Sure Am High

Day: 189

So today I  rented a car, gathered a varied assortment of North American and German travellers to share the cost and we headed up to Aconcagua, the highest point in the western hemisphere.  Along the way we got to see Punto de Inca, a natural stone arch with sulfur water bubbling out of the ground below causing all the rocks to turn yellow like Yellowstone.  Of course, like everywhere with an attraction, they had people there to sell you local knick-knacks. Rocks, sulfer carved bottles, and an assortment of other shit.  I think they may be actually stripping this natural monument to make some of these good to sell to random Europeans.

On the way home we stopped at a nearby cemetary that is dedicated to all the climbers who died climbing Aconcagua or at least those who climbed it, then after dying of old age wanted to be buried next to the mountain.  It astounded me to see that the mountain takes and average of a person a year for the better part of the last century.

The most fun I had all day was when we got back into Mendoza and everyone wanted to drive across town and check out a park.  I was behind the wheel. I think I am a fairly good driver, but here I was dropped into a city that has very little signage and the proper way to get across and intersection is to honk your horn, flash your lights and floor it! I made it across town in one piece, but not without the help of everyone in the car yelling “Go!”, “Stop!” and “Oh, shit! Thats one way!”

Actually, come to think of it, I may have to thank every driver in Mendoza for their encouragement of honking horns, shaking fists and dirty looks everytime I slowed at an intersection. It really made me want to just plow through street crossings and graze cyclists.