Don´t cry for me...

I´m in Argentina :-) Sorry, I couldn´t resist!

Greetings from Mendoza, Argentina. Population - about 1.5m in the surrounding area. Mendoza is much larger than I had anticipated. Mendoza is a rather beautiful city full of wide streets lined with trees and outdoor cafes. Not only is Mendoza the HQ of all Aconcagua expeditions, it is also the ´capital´of the wine making industry here in Argentina. What a wonderful co-incidence!

I flew here via Auckland & Santiago. Both flights were pretty typical of international travel; bad food and even less sleep than usual. My expedition-related butterflies - which had been asleep during most of the journey - awoke with a vengence when I spotted the Andes from the window of the plane on approach into Santiago. The last time I flew into Santiago the view was rather obscured by the pollution which is pretty typical of most South American cities. Thankfully I was blessed this time by clear skies and incredible views. My flight from Santiago to Mendoza over the Andes was perhaps the most spectacular flight I have ever taken. Unfortunately we were too far from Aconcagua to get a good look at it (something I´m actually a wee bit thankful for). But words cannot describe how impressive or beautiful the Andes are. The Andes rise abruptly from the flat plains on coastal Chile (where Santiago is located). There are no rolling hills to indicate the start of the mountain range. One minute the land is flat, the next the mountains soar high into the air. And just as abruptly as they begin, they finish & the flat plains of eastern South America stretch as far as the eye can see.

My first 24 hours here have been spent enjoying the local cuisine & vino, wandering the colourful streets & laying by the pool. It is a holiday after all; the hard work - and it will be incredibly hard - will start soon enough. Last night I had a fantastic dinner at a wine bar around the corner from our hotel with our guide (David), his girlfriend Petit and the other aussie in the group, Paul. I´m looking forward to going back & sampling more of the local vino when we get back from Aconcagua :-) The balance of our team - 2 x Americans and 1 x pom - arrived this afternoon. So far so good; it seems to be a great group of interesting, intelligent people who have travelled (and climbed) widely. And between them, someone has climbed each of the ´Seven Summits´so I have plenty of brains to pick over the coming weeks :-)

The (minimial) Spanish that I learnt when I came to South America 5 years ago is quickly coming back to me. I even remembered to order my water sin gas rather than con gas! Despite its proximity to Aconcagua and the wine industry, Mendoza is surprisingly ¨untouristy¨; only the occassional menu is in English, otherwise there are no signs in English and very few locals can speak English. Given how linguistically challenged I am, it will be a struggle.

Tonight we had a team briefing about the expedition before we headed out (minus 1 x American who had only just arrived & elected instead to sleep) to another local restaurant. Once again, fantastic food & wine. Atleast I don´t need to worry about the amount of calories being consumed - 2 weeks on the mountain will fix that!

Aside from an equipment check and (more) re-packing, tomorrow will be another lazy day spent largely by the pool. Being a mountaineer is a tough life but someone´s gotta do it :-)