What an incredibly spectacular journey! Although we are not going to Chile, we are now at the Chilean border, well, 6 km. from it. We are here because we wanted to see Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in all the Americas, in fact of the entire Western hemisphere. But Aconcagua is playing hooky, as it is shrouded by clouds, while the entire sky around it is as blue as possible.
But let me tell you about the drive. Simply surreal. Incredible views, craggy, colorful, tall mountains surrounding RT.7. In short, another world. Every turn, every bend on the road elicits a Wow!
Puente del Inca
I was able to secure a place to overnight in this area. There aren’t many, trust me. And the place is an adventurer’s paradise. It is owned by a young gentleman who was biking in the area in 2011 and saw an abandoned train station on the railroad from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, Chile, which stopped running back in the 80s. He inquired about the property, which belonged to the Argentinian government and secured a permit to build a museum, hotel and restaurant. Adjacent to the station and museum are two houses he rents to travelers. Currently, we are the only ones here, and we have an entire four bedroom house. The place sits in a spectacular valley, at the foot of Mt. Aconcagua, and it also exudes history as I have been mentioning throughout this blog.
Sebastian, the owner, gave us a private tour of the museum, which he does not advertise as he has no time to spend with tourists currently, being extremely occupied with upkeep and improvements.
Our house is the one on the left. We have the whole property to ourselves.
The old train station
Removing snow from the rails (from the museum)
The Argentina - Chile border
Of course, there are two dogs on the property, and three adorable puppies.
Mountains on both sides are almost vertical and surreal. The property is at 12,000 feet above sea level (3,400 meters).
I could write so much more about this place and the route to get here, but I’ll let the pictures tell the story, although, no picture can be the same as being here, feeling the warming sun on your face and then needing a jacket to keep you from the fast blowing wind; riding along the rapids of the river and the abandoned railroad tracks of era gone by.
I’ll leave you for now and wish you all a good night.
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