10th February 2015 – Mendoza

Today 5 of our MG’s plus the 4 Buenos Aries cars left the hotel at 8:00am to drive some 170 kilometers to get as close as possible to Mt. Aconcagua which at 6,960 Meters is the tallest mountain outside of the Himalayas. We took some photos of all the MG’s with this huge snow capped mountain in the distance.The road we are on goes into Chile and it hugs the side of the mountains, with tunnels through the rock.It’s fabulous driving, and wonderful to watch the 2 J types and in particular the Q type handle the bends at speed. At one stage we were following the Q type and we were going 113 kph as he was passing bikes around the bends. It has incredible acceleration and handling as we climb up and around the mountains of the Andes. We passed him eventually to get some photos and we were going 119 kph to overtake him, Michael had a ball and Shiraz handled herself very well considering she’s been built as a touring car.  We continued on the road to a turn off on a dirt road that is know as Las Cuevas, which as its name implies is a curvy road, which is an understatement! As we drive through the arch at the bottom we are now at 3,200 meters and the Q type is having trouble with his fuel mix at this altitude and his plugs have oiled up. So the plugs were pulled out and replaced with spares and it was good to go again. We climb ever so slowly up the mountain traversing numerous switch backs and the road is only 1 car wide in some places, so we have to keep an eye out for oncoming cars, minibuses and coaches.The drive up to the top of the mountain takes about 1 hour and we feel like we’re on top of the world at 3,840 meters when we finally get there.  All cars made it up to the top with the older ones arriving last, it was such a sense of achievement for these old cars, the drivers leap out and congratulate each other. They paraded around with their Argentinian flag, proud as punch. At the top is a statue Cristo Redentor, which is the tourist attraction, apart from the hot chocolate they sell, which is most welcome to warm us up. The views are breathtaking. We are dressed for a summer day but fortunately our wet weather pack is in the car so we put on our coats & beanies. A good look with sandals standing in the snow. It’s interesting at this altitude after a short walk our hearts were racing, a taste of what is ahead of us in Bolivia when we will be at 4,200 meters.  Horace the owner of the red J type suffered from altitude sickness, he was dizzy and felt unwell, and after we descended to 3,200 meters he fell asleep and didn’t feel up to driving back. Michael generously offered to drive the J type back along the windy road for him. The car has a TC motor & gearbox so it goes really well and was clipping along at 85 kph at times. Horace came in the GT with Kay driving and he slept most of the way. Once we had descended to below 2,000 meters Horace felt better and got back in the J type.  It has been a long day, 11 hours for the return journey, but well worth it!