An excursion to the Aconcagua Valley Wine Region

We hired Leo C. as our guide the last time we were here and he was great (tours by locals #4032). So we contacted Leo and hired him again for this trip. We are so very happy that we did he is the best guide we have ever had at any place at any time. He took us up to the northern region which is the Aconcagua valley. This Valley is very dry and rugged with cool mornings but hot dry afternoons. It is an excellent growing region for Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Carmenere grapes.  It is about an hour north of Santiago but the drive was so stunning. We went to a archaeological site where there are some ancient pre-inca petroglyphs on the rocks. It was a 20-minute hike in total with a few steep uphill sections but very doable. After the hike we visited In Situ winery.

We drove by an army base and saw several large helicopters going out for a training run

The Hayes was magical as the mountains seem to just rise up out of the Mist

We passed the place of the last battle between the Chileans and the Spanish. This giant statue was erected in honor of that battle

Don't Fence Me In

The entrance to the archaeological site

All of the petroglyphs are described and listed by frequency

The bottom of the chart here shows how many times each symbol is found up on the hill

The cactus were plentiful and quite beautiful

The spines are lit up by the sun and the cactus appears to Glow

The circles with dots in them are the most numerous of the petroglyphs

I believe this is an Inca calendar

Although they were widely spaced where are the petroglyphs were they were packed in tightly

A 360 degree panorama on the top of the hill

This human symbol is found only once in the entire site

This symbol is more modern but perplexing nonetheless

We saw this one at the very top of the hike

 the beauty of the mountains and the beauty of Leslie

Loving the day and the fabulous weather that we had

The petroglyphs were marked with white paint because you may just walk right past them otherwise

The lone cactus

Petroglyphs cacti and a town in the distance

The prevailing winds must have caused these cacti to lean

Bunched up all together

I wonder whose home this is? 

More Mountains off to the West

Leo off in the distance

A large Eagle that was flying around. We saw eagles and kestrels and hummingbirds