Today we went on the Alta Montana High Andes tour which took us up into the Andes to visit some historical sights and a closer view of the mountains.

In Beth's words, the tour was really "amazing". We started at the Poterillos Dam which holds the water which serves the whole of Mendoza. The weather was excellent which made the view of the reservoir even more spectacular. We then visited several historical sights including areas where the armies had marched into Chile to gain it's independence in the early 1800's.

After these, we headed to the Pentinentes ski resort which was closed due to the lack of snow. Here, we are certain that we saw the hotel from The Shining. This was only reinforced when I heard 'Here's Jonny' from one of the rooms. We quickly moved on.

Our next stop was the village of Inca Bridge. Here, there was a naturally occurring limestone bridge covered in sulphur which produced this brilliant yellow colour. There was also the ruins of a hotel which had been destroyed by a huge avalanche in 1965. From there, we went to a viewing point for the highest peak in South America, Aconcagua, which stands at 6,962 metres. Unfortunately, we could not see the top due to the imminently closing in weather and we hurried back into the van before we sued the tour guide for frost bite.

The next stop was the village of Las Cuevas which is the last village before you reach Chile. Here, the tour guide ushered everyone into a restaurant for some lunch. This was everyone bar us two frugal pioneers who had made our own lunch and stubbornly refuses to exit the bus. Here we sat for half an hour having our pre-made sandwiches in the cold as even the driver had retreated to the warmth of the restaurant. In order to not feel completely left out we bough some chocolate at the next shop as a souvenir. Due to the freezing cold and swirling snow, we weren't long in Las Cuevas and quickly retreated down the mountain to the promise of bright blue sky. After about an hour and a half's drive, we were back to t-shirt weather and headed the rest of the way back to Mendoza.

Tonight we have purchased some steak and red wine (again) and are in the dining room of the hostel with some friends from New Zealand and America. I have also had the first shave for 4 weeks which saw the deaths of 3 disposable razors and many a cut.

Tomorrow, we are off on a bicycle tour of the wineries with our friends from the hostel. We should hopefully have some good picture of drunk bike riding tomorrow night!!