Parque provincial Aconcagua

After intense research on the internet and several mails exchanged with the „park authorities“ in Mendoza we felt pretty confident that we could squeeze a three days trekking in the provincial park of Aconcagua. The only requirement would be to get and pay our permit in Mendoza, hence the overnight stop in this nice, leafy city (it was very nice to see so many lush trees after many desert landscapes).
As soon as we arrived we headed to the permit office, where we got told in confusing terms that the trekking would not be possible without buying “services” from an agency. We spent more than a hour trying to find a company that could help us before going out for a steak and wine.
Due to the complicated permit process, the short amount of time at our disposal and the high prices we decided to head to the park and do day hikes instead of the 3 days trekking.
We had had contact via WhatsApp with the owner of a camping close to the park and went there in the hopes to spend the night there. The camping site seemed in fact a dump field and we found nobody there so we moved on and found a nice spot close to the Puenta del Inca.
Hikes:
Day 1: Los Horcones to Confluencia which leads to the first camp on the way to the Aconcagua summit. The view of the highest peak in South America (6992 m) is stunning and not a cloud in view. We met many nice people on the way, especially a French couple, Hervé and Valerie, just retired, with whom we spent our lunch break. We drive them back after the hike and go for beers together after. Unfortunately our tire is flat again, and we need to change it on the campsite.
Day 2: Laguna Potrero Escondito. This hike was recommended to us from a nice lady we never met but helped us after we asked information on a random WhatsApp group (we were lucky to experience the kindness of strangers several times after we asked our questions on social media, which we found very inspiring as they sometimes got to great lengths to help us find information). Long but beautiful hike to a frozen lake, we only met 2 other persons in the whole day.
After the hike it was time to get ready to cross the border back to Chile through the famous Paso de los Libertadores. The border crossing to Chile is strict but went smoothly and within about an hour we went in Chile! The road down the pass goes through the famous ski resort of Portillo and the very steep and curvy road is full of trucks even on the weekend.
We arrived in Santiago de Chile around 21:00 and went rapidly to bed.Read more