On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Ok folks, this seems to be a test element.
It’s still magnificent!
See you Thursday.
Mendoza
Aspens, Andes.
Dan B
Gorgeous! One of the more interesting pictures I’ve seen of Mendoza. The photos I’ve seen never showed the Andes.
One note from a horticultural pedant. The golden trees are probably Lombardy Poplars. They could be Swedish Columnar Aspen but that’s highly unlikely since they are very rare in the trade. Lombardy Poplars are frequently planted as windbreaks in drier climates. Near mountains they would be perfect for protecting crops, like grapes, from gale force winds that could come roaring down mountainsides or roaring along the front range.
Mary G
Beautiful peaceful picture.
JPL
Beautiful!
satby
Very beautiful! Thanks G&T
J R in WV
How come Gin and Tonic get to go to South America so much while I’m stuck on watching House hearings???
G&T, thanks for a great mountain photo!! Andes are on the bucket list, which also includes the rest of the world. Reach exceeding the grasp, right? Also glad my nym is persistent~!!~
Zinsky
I was going to say that you have the same picture and caption up twice but it looks like it is fixed now. Never mind…..
Baud
I would like to be there right now.
debbie
Beautiful!
Elizabelle
OK. That goes on the bucket list.
Gorgeous photos, Gin & Tonic. A balm to look at, this morning.
Gin & Tonic
Alain is right, this was a test element. I thought WaterGirl would delete it after we resolved the issue. Oh, well, you’ll see it again when the next submission posts.
Dan B is very likely correct, as I am not a horticulturalist (eh, you can lead a horticulture, but you..) but “aspens” works better for alliteration, so, poetic license. This was in May (not this year) so pretty late autumn – I suspect if there were aspens they’d probably have shed their leaves by then.
Although you can’t see it in this pic, the road through the mountains from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile passes by the base of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America. You get a very clear view from the pass just before the border crossing (and the wind there was so strong I almost couldn’t open the car door.)
Spanky
Very nice! Did you get to straddle the Mendoza Line while you were there?
(Can’t believe I’m first to bring that up.)
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: If you like wine, Mendoza is a good place to go.
Elizabelle
@Gin & Tonic: Love wine. Mendoza moves up on the bucket list.
Have never been to central or South America. Truly have to do something about that, soon.
Gin & Tonic
@Elizabelle: Mendoza is Argentina’s biggest wine-producing region. A lot of it is plonk, of course, just as in California. What I learned there is that the good Malbec may get as far as Buenos Aires. The really good stuff doesn’t leave Mendoza. There are plenty pf small producers that just can’t be bothered with export.
We spent a couple of nights on a small estancia – guy emigrated from Europe some years back, has a couple of hectares of vines, a couple of olives, makes his own wine and olive oil, has 4-5 rooms that he rents out, and that’s sufficient to make a living.
Yutsano
@Gin & Tonic: He’s probably better off than others, considering the state of the Argentine economy. It gets hard to believe Argentina was once one of the richest countries in the world in the 1920s. And the Peronistas just took power again. I swear Christina Fernandez Kirchner is going for Evita status.
I might suggest this as a next trip for my mom. She has cultural ties to Peru (via a Peruvian horse breed she’s trying to maintain in the US) but for good wine she might go. And even talk my dad into it.
Gin & Tonic
@Yutsano: Good place to go these days if you bring US$. Yeah, I know the economy is fucked.
Uncle Cosmo
Brings a bit of a tear to my eyes. Unc’s late nephew/godson Skyler spent a few months in Mendoza with his best bud after they got their architecture degrees, drawing up concepts for a combination winery and ski resort outside town. They flew in via Santiago – only 60 miles as the condor flies across the Andes – & were living on the 2nd floor of a high-rise when the 8.8 earthquake hit (“like a semi coming down the street that didn’t stop coming down the street” was his description).
Rick Steves says when traveling you should always assume you’ll be back, so you don’t wreck your vacation by trying to do too much. That’s good advice 95% of the time, but– I had mentioned to them that Valparaiso was reputed to be worth visiting, & they planned to check it out on the way back; but by that time the check-in facilities at Santiago airport were in tents outside the main building, & Valparaiso had been smashed up by the tsunami that followed the quake. :^(