Argentina to Chile

LEts see......We tried to come to warmer weather, but found hot instead. Hiking at Mercadario we were hiking with full packs when the temperature was up to 40 degrees in the shade!
Trying to hitch hike out of Barreal we were cowering under a sapling while the temperature surpassed 45.
Down to San Juan, up to Rodeo to see if it is cooler at the windiest windsurfing lake in Argentina.
On the way in, the road is so turny that our bus manages to squash an oncoming car against the mountainside, because the road is so narrow.
Rodeo is another oasis town that is irregularly determined by the access to water, and is so bloody long and narrow that it´s impossible to move around it much, but we´re determined to cross back to Chile despite the lack of public transport through the highest pass in South America.
With a backup plan of tediously returning to San Juan, Mendoza, Santiago, La Serena and finally to Elqui....probably two days on a bus and lots of big cities, we walk and hitchhike our way to the Argentine frontier, and wait at a remote outpost in sight of the mountains that are keeping us from Chile. 6 hours and many unlucky tries later, we catch a car heading our way. 5 and 1/2 hours to go 200 km and climb 2775 metres, over the 4775 metre paso Agua Negra.
Vicuña, in Chile, is also warm and dry, but more like a traditional town layout, free of dust, and feeling like home. Endless fresh and dry fruit, vineyards, pisco, and cold beer....perfecto...
Cheryl is healing from a lengthy and stubborn cold, and we are preparing for our next mountain adventure.