The water locally bottled here is named after the place Villavicencio.
For the trip the group was picked up at 7.30am and our first stop was Rutas Sanmartinians, the historic camp site of San Martins army who crossed the Andes to free the Chilean people from the Spanish in 1817. This has replica houses and barracks around the training camp but still displays the original cannons used in the war, at the entrance of the camp.
We moved onto the Reserva Natural Villavicencio which had cactus farms and rare rock and fossil formations on display as well as information about the local wildlife.
Before visiting the last stop on the tour we headed up an old winding road up the Andes mountains which was originally used as a passage to Chile and where the army of San Martin crossed into Chile. The views were spectacular even though it was slightly treacherous getting them.
Our last stop was the old Villavicencio hotel opened in 1940 and closed in 1978 after the 1978 world cup. The hotel is in the middle of no where, a bit like the Grand Budapest Hotel movie and unfortunately we were unable to look inside, only look from the outside.
A quick glance in the church next door to the hotel and then headed back to Mendoza.
Overall the views were great but after reading reviews before I went, I was disappointed to find that lunch was not an option, not even a shop to buy water or a coffee so I recommend to bring food and drink if you do this excursion.
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