And on to Chile!

Or not.

Yea gods, even looking at these photos makes me shudder. The building below is the checkpoint out of Argentina at Paso Mamuil Malal o Tromen, to cross the Andes into Chile. Of course, you first exit Argentina, then find a similar station a few clicks away that ushers you into Chile. We did not pass Go, did not collect our $200, but, luckily, we did go directly to jail.

But let's step back, shall we? And re-create the moment.

We left the estancia on a beautiful sunny morning after having a spectacularly filling ranch style breakfast, and bidding a fond adieu with one part wistfulness and one part relief to our estanacia compatriots. It was a grand time, and one especially the children will look back on as being brilliant, but, it was definitely time to move on. Socializing was good, staying in one place for a short time was good, but the soles of our feet were getting itchy, COW was starting to repeat his stories, and it was time to hit the road, Jack and explore Chile.

The plan was a five day drive around the Chilean Lake District that would take us through Pucon, a sporting sort of outdoorsy place, to Valdiva, on the Chilean coast, and then around to Lake Puyehue, for a last bit of relaxation before we drove 9 hours back to Mara's in Neuquén to drop off the car.  From Neuquén we would then fly to Iguazu Falls for our last bit of sight seeing in Argentina. Before flying to Rio as our last stop before home. Whew. I'm tired just typing that.

So, the weather was gorgeous, we had a map and a destination, and as we drove, I nattered(1) on about how the worst of the travel mis-adventures were behind us. Yes, we faced a 9-hour drive after our Lake Tour, courtesy of Aerolineas Argentinas, but at this point, driving was internalized. We had to drive, so we would drive.

There was some fun stuff waiting for us once we crossed the border, but these crazy Monkey Puzzle Trees warranted a stop as we drove through the National Park. I just remember how happy I was. And the nattering. Ugh.

And then we arrived at the border and were told we did not have the right papers to cross into Chile. Boom, done, game over.

The border crossing people were actually quite nice about it. They spoke excellent English and called Mara to ask her if she could acquire the correct paperwork and fax it to them. Mara, bless her heart, cursed at them and hung up the phone.

What to do?? We could call Mara ourselves, but since we don't speak Spanish and she didn't speak English, it seemed likely we wouldn't have much more luck than the border patrol people. The border patrol people suggested we drive to San Martin de los Andes, about an hour away, and rent another car.

We drove. In stunned silence. To San Martin de los Andes. Pretty town on a lake. Kind of ashy in a volcanic way when we were there.

We arrived during siesta, which, if you are trying to rent a car to cross the border to make your reservation for the night in Chile, lasts from 9am until 3pm the following day. We skulked around town: there were two rental agencies - Avis and Rental Car Dude In a Kiosk - and we kept walking/driving/skulking between the two, thinking we'd go with whoever opened up first post-siesta. Kind of hoping it would be Avis, you can imagine.

But, Dude In a Kiosk popped open around 5 o'clock (and we never saw the Avis open, at any point during our stay), and we started negotiations. Dude in a Kiosk did not speak English, but, he had computer on his desk. Jeff sat on one side of the desk and, using the power that is Google Translate, flipping the keyboard back and forth between them, typed out and translated our dilemma. Dude in a Kiosk understood immediately and set us up with a rental. The deal was we couldn't leave until the afternoon of the following day, but if we could just be patient for another day in San Martin de los Andes, we would have a ride into Chile.

For those of you wondering about the finances of this, Mara's car rate was higher than Dude in A Kiosk, so assuming we could get Mara to refund us the time we couldn't use her car during our travails, we would not come out any farther behind than we already were in the transaction. Of course, we were going to have to find a room for the night in San Martin de los Andes, plus explain to our Chilean hosts that we were going to be a day late. And, there was the comfort factor to be considered.

Mara's car:  

Dude in a Kiosk's ride. Not much of a comparison really. High End Comfort vs Might Get You Over The Andes and Back.

In truth, I was all for hunkering down in San Martin de los Andes and skipping the fun and frivolity that awaited us in Chile. It's a fun kind of town, with boating action on the lake, hiking in the Andes, awesome steak and wine (hello! Argentina!), rafting, zip lining and a host of other tourist friendly activities. But, Jeff was pretty determined that we make it over the mountains. And, I couldn't really blame him. There are times to dig in and insist, and there are times to say, "Hey, we've come this far, let's just do it!"

So, we rented a room, alerted our Chilean hosts that we were going to be 24 hours late, took the kids swimming, squinted through the ashy haze and prepared for our next attempt at crossing the border.

And, true confession time, maybe the real reason I wanted to stay in San Martin de los Andes had nothing whatever to do with zip lines and pretty lakes.

 

Alpaca. Wool of the gods.

____________________________________________________________________

(1) natter [ˈnætə] Chiefly Brit

vb

(intr) to talk idly and at length; chatter or gossip

n prolonged idle chatter or gossip

 

Comments

[Rodneyssaga.wordpress.com]

The excellent travel book, Road Fever by Tim Cahill, is about crossing boarders as much as it is about driving from the southern end of South American to the northern tip of NA.

[Debbie Hanson]

You lost me at the Altoids message. Was that really on the paper and why? As you already know, I don't get out much so maybe it's a common thing to see. Oh, and thanks for giving the definition of natter. :)