it will be 20 years ago this year) I had a stroke. Kind of.

Reanude?

Anyway, I keep reminding myself whenever I get tempted by snowy peaks, even moderate-altutude Alpinism is 90% boring drudgery, 9% terror and 1% fulfillment (mostly relief at being still alive afterwards). Plus you get to some really amazing places, of course. If you´re really fit it takes less time and feels easier, but the percentages stay the same. Hardly the driving ambition that one needs to summit Aconcagua, you may think, and you`d be right. Except that, for all its height, the normal route up the mountain is virtually a path, with no technicalities and hardly any avalanche risk.

Proper mountaineers maintain that their high lasts longer the harder it is won. But as any hedonistic crag-rat fule kno, rock climbing has a far superior fun:effort ratio.

There`s some cragging around here, but I cant pin down the guidebook that I know (from the web) exists out there somewhere. The guys in the gear shop in Santiago seemed puzzled that I was looking for it in Chile, and sent me here. Well, here I am after that 7 hour bus journey and I still can`t find it, although there`s a juicy guide to multi-pitch stuff in the mountains on offer. But for that I need a proper partner and not just a random rock-jock hanging around at the crag.

Having a merely rudimentary command of Spanish would help. But it`s a bit late to start those night-school classes now, and learning on the job does tend to focus the mind admirably. Was it Voltaire who said "Communication is not a commodity easily elaborated from groping mispronunciation and random lengths of strained silence. But the language of charm extends beyond mere words." No, I hear you say, Voltaire was French, and would never bother learning another language.

Anyway, Mendoza is a really pleasant city, with wooded avenues and an air of northern European prosperity...I`d compare it to a nice, open Spanish city but I can`t think of one. More like Provence, perhaps. It keeps falling down in earthquakes, and in its current life it features a grid-like street plan put in place after a big quake in 1861. Perhaps I`ll desist from info-foraging, book some sort of hike in the hills for tomorrow, and take in the street-cafe ambience for the rest of the day. ...Two hrs later...crag located, 1 hour distant, in Potrerillos. Good walking too. Bus ticket purchased. Show me a country and I´ll show you a crag. Unless you´re called Thijs, that is.

Currently, this is my schedule: head back to Santiago on Friday and head for San Pedro de Atacama in N Chile (near Camara, the driest place on earth, with good biking and climbing) via:

• plan (a), an overland trip on a backpacker bus. Upsides: get to see plenty of Chile, possibility of meeting many fun and interesting fellow travellers. Downsides: endless hours on a bus, possibility of being stuck with a bunch of total assholes.
• plan (b), becoming ever more appealing, fly to Calama and take a short bus ride from there.
• plan (c): adopt plan (a) with parachute, ready to bail at any point.
• plan (d), go by bus all the way in one go. 25 hours. But the buses are really quite good.
• or plan (e), none of the above. The spontaneous "other idea" option that seems to creep in quite often.

Incidentally, life is not at all cheap in these parts. Budget flight operators are non-existent at present in Chile, and the national carrier LAN have a monopoly. The cheapest accomodation, sharing a dorm in a hostel, a reluctant necessity sometimes, costs about the same as in Europe (ie about 4 times the cost of a private bungalow in Thailand). Hostels can be OK, it all depends on how crowded they are and whether they are overbearingly youth-oriented happening scenes, or not. Of the general bunch, Youth Hostels (as opposed to other ´backpackers´), because they are generally not very trendy, are often paradoxically populated by an older crowd more interested in sleeping after midnight than partying. Basically I need somewhere with enough space and privacy to do the odd yoga headstand and read a book at any hour of the night. Plus about every 3 days, a space that´s approaching the comfort of home, unless I´m camping which is OK for about a week (I´ve definitely gone soft. It´ll be a Winnebago next time round, with a built-in washing machine). Last night I pulled a fast one: I got off the bus at 9:30 pm with a vague plan, but being surrounded by accomodation hawkers, I agreed to go to the YH and was given a free taxi ride. When I got there it was horrible: the only bed available was the wobbliest top bunk ever, in a tiny 5-bed room, no locker and dead grubby. So I wandered off around the corner to find a second hostel (not in the Lonely Planet, incidentally) which was clean, spacious, characterful and almost empty. For the same price, I had a huge 5-bed room all to myself. And a free breakfast was served, indeed. By a most decorative and alluring hostess.

Herewith, anyway/therefore, my emerging Top Tip for S America: use the Lonely Planet to find out where not to stay.