Borders, Buses and Rental Cars

South America
January 2nd 2006

Published: February 10th 2006

We really loved the blue, green and white colours of the lakes and mountains. This is the view from the upper slopes of the town

The Journey to Middle Chile - 9 buses, 72 hours of travel

The Atacama frontier between Chile and Bolivia is a vast arid high altitude plain dotted with the occasional dormant volcano. There is little physical evidence of the border and the transition from one country to another included a visit to the Bolivian border control (Chilean border control was further down in the town). However, a few hundred meters after crossing into Chilean territory we encountered a herd of the endangered Vicunas (the high altitude camelids renowned for the best camelid wool), for a change they did not run away from us as all the others in Bolivia had but stared at us as our bus passed by. The border for them was quite obvious and they knew they were safe from poachers.

We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama and were subjected to a lengthy search by the customs officials (they don’t want any dodgy Bolivian produce entering Chile) and then set about finding a bus south. San Pedro looked a nice town but having been in the high, dry Altiplano we were desperate for more oxygen and the occasional tree. We organised a bus ticket to

Fruitillar

Kuchen Shop in Fruitillar . Fruitillar is little German town in the Chilean Lake District, where we spent some time recovering from our enormous journey. Lots of Kuchen, good coffee, German Beer and good Chilean wine.

Santiago (a journey of 24 hours) and we would decide where to go when we got there.

We said what seemed a final goodbye to our Swiss friends (as they wanted to try out the beaches in Northern Chile before heading to the middle) and then got comfortable for a long journey. The Atacama is reputedly the driest place on earth and at one point we timed an interval of just under 2 hours between any vegetation visible from the bus window. Something that did however appear with alarming regularity was the election poster. In Chile they seem to have got democracy all mixed up, one man one poster instead of one man one vote.

Twenty-four hours later we arrived at the main bus terminal in Santiago and set off to try find some lunch while we mulled over where we really wanted to be. We attributed the total lack of selection and quality of the food to be due to our location near the bus station but this has since proven to be a national issue. They do however have excellent ice cream and we consumed three quarters of a litre of the pie limon (lemon meringue

Lago Llanquihue - Fruitillar

Carl's antics on shores of Lago Llanquihue. The view across the water is of the perfectly formed and snow capped Volcan Osorno

pie) flavour. After much indecision we decided to head to Puerto Montt, the main city in the Lake District, and prepared ourselves for another 12 hours on the bus.

Sixty-seven hours of travel since leaving Uyuni in Bolivia we arrived in Puerto Montt, unloaded our bags and began walking towards the centre of town. The journey had certainly taken its toll and we were far too tired to think straight. Our strength was sapped and our bags felt heavier than ever before. We tried unsuccessfully to hail a cab before deciding that we were simply too tired to do anything so we returned to the bus station and bought a ticket to Castro on the Island of Chiloe. This would give us 4 more hours to try sleep or decide what we wanted to do.

The journey to Castro was very pretty and included a ferry crossing during which we saw a number of seals, pelicans and other wildlife. Elections posters were even more populous than in the north and in one place we even saw a giant poster in a field that was almost completely obscured by the trees alongside the road. The only reason we saw

Drummer - Bariloche

Our visit to Bariloche luckily coincided with a huge parade starting with a military band and these talented drummers.

it was that a gust of wind moved bent one of the trees at exactly the right moment exposing a giant chin and half a slogan.

In Castro we were accosted by a huge number of hostel touts and our complete lack of ability to make a decision made them more and more animated, Our tired brains just couldn’t deal with all the jostling so we took a pamphlet from each to placate them and headed towards the coast where we hoped to find a place next to the sea. After walking for some time we found a cute looking B&B and Nicola went to investigate, it was a little too dirty for our liking but we were too tired to continue so we accepted the overpriced rate and finally deposited our bags. Total journey time 73 hrs.

After an unsatisfactorily cold shower (we chose the place for its advertised hot water) we had a late lunch of seafood with a really good wine before heading to our room for an afternoon nap. This became a mammoth sleep session lasting into the next day. At around 11pm we were awoken by the sound of screaming kids and parents,

Traditional Gauchos - Bariloche

Nicola had a wonderful time taking photos of all the horses dressed in traditional tack in the parade.

which lasted until 1am. In future we will avoid places that aren’t spotlessly clean, if the proprietors don’t look after the basics they probably aren’t going to care much about the comfort of their guests.

The next morning we awoke to more banging and decided that we would definitely not be spending another night in the B&B. In fact we didn’t think much of Castro, Chiloe Island or Chile so we decided to get back to Argentina our new favourite country. The Lake District in Chile is supposed to be really pretty so we decided to give Chile one more chance and stop over in the town of Fruitillar (recommended by the Chileans we met in Peru) on route.

Fruitillar - Chilean Lake District

Our bus to Fruitillar very kindly dropped us off more than 6km from the town and we had to walk some distance before finding a taxi to take us the rest of the way. Fruitillar was settled by the Germans in the late 19th century although we got the impression that some had arrived in the mid 1940s. We chose a hotel, which looked like a Swiss chalet and served cakes for breakfast. Fruitillar

Chocolate Heaven

It is hard to avoid Bariloche's world famous chocolate shops as they line the street. Nicola was hard pressed to choose a few delectable delights for lunch.

is set on the shores of Lago Llanquihue with views across the water of the perfectly formed and snow capped Volcan Osorno. It was the kind of place to recharge and the next two days were spent waking up late, going to bed early, drinking good Chilean wines, German beer and proper coffee and catching up on our writing.

After a few days in “Germany” we felt we had recharged sufficiently to get back on the bus and to cross the Andes into Argentina. The immigration control on both the Chilean and Argentinean sides are set some distance back from the true frontier and the area in between is filled with the most beautiful national parks. Deciduous forests, volcanoes and jagged peaks as far as the eye could see and the further we went into Argentina the better it got. We arrived in Bariloche really excited by the prospect of exploring the area (and of eating lots of steak which we set about doing immediately).

Bariloche - Argentinean Lake District

Bariloche has a reputation for being excessively touristy, which it is, but for us the opportunity to eat good food, visit the world famous chocolate shops and to

Refreshing Swim

Carl could not resist a swim in the crystal clear waters. The lake, which was fed by glacial streams so the swim was VERY refreshing.

drink good coffee was really welcome. We decided that the only way to really see the countryside was to rent a car and to go camping. While we were organising our gear we bumped into a parade moving through the town centre. First up was a military band, followed by children dressed in local costume and then to Nicola’s delight gauchos on horseback. Nicola loves horses and we had to wait for all of the twenty or more groups to pass by before we continued with our preparations.

The people in the shops were really friendly and we spent lots of time discussing the Springbok’s (South Africa’s national rugby side) recent match against the Pumas of Argentina. They seemed to really like the Springboks and were proud that their team had run us close.

We picked up some basic provisions before picking up our car (a Fiat Uno) and heading south into the unknown. The weather was simply perfect and the spring blossoms added a splash of yellow to the blue, green and white of the lakes and mountains. We stopped for lunch at one of the lakes and I could not resist a swim in the crystal

Pristine Countryside - Bariloche area

We really enjoyed the panoramic views around every corner. Aside from the odd campsite there was nothing and the countryside was pristine.

clear waters. The lake, which was fed by glacial streams so the swim was VERY refreshing and I could only manage a few minutes before my feet went numb, and I was forced to retreat to a sunny rock.

We had planned to camp further to the south so we reluctantly left our sunning rocks and returned to the car. Progress was slow as we kept stopping to take in the panoramic views around every corner. As Bariloche is a fairly large town we had expected the surrounding area to have a fair number of restaurants and places we could purchase provisions but aside from the odd campsite there was nothing. This meant the countryside was in a really pristine condition but also that we needed to bring everything we wanted to eat from Bariloche. We only had enough for dinner and breakfast so we were forced to camp near to Bariloche as we would have to return the next day to stock up.

That night we set up our newly purchased tent and accompanied a meal of cheese, cold meats and bread with a bottle of Patagonian wine (which was pretty close to water in depth of

Tent Initiation

Our little Uno and our newly purchased tent on its first night out in the wild countryside surrounding Bariloche.

flavour). It was a welcome change not having to go to a restaurant. During the night a mare and foal decided the grass around our tent was the juiciest on offer and we were awoken by the sound of munching. Nicola was worried they were going to step on us; I was worried they were going to eat a hole in our brand-new tent.

We overslept the next morning and although rushed we could not resist adding a visit to another chocolate shop after the stock replenishment mission to the local supermarket. The reason we were rushed is that many of the roads in the national parks are single track and there are specific times during which you may travel in each direction. The road to Mount Tronodor could only be driven in our direction until 2pm.

We started the route in time and enjoyed a drive through some wonderful forests and over the clearest streams we have ever seen until we arrived at the impressive peak of Tronodor. Tronodor meaning thunder gets its name from the booms and cracks of the glacial ice flowing down its sides. We took a short walk alongside one of the melt

Wonderful Waterfalls

Mount Tronodor like all the wildnerness surrounding Bariloche had the clearest streams we had ever seen and many beautfil waterfalls.

water streams to the snow line where I tried unsuccessfully to pelt Nicola with some snowballs.
When the road changed flow direction again we headed back down to where we set up camp alongside one of the beautiful lakes.

The next morning we had planned to visit a waterfall in the area but we overslept and missed the slot for up traffic and so we decided to do the circuit Chico. This is the most touristy region around Bariloche but it did have a few more interesting places to stop. On route we stopped at a Patagonian Speciality restaurant where Nicola ordered Bife de Chorizo and I ordered the middle sized Cordero Asado (Lamb spread out like a spatch-cock chicken and cooked standing vertically next to a fire, not over it). Nicola’s steak turned out to be about twice the size she could manage and my lamb included a shoulder, half a hind leg and a huge piece of flank. Nicola helped me with the lamb and we ended up with pretty much all her steak as left over. The lamb was exceedingly tasty and for the rest of our time in Argentina I alternated between steak and lamb

Crystal Clear Cascades

Even a weir is converted into a beautiful sight with the crystal clear water and deciduous forest.

at meals. What a tough life.

On our last day the weather turned bad and we eventually found ourselves back in the Bariloche chocolate and coffee shops. When it came to returning the car we found that there was a crack in one of the front panels that we had not noticed when we picked up the car. However there had been no situation during our driving that could have caused it. We told the rental guy and to our surprise he accepted that, we were fully expecting to be landed with an expensive repair bill. In the late afternoon we caught an overnight bus to Mendoza to meet up with Doris and Oliver (the Swiss Couple) from our travels around Bolivia.

Mendoza and San Juan

When we pulled into Mendoza Oliver was there to greet us and it was clear to us that since we last saw them they had been able to do a lot more relaxing than us. They had organised a car and formulated a basic plan for the next few days. At lunch before heading off I made the mistake of not specifying that I wanted a small sandwich and ended up with

Codero Asado

Traditional method of cooking Lamb. It is spread out like a spatch-cock chicken and cooked standing vertically next to a fire, not over it. It is delicious and we ordered a lot of it while in Argentina.

an enormous half-meter monster of which I only managed to eat half.

After a three hour drive we reached the City of San Juan to the north of Mendoza and drove a few minutes more to a popular water sports and swimming area on the way to Ullum we had found in the travel guide. Although the water was very murky Nicola and I had not yet had an opportunity to have a shower so the swim was very welcome.

After our swim we returned to San Juan where we found a hotel for the night. It was here that Oliver found out that Switzerland had qualified for the soccer world cup, something that kept him in very good spirits over the next few days. It took us a very long time to find a restaurant that night but when we did it was truly excellent, we made a good choice on the wine, and I regretted having had the enormous sandwich at lunch and having to order a half portion of steak.

The next day as we were leaving San Juan Oliver noticed a light on the dashboard that we did not recognise, he was rather

Circuit Chico

Despite the incessant rain on our last day, we still managed to get a photo of the lakes from the viewpoint on the Circuit Chico.

concerned as it was not there yesterday. We all offered guesses as to what it was but no one was sure, so we decided to ask at the petrol station. First the attendant looked at the light but he was not sure either and called his friend in the Mechanic’s section and they looked at the light and also checked under the hood, they then decided to call another friend, eventually there were 5 people crowded round our car trying to figure out what it was. No one could find anything wrong or explain the light.

Convinced that there was nothing sinister about the light we started our day with a visit to a Champagne Winery set up in an abandoned railway tunnel in the mountains. The constant temperature inside the tunnel creates the perfect environment for the production of sparkling wine. The sign on the entrance said that we should ring ONCE and then be patient. We did so but after waiting for near five minutes we decided to give it another ring. An additional 5 minutes later we tried again and just as we were about to give up we heard some movement and an elderly gentleman

Moonlight madness

Our last night in Bariloche we camped next to another magnificent lake. We dug out our broken tripod to experiment with long exposure shots of the moon and Carl.

opened up. He explained that they took so long to answer as they were in the middle of another group tour, which had only just finished. We were introduced to our guide who gave us the grand tour of the tunnel (in Spanish of course) including a taste of one of their Champagnes and ended with a visit to one of the side chambers where we were asked to sign the visitors’ book and could buy Champagne.

One bottle of Champagne in hand we decided to head north to a town called Boreal in a valley that according to the Lonely Planet, “Could well be the most beautiful place you will ever see”. We found that the most direct route to Boreal was closed and decided to try an alternative route shown on the map in the Lonely Planet. After passing the point where the turn-off was supposed to be we began to doubt the existence of this Lonely Planet road. We eventually ended up back at the Champagne winery without seeing the turn-off. Slightly irritated with the unnecessary kilometres, we visited the tourist office and Carl and Oliver were assigned with the task of getting the directions. Carl

Champagne Winery

Signage in the Champagne Winery set up in an abandoned railway tunnel in the mountains near San Juan.

learnt the word for traffic light in the process as the directions included the tourist office dude counting the 7 sets of lights out on his fingers for emphasis. It tuned out there were actually 8 sets of lights, though by Oliver’s count it was 9 (as he saw another set of lights that Doris, Carl and I did not).

Middle Argentina (north of San Juan)

Our drive North was amazingly quiet and we did not see another car for hundreds of kilometres. We did however see an Andean Fox, Zorro Andina in Spanish, and our first Guanacos (the missing member of our South American Camelid collection). Next stop was at a site described in the usual Lonely Planet superlatives, a 100m high wall of mustard coloured sand stone. It was quite spectacular and we followed a path about half way up to where we had a spectacular view of the valley below. Carl decided that this was not enough of a challenge and managed to climb all the way to the top. The sun was starting to get a bit lower in the sky and the light was fantastic, so we decided to take some shadow photos,

Mustard Wall

This 100m high wall of mustard coloured sand stone was quite spectacular and we followed a path about half way up to where we had a spectacular view of the valley below. Carl decided that this was not enough of a challenge and managed to climb all the way to the top.

which was great fun (see pictures).

Oliver had left his driver’s licence in Switzerland but had decided to drive anyway as he felt he could talk his way out of any situation. We had a minor scare when we were stopped at a control checking for fruit but they had not asked for his license so he continued driving. Just a few kilometres from our destination we had a much bigger scare when we were pulled over by a group of five policemen with Oliver still at the wheel. They had obviously not had too many customers on that desolate road so they decided to be as thorough as possible and each one of the five took a turn examining our rental agreement and each of our passports. The examination went on so long, at least 10 minutes, that we began to worry that they were determined to find something at fault. At last after each policeman had checked ever page of passports they sent us on our way to Boreal “Could well be the most beautiful place you will ever see”. We were very lucky that they did not ask for Oliver’s driving license and after that decided

Shadow Shot

Our group self portrait on the Mustard Wall. (left to right: Nicola, Carl, Doris Oliver).

that it was probably best if he did not drive.

Boreal was a nice town but definitely did not deserve the all plaudits lavished on it by the Lonely Planet. For accommodation we found a Cabana, small self-catering cottage, which came complete with dog Felipe. Felipe had taken to us and we let him join us in the Cabana while we had our first taste of maté, the herbal infusion which is a very important part of Argentine life. When drinking maté you fill the mate gourd near to the brim with the dry herb and then pore in boiling water, each person then takes turns drinking the gourd dry before it is refilled and passed on. However as much as we tried it was difficult to take more than a minute sip of bitter concoction, as it tasted so foul. It is meant to be an acquired taste so Carl kept forcing it down but three days later it still seemed like bitter torture and he gave up.

When it came to bedtime I felt so bad about forcing Felipe to go outside, so extracted a bargain from Carl that he could sleep at the foot of

Mustard Monster

After tiring of taking self portraits we created this Mustard Monster in shadows. (Contains: Nicola, Carl, Doris, Oliver and Oliver's Bag)

my bed if I would let him out if he barked in the middle of the night (this did happen but I was happy to get up).

Next morning after a Sunny breakfast of fresh bread, Dulce de Leche (a caramel spread very popular in South America) and fresh jam from the owners of the Cabanas we hit the road again and headed south towards Aconcagua, the highest peak outside the Himalayas. Just outside Boreal there was a large sand lake, famous for land sailing which we hoped to witness. However when we got there we were alone and instead conducted experiments to see how straight we could walk with our eyes closed. In 30 seconds of walking both girls ended up about 90 degrees off course. After the experiment Doris suggested a game of Stone Boulle. We spent a good half hour trying to get our stones close to the big stone in the mysterious silence of the immense dry lake.

After what seemed like hours of driving (as I was the only one awake and struggling to remain so) on a very bad road from which I thought I could see Aconcagua we at one of

Our Car

Our powerless dull American car in the big colourful South American countryside. (Near Boreal and Mustard wall)

the water shrines quite common along the roads in the drier parts of the country. They are dedicated to the memory of a woman who followed her husband while he was fighting in the independence war to help him out with supplies. However she got lost and ended up dying of thirst. To honour her and so that they may never befall the same fate the locals place bottles of water at shrines dedicated to her memory, at some of the shrines which have been around for some time the piles of bottles can be quite large. We added some of our own before moving on.

We had lunch in Uspallata, the biggest town in the area, before heading on to Agonagua and the nearby Inca Bridge, another sight highly rated by the Lonely Planet. We thought we might spend the night in one of the tiny ski villages on route but almost all accommodation was closed or ridiculously expensive. One of the hoteliers wanted to know what we were planning to do there at this time of year as it was too late for skiing and too early for climbing.

The Inca Bridge was exactly as it

Water Shrine

These arequite common along the roads in the drier parts of the country. They are dedicated to the memory of a woman who followed her husband while he was fighting in the independence war to help him out with supplies. However she got lost and ended up dying of thirst. To honour her and so that they may never befall the same fate the locals place bottles of water at shrines dedicated to her memory. We added some of our own before moving on.

looked in the picture except we could not get very close as there had been a landslide and it was all fenced off. After the bridge we continued on to the viewing point for Aconcagua but when we got there it was completely covered in clouds and we returned to Uspellata where we booked into a Cabana for two nights.

The next day was fairly relaxing with a few admin tasks in the morning and a walk through the canyon of seven colours in the afternoon. The walk was not actually that relaxing a required quite a bit of climbing but the views were well worth it.

We had an excellent BBQ that night and at the end we traded our fire for a maté lesson from a local Argentinean who was on Holiday with his Spanish (from Spain) friends. It was a little better the way he made it but we still had not acquired the taste.

Back to Chile and Santiago

Next morning it was back to Mendoza to drop off our car and catch a bus to Santiago while Oliver and Doris headed south to Bariloche.

The border crossing into Chile took

Inca Bridge

A natural land bridge another sight highly rated by the Lonely Planet, we felt they had definately overrated this one and we could not get very close as there had been a landslide and it was all fenced off.

over an hour as in addition to getting the whole busload’s passports stamped all luggage had to be checked as they are very serious about fruit, plant and animal products entering the country. They took everyone off the bus and we had to stand in lines behind a bench with our hand luggage while a black Labrador and a huge ex-ray scanner check our hold luggage. There was another Labrador who stood on his hind legs with his front paws on the hand luggage bench and moved along a high speed sniffing each piece of hand luggage on his way.

After we were all piled back onto the bus, we continued into Chile down a very steep road, at every bend it felt as if the bus driver had misjudged the corner and we were going to fall over the edge. To make matters worse he then began talking on his cell phone while we navigated the hairpin bends.

After arriving in Santiago we checked into the hostel across the road and then went exploring. Much of the city centre is pedestrianised and we managed to catch the end of a Sunday market as we walked towards the

Canyon of Seven Colours - Team Shot

We paused for some self timer shots on our walk through the canyon of seven colours near Uspallata.

main square. We could not however, find any form of restaurant that looked like they served a tasty meal. The food was very boring everyone selling the same, hamburgers, hotdogs, cheese sandwiches and pizzas. Eventually we settled for a pizza cheese sandwich before heading off to bed as the next day we were up really early for our flight to the Southern Patagonia.

Additional photos below

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