Sunny morning in Mendoza. The liter of petrol costs here 55 pesos – we filled the car tank to full to avoid problems in the countryside. It was 9 am when we started to drive the famous RN40 road… It goes all over the way south – at the bottom of the Andes. Till Tunuyan there were vineyards around and snow visible on the peaks reaching 5 to 6 thousands m above sea level. Then we found ourselves in the semi- desert. The most impressive part of this segment were the canyons around Rio Diamante crossing. See the views on the picture. Then we stopover for the meal in the green township od Malargue. RN40 took us again through deserted hills to Bardas Blancas. We crossed the bridge and… what a challenge! More than 110 kms driving on the stoney/ gravel road. Nice views of the Rio Grande river but I was really afraid about our tyres – no settlements on thd way to repair! We were lucky: with reduced speed I reached after 2,5 hours the bridge on Rio Barranca – the border of the Neuquen province. No single control in such a remote point… Good asphalted road took us up and down the mountains 150 kms away on the RN40 – to the town of Chos Malal – this was the first possible overnight point. We did today 655 kms, but the gravel segment should be multipled by 3 🙂 Good night from the bottom of the snowy Andes
