We said goodbye to our apartment of over a week and drove back to San Rafael, which is about 2 and a half hours away. On the way we day the detector tanks which have been put out in the desert to try and capture cosmic rays. the whole project is based at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Malargue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Aug er_Observatory For the first time, the roads were wet with rain. Alongside the road was the remains of an old railway. We arrived ...

Our last full day in Malargue, we booked a guide to take us to Volcan Malacara. It is about an hour's drive towards La Payunia. We met Monica, our guide, there and then drove a couple of kilometres to the cone. Volcan Malacara is a hydromagmatic volcano created when the volcano erupted under the Laguna Llancanelo many years ago. It had swirling passageways that made you feel as if you were walking in to the very heart of the volcano. The gullies were over 30 mete...

Today was an easy day. We took our laundry for a service wash. We also visited the bank to take out money. Here in Mendoza province, cash is the order of the day. The car hire firm wanted cash, the apartments want cash and the petrol stations want cash. The problem is that foreign travellers can only take out a maximum of 1500 Argentinian Pesos at a time which is about £120 with charges. You can do this twice in the same day. Threads in discussion boards sug...

One of the excursions that can be bought in Malargue is a trip to the lagoon at Llancanelo. We decided we would rather try and do it alone despite the local Tourist Information book saying you must hire a guide to enter. Turning on to the 186, the road was mainly "ripio." The plain was flat with the odd volcanic hump on the horizon. There was a telescope which seemed appropriate in this lunar type landscape. On the way there was a sign warning you that there were...

The weather here is in the low 30s and clear blue skies. After a slow start (which get slower and slower as the holiday progresses) we joined the queue for fuel at the YPF station. It took us nearly 45 minutes to be served. We hadn't seen queues like this so thought there must be some shortage but no, the petrol station on the other side of town was quiet. Very odd. We drove north to visit Las Lenas, which is a ski resort near Cerro Paraguay. It was a well paved ...