Andes, Frontside and Back:

Argentina Highway

Portillo : Argentina Highway : Lonquimay : El Medina : Las Araucarias : Llaima : Villarica : Chillan

September, 2007

One of the amazing things about the trip was how I looked at a road map and figured out a loop we could drive down the Argentinian side of the Andes, then up the Chilean side. It looked good on paper, but there were some doubts:

Would the mountain passes be open?
Would we be able to cross the border, especially with a rental car?
Would the roads be buried under feet of snow?
Is the road a four lane highway, or a washboard gravel nightmare?
Would driving a little piece of road on the map take an hour or a day?

The answers to these questions all came in good time. To put it simply, things were both easier, and more difficult than we had imagined. Roads were much worse in Argentina than I had imagined, so it was reassuring to have a 4wd vehicle with a full sized spare for the times we crossed through the middle of nowhere to the other middle of nowhere. Next time I rent a car for a trip like this, I'd be tempted to enquire if the camioneta had a full size spare tire. Then again, that may raise some suspicions.

If you don't know any Spanish, I wouldn't reccommend driving a rental car from Chile to Argentina, or vice versa. The paperwork and the ordeal at not one, but several stops from one country to the next would be rather overwhelming, especially at the smaller bordercrossings where some spanish skilz are expected. Then again, in the end I just ended up putting all the important paperwork into one folder and just handing it over...

Crossing from Portillo, Chile to Mendoza, Argentina was truly one of the worst days of my life. Part of the diffulcity was being stuck in a 7 hour line of traffic waiting to pass through la aduana (customs). If the miserable day had a highlight, it was being at the foot of the highest peak in North and South Americas, Aconcagua (22,841 ft, barely visible here in the far distance behind the cross to the right. More on Aconcagua.

Aconcagua traffic

I'd really rather not remember this image of the 7 hour traffic jam, but I'll post it anyway. Maybe some day I'll be over it...

The one night we camped on on the entire trip was in a tiny pueblo in Argentina. The cold and persistent winds experienced here changed our minds about camping in the mega-mid at higher elevations.

thorny

East of the Andes is a thorny place, and windy. Check out how Diego's pants are wind plastered to his legs here.

Portillo : Argentina Highway : Lonquimay : El Medina : Las Araucarias : Llaima : Villarica : Chillan