We decided to take three days for the 26-mile trek to basecamp instead of the normal two and Sr. Jatib made all the arrangements to assure the proper gear was at our two camps going up the Horcones Valley. My cost for staying three nights at Penitentes at the start and after coming out, breakfast and dinners, transportation to and from Puente, mules carrying my gear to Mulas basecamp and back out, getting extra gear at basecamp, and securely storing our gear at basecamp - all that for $260/person. What a bargain. Others services available at the hotel include porters who carry 60# of gear to Berlin Camp for $140 and helicopter transport to/from the hotel for $120 each way. Our overall trip plan was to dedicate as much time as necessary for Aconcagua and then see as much of South America as possible following the climb. The trailhead for the Routa Normal leaves Argentina highway 7 at the small village of Puente del Inca. It's a 26 mile trail up the Horcones Valley to the 14,300' basecamp at Plaza de Mulas. From basecamp, we would do shuttles to Plaza Canada at 16,300', Nido de Condores at 17,600', and to the Berlin high camp at 19,300'. We did not use the higher Refugio Indepéndcia at 21,100'. Our flight to Santiago went fine and we enjoyed the city where costs were very reasonable - we stayed at a pleasant hotel downtown for $45/double and a great dinner was about $10/person. Next morning, we hired a large van to transport us across the Andes to Puente del Inca which cost $30/person. On Monday, Feb. 8th, six climbers plus Doug's wife Eureka were driven up to the trailhead where a park ranger carefully checked our permits and issued us numbered litter bags - they were numbered for checking at trips end to assure that each group brings out their trash. A commercial U.S. group of one guide and eight other American climbers walked up and started the ascent at the same time. We saw them periodically for the next two weeks and went to the summit on the same day - 10 days later on the 17th. The first three days were relaxing as we followed the Horcones River up to our camps at La Confluencia at 11,400', Camp Ibanez at 12,800' and then to Mulas basecamp at 14,300'. There were several stream crossings but only one was any problem where we had to wade across 15 feet of cold water. Our unconventional camping at Ibanez worked out fine - except that there was no fresh water. The silty Horcones stream quickly clogged up one of our filters so the only recourse was to use the chocolate brown water straight - ugh! At Mulas basecamp we visited the hotel which unfortunately is located .5 mile east off the trail - probably to keep it well away avalanches at the base of Aconcagua but being away from the base it has a great view of the north summit and trail up to Nido. Day four, we carried supplies up to Plaza Canada and returned to basecamp to try the comforts of the hotel. Rooms are $40 and great chicken and steak meals were $15. Lounging in the large dinning room with climbers from around the world and discussing our climbing experiences was really nice. We discovered that we were actually toward the end of the climbing season so there were not too many other climbers in basecamp or on the mountain.

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