This past weekend I went to Mendoza. It is the wine country of Argentina where all of those Malbecs and Torrontes are made for my wine connoisseur friends out there. Now, as excited as I was about the wine, I have to admit the mountains were sooooooo much cooler.
It's hard to put into words how wonderful they are. I have pretty much grown up my entire life living relatively close to the beach. It is only an hour away so I'm able to take lots of day trips and go several times a year. The thing is, there is nothing that the beach can to to take my breath away quite like the mountains do. When I sit on the beach or walk along the water, I can see and feel where I am. It is apparent. The experience is just pretty straight forward and short lived.
Being in the mountains is a completely different experience. You can't really feel
a mountain the way you can feel a beach. There is nothing strange about the ground that is distinctly mountainous unless you count the inclines (which vary greatly and unless you are rock climbing, it probably isn't much steeper in the place you are at than a hill), nor is there something like the ocean looming around for you to go up and touch (just the occasional large rock you pass).
What makes the mountains so magical is that you become a part of them. They surround you. Encompass you. They become a part of you, and you become a part of them. You cannot touch it, because being there makes you apart it. The world that surrounds you is made up of so many different elements, it is impossible to name just two things that make the mountains so magical. There is no other point in my life where I really understand the idea of "becoming one with nature."
If you like being crammed at the beach trying to soak up sun and get skin cancer feel free. I think I'm going to keep being stupefied by the 360° view of beauty from the mountain top.
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