Puente del Inca - Mendoza Travel

Puente de Inca, an obligatory pass on the way to Las Cuevas (bordering with Chile), has a rich history in facts and anecdotes. Towards the end of the XVIII century crossing from Mendoza to Chile was a real adventure which, in the best cases, took one week on the back of a mule. During the cold winters whoever made the attempt was in danger of freezing to death. Due to this "casuchas del rey" (king cottages) (colonial time) were built through out the area, serving as a refuge to the mail men that ventured forth on such an enterprise. Many years later the transandino railway would accelerate communications, but it could not avoid the uneven struggle against the weather conditions of the area. Landslides of ice, water, rock and mud constantly washed the mountains, devastating everything.
In 1925 Hotel Puente del Inca was constructed. It represented, for its time, a true luxury that only the most important people could access. Each bedroom had its own thermal bath. The crack of water can still be found today behind the yellowish construction, which owes it's colour to the great amount of sulphur that it receives. After surviving several weather hazards, that previously had disabled the transandino train service, the hotel was destroyed by a devastating avalanche in 1965. A true miracle was that this force of nature could not destroy the small colonial chapel at that time, where the hotel personnel and the guests were temporarily installed. Today the hotel remains abandoned, but the place does not cease to be the object of visitors drawn to it because of its colours. The thermal source that motivated the creation of the major part of this story still continues today to offer water to the surface, even though its temperature is lower now than at the beginning of the century.

Many years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards a great Incan chief had a sick son suffering from paralysis. After trying all sorts of cures with no result he heard that in the south lands there was a place where healing waters could put an end to his son's disgrace. Without delay, he prepared a group of his best warriors and made his way to the high peaks. When he arrived he observed, in amazement, the famous waters that came out of the earth, but before them lay a torrential river, that denied them access. His warriors, to make their chief's dream a reality, did not hesitate to embrace one another, and forming a human bridge they reached the other side. The Incan chief walked over their backs with his son in his arms and reached the thermal source where he found the cure he sought. When he looked back to thank his warriors, according to the legend, they had been turned to stone, creating the famous "Puente del Inca".