Getting from Saskatoon to Argentina isn't what I imagined it to be. It was more like waking from a Rip-Van-Winkle sleep, from an evening with Adrian in Toronto, shuffling through the first of the fall red maple leaves, to the next afternoon strolling through Plaza Independencia lined with trees unfurling their limey green leaves. It's taken a day or two to trust this late-baby spring, but I think I'm in love with her.
Adrian in his student digs. I do believe that he actually cooks!
It was a treat to visit with Ado, even if for a few hours. Thanks, Adrian, for showing me the pictures of your latest...
The first glimpse of South America and the South Pacific, not far from Santiago, Chile. Not quite sure what the big splat on the lower right is... Anyone want to look it up on the map, Will?
Flying to South America from Canada has its advantages. Trying to sleep upright in a kitchen chair overnight is compensated by a mere 3-hour time change. While the result wasn't exactly dewy fresh, and the travel to "the Argentine" not nearly as romantic as it would have been a hundred years ago, the transition was easy.
The view from the window of the Santiago airport might make you think you're in Calgary, but just for a second. The eerily tall Andes jut up from the flat foreground, a snow-capped wall of mountains.
Once in the air again, the green fields stretch over a Chilean plain.
As the airplane climbs, passengers are required to stay seated during the short 30-minute flight from Santiago, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina, a distance of about 250 km. The plane levels off what seems to be far too close to the mountains below.
At its shortest distance we're a mere 5000 ft above the peaks, but still at an elevation of about 28,000 ft.
At one point in the flight over the Andes, you can see the plains of both Argentina and Chile at the same time.
A relieved, happy little cloud on the other side of the mountains.
The area surrounding Mendoza is a desert.
and Mendoza, an oasis.
That's all she wrote for tonight, folks. More photos about our trip to the vinyards and back into the mountains--this time by car--next time.
Love to all,
Grace
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