Trekking: Cerro Manquehue

Yesterday was my second trek with the group, this time up to Cerro Manquehue, located in a suburban area in Northeast Santiago. Cerro Manquehue is about 1600 meters high and in Mapuche means "place of the condors".  This particular trek was a little bit slower going than the last one I did due to the larger rocks and looser soil. You know that you have to be careful when the descent ends up taking almost as long as the ascent. I think our guide Daniel scared everyone just enough to use extra caution when he told us that not only could we slip and fall in the loose dirt and twist our ankles, but if we did fall we would probably also cut ourselves on one of the large rocks.
A similar incident occurred with my brother several years ago while skiing, so I took Daniel's word for it, and thankfully we all managed to escape unharmed, except for me getting stung by a yellow-jacket. He decided to crawl up my pant leg and probably stung me in response to his own stupidity when he couldn't find his way back out.
I'll try not to whine and sound like a baby about a silly little bee sting, but it happened to get me right before we headed back down the hill, so nothing like a little swelling and pain right next to my knee that's already working extra hard to stabilize me. Thankfully Daniel also lent me one of his trekking poles that had also been used at one point to hike the Himalayas, and in keeping with the Nepalese tradition, he also led us in a pre-climb prayer to the mountain, asking that we all climb it safely and without incident.

There's our final destination

Pep talks, prayers, etc.

Look at my friends climbing up ahead, these things are always steeper than they look

Claudia, one of my partners in crime

What smog?

Here's to a safe descent

My battle wound starting to swell up

Finally some flatter land

Tours

Part of my adventure here in South America has been traveling solo for the first time. There are obviously advantages and disadvantages to having or not having traveling companions, and in the event that you find yourself on a solo mission, I'm here to tell you that it is possible to find reasonably priced group tours that aren't a total rip-off.
After day one it usually gets a little boring walking around with your head buried in a Lonely Planet book, and I wasn't going to hang out in wine bars for 2 straight days during my time in Mendoza. Always check your book to see if you can easily get to where you want to go on a public bus and that will save you a ton of cash. If not, then take a look at the tours that don't offer bilingual services or include lunch and you can usually find a pretty good deal. I did that twice, once on my trip to the South of Chile and again in Mendoza, and both times I spent the whole day immersed in Spanish without any English speakers and I packed a sandwich if we were going to be short on time, or took advantage of our empanadas lunch that we ordered very cheaply as a group and washed it down with a bunch of nuts, fruit, and other snacks that I brought with me for the ride. They were both quality tours with professional guides sponsored by smaller travel agencies at about half of what I would have paid for a large tour bus and an English speaking group.
While visiting Mendoza, I chose one of the "off the beaten path" destinations and visited the Cañon del Atuel, near San Rafael in the southern province of Mendoza. It's a long day of travel but a beautiful and unique place, and as I mentioned earlier, was my effort to be productive instead of spending two straight days of a Malbec induced haze.

When you're out in the middle of nowhere, these are the things you start to see...goats on the hill and pigs in the back of trucks

Heading into the canyon, I felt a little like I was in Arizona. We had many brief stops along the way where our guide pointed out the various rock formations. I was sitting in the front, so try to ignore the bad glass reflection in some of the pictures.

A chair, or whatever you see...

The Mount Rushmore of the canyon

astronaut

part of the beauty is the different colored rock formations

Rio Atuel

There are large hydroelectric facilities

When you approach the Valle Grande, that's where the real photo opps. begin. There are also opportunities for rafting, kayaking, canopy, etc. and facilities for camping and making it longer than a day trip.

I even got a shot of the full moon on the ride back to Mendoza

Drinking Wine and Whining

Sunday has become our excursion day around here mostly due to the fact that English teachers also work on Saturdays. I'm still new enough to Chile that the thrill of the day trip has not yet worn off since within 30 minutes it's lusher greener views instead of concrete. I've also been enjoying all of the wine benefits that Chile has to offer, so I figured it was time to organize a little trip to do a wine tour. I did some research and chose Vina Undurraga mostly because it's one of the smaller wineries near Santiago that offers both a tour and tastings on Sundays for a decent price.

I took charge of this outing and made the reservation for my friends and I, got the bus details, etc. and was really excited to set off to taste some wine on such a beautiful day. Fast forward to the bus ride to the winery, my bag was kind of wedged between the seat and the window. It tipped over slightly and I heard my water bottle fall on the floor. I bent over to pick it up and since there wasn't much room between me and the person next to me so I couldn't look underneath the seat and didn't realize that at the same time my camera had also fallen out of my bag and onto the floor. Now fast forward to my friends and I getting off of the bus and beginning to take pictures of the sign outside the winery, and just as the bus is pulling away I reach into my bag to discover that my camera isn't there and realize that it's on the floor of the bus...Adios.

The two most frustrating things about this experience:
1) I am camera-less due to my own stupidity and can't even blame it on some crafty thief. Someone just got a free camera and is now perusing all the gringa touristy pictures on my memory card that I hadn't yet saved.
2) My camera was probably laying on the floor 6 inches away from the foot of my friend who was sitting behind me.

Thankfully my friends helped me to lift my spirits and I wasn't about to let the day that I had planned be ruined. There was wine to be tasted! We had an excellent tour with a knowledgeable guide and tasted 4 delicious wines. I'm also fortunate to have some friends with nice cameras, so included on this post are a couple shots of the winery courtesy of my friend Scott. :)

***Also, since I'm in a country where electronics are expensive and getting them here from the outside isn't an easy task either, I'm open to hear any suggestions on an "easy" way to get my hands on another camera.***