Yesterday morning’s flight from Santiago to Mendoza was only 45 minutes. A spectacular flight across the Andes, when the spring sunshine is just beginning to melt the deep snowpack – providing precious water for the rainless vineyards along the eastern side of the White Wall. Above you can see Cerro Aconcagua – over 22,000 feet high in thedistance.

Entering Argentina from Chile.

Mountains over 20,000 feet high.

Our route.

Mendoza Centro.

A late day glass at a vineyard.

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I am now in Mendoza , Argentina. Beautiful Spring Day, sun blazing out of the North , nice cool dry breezes. Off to some vineyards now. Great shots of the Andes to be posted later.

On week from tomorrow night I will board a LAN flight down to Santiago, Chile. The next morning I will connect to fly across the Andes to Mendoza, arriving late Monday morning. Though Spring is well underway, the Andes will still be under a deep snowpack, so there should be some excellent photo opportunities. I will be traveling along the “White Wall” from Mendoza all the way up to the high desert city of Salta near the Bolivian border. Then back down toBuenos Aires for a couple of days before returning to Miami.

Adventure Travel in Latin America has just gotten 30 % cheaper in the last two weeks. Worldwide economic volatility has has caused flight to the US Dollar from many fearful investors in Latin America. As a result :

The Chilean Peso is now 622 to the Dollar. This compares to 390 earlier this year.

The Argentina Peso is pegged to the US Dollar, but has still slipped from 3 to 3.22 and probably will go lower.

The Mexican Peso was 10 to the Dollar a few weeks ago and is now 13.2 !

Most dramatically – the Brazilian Real was 1.5 to the dollar in August – and is now 2.2 – in effect – 50% more spending power for the US Dollar.

As a long dark and financially dreary winter takes hold in the North – now is the time to enjoy the incredible Nature, Sunshine and Adventure of Latin America. Book now on ArcticTropic Direct Booking.

At Finca La Anita wine is handcrafted the old fashioned way. The Bodega has an excellent ,limited selection of Malbecs.

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Three days after crossing by bus in 8 hours, I fly over the same route in 45 minutes. There is a longer version coming from blip.tv as YouTube does not accept video over 10 MB.

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Last Wednesday morning I went on a tour of Finca La Anita , about 45 minutes south of Mendoza. The harvest is in full swing . Later ArcticTropic will show the whole process of this excellent vintage. The first snow of the season had just dusted the high Andes mountaintops the night before – though it was 80 degrees in the vineyards.

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Cerro Aconcagua – 6,962 metres – 22,841 ft is highest mountain in the Americas, Highest in the Southern Hemisphere, Highest outside the Himalayas. It is 15 Km East of the Argentina – Chile border.

The bus from Santiago to Mendoza took almost 8 hours due to customs holdups and road work. I’ll be flying back tomorrow , since I have meetings in Santiago before flying up to Miami tomorrow night. The bus ride ranks amongst the world’s most beautiful !

Mendoza has been 24/7 nonstop – meetings till 9 PM and then dinners that begin at 11 and end at 2. I will catch up on ArcticTropic Blog – keep posted !

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Yesterday afternoon I flew from Buenos Aires to Santiago. I had hoped to take pictures from the plane, but the view was obscured by clouds. I do have some pictures of the Argentine pampas that I’ll put up later today. The photos were taken in August,2004 – the middle of winter – hence the thick snow cover. Now at the end of summer, there is only snow on the highest peaks.

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Today was grey and rainy here in Buenos Aires , so I uploaded some pictures from my last trip here in November,2006. Featured: A cattle fair at La Rural – the big expo center on Santa Fe.

Steers patiently await the auction.

A few weeks later on the parilla.

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