Puente del Inca

I took some good advice from my sister and stopped immediately after crossing the Argentina border in Puente del Inca.



It´s a tiny town that mainly houses a military base of sorts. However, there are several major attractions right there. Puente is Bridge...and Puente del Inca was one of the southernmost known Incan migratory destinations. The natural land bridge that gives the area its name is an awesome yellowish-orange thanks to the sulphurish thermal springs around it. I stayed in a cool little hostel in the old train station right next to the bridge.

Even more impressive than the natural land bridge, though, was the tallest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas...Aconcagua. The name just sounds big. At just under 7,000 meters, Cerro Aconcagua is the largest in the Americas. And like I said, the largest in the world outside of the Himalayas. Well, that big thing was smiling down on us and a several kilometer walk took me to a nice viewing point not far from the base. Scaling it takes several weeks of preparation to acclimatize. And you simply can´t try it at the moment thanks to the weather. There are certain seasons and months in which climbing is allowed, and winter isn´t one of them.



Walking to a mirador or viewpoint took me through several cool old train tunnels. There are tons on both the Argentine and Chilean sides to protect against snow. However, they aren´t complete, so I wonder if they were more to park the train in or something like that. All I know is that I´m no rocket scientist!