One thing stands between Mendoza, Argentina and Santiago, Chile:  The Andes, the highest mountain range outside Asia.  They cover 4,400 miles, are three hundred miles wide and average 13,000 feet high.

Aconcagua, at 22, 841 feet the highest mountain in the western hemisphere, lies in the Andes between the two cities.

Our plan was to take a bus – but when the kids saw Dani and me reading “Miracle in the Andes,” and “Death in the Andes,” they wondered what we had signed them up for.  As it turned out, it was one of the most spectacular journeys we’ve ever made.

Leaving Mendoza, the Andes form a formidable wall – and you have to wonder: How will a bus ever get over them?

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