The
day before our departure from San Rafael was to be ended around an
asado, traditional Argentinian dish, with our hosts Valeria and
Sandro. In the afternoon we face a choice: the Asado as planned or accompany them in their night out jog with their mountain club. We take the second option, which seems the least wise.
At 21:00 we are all four in Valeria and Sandro's Renault 12 going to a dam and staying around for sunset. Once the sun down, we join the other members of their mountain club to start jogging. We don't have to run, but we get carried away and go with the others, front light on in the pampas.
The terrain isn't easy, especially at night: sand, pebbles and other streams. We go into small canyons and on the way we take some time to admire the stars. The atmosphere is friendly and the experience unforgettable. Around midnight and after 10km we reach the cars and we picnic together. It's still warm despite the late hour. We won't got to bed before 1:00 am.
Obviously this morning it's hard to wake up and we feel last night run in our body. We leave San Rafael on a long and straight avenue before hitchhiking on the road to Mendoza. We are very quickly taken by an old truck. The road is very boring, the driver stalls a branch on the accelerator pedal. It's hard not to fall asleep. We get off the truck in San Carlos, a village at the beginning of the Mendoza 's
wine route, a way of approaching the big city avoiding traffic and the
highway.
We have a good nap in a square after lunch, we needed it. Then we leave on this wine route. It's aptly named, we're in the middle of vineyards and orchards full of
peaches with the mountain hidden by the clouds in the background. We're a little disappointed not to be able to taste the local wines in the Bodegas which seem to only sell wine by the bottle.
In the evening we're tired and far from any camping. Floriane asks permission to sleep in a neighboring orchard. Tonight we sleep beside the peaches.
