First up after breakfast - see if we can get a ticket. The bus station is about 2 km from the hotel so - fingers crossed - we pack up and with backpacks on, hope for the best. Luckily there's 4 seats left, so we're on - down the back of the bus - for a 6 hour trip to Santiago across the Andes.
Not the same standard as the BA-> Mendoza bus, but still pretty good and only 6 hours....maybe.
Not far out of Mendoza you start to see the peaks and snow on the tops (end of September). It's pretty obvious we're on our way up. Fewer people/towns/green...more mountains. Interesting trip - not steep as I'd expected. Good road. It slowly gets bleaker and colder outside and more mountainous and....well, higher.
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| Just out of Mendoza - grapes and snow. Andes definitely ahead. We're going the right direction at least. |
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| Getting a bit barren. |
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| Looks cold outside. There's a railway line there (out of action). |
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| Even a railway tunnel |
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| Colder |
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| Someone lives here. |
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| The road gets protection from the snow drifts in winter. There's a big tunnel ahead near the border we pass through. |
As we get higher and closer to the Chile border, the bus assistant brings around the obligatory forms for leaving Argentina and entering Chile. Fill them out - no problems.
Until....
Anton's Spanish failed him on this one...so we sought help from the other English-speaking person on the bus - the American from Santa Cruz sitting behind us who spoke Spanish.
Apparently we're supposed to have a letter of authority from the mother on anyone 16 or under in order to enter Chile. (Child kidnapping?) Um....didn't know about that one...we've been to a lot of places - including Chile in the past - Anton's passport is filled with visas from around the world. No - a very definite "YOU NEED AUTHORITY FROM YOUR MOTHER OTHERWISE YOU CANNOT ENTER CHILE" (in Spanish). After a lot of conversation in Spanish between the bus assistant, the guy from the US, the driver, and a host of other people on the bus who joined in the discussion in Spanish, it was resolved. "See what happens". I think he was more worried about leaving Anton on the side of the road at 4000m than anything else. Anton wouldn't even fake a tear for sympathy.
The Border
Eventually we passed the border out of Argentina and a few kilometers on into Chile and immigration.
Judging by the number of cars, buses and trucks, it was going to be a while before our turn came, so we went for a stretch outside - along with everyone else.
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| The customs and immigration hall. |
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| Next time it'll be me on that. |
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| A cold snap came through whilst we were waiting. It's quite high. There's actually a ski lift in the background. |
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| Back on our bus for the customs and immigration hall. |
When our turn eventually came, we boarded the bus and entered 'the hall'. In there all the bags get unloaded and checked and passport controls/visas/etc are done. Good practice for Anton's Spanish - no English spoken. Our US friend helped a few times in the shed when we got on the wrong queues along with the bus assistant pointing us in the right direction.
Baggage check was interesting. All the bags from the bus were unloaded - lined up - and the Chilean customs officials randomly joked about which ones to check. "Uhhhhhhhh?" from 60 people...."Ahhhhhhh" from 60 people - not that bag.....maybe this one? Same again. Ah...THIS ONE ! Everyone cheered , then 'Ooooooohhhh' and the person had to go and open her bag in front of everyone. All good smiled the customs woman. Everyone clapped and cheered ! A VERY UNUSUAL CUSTOMS CLEARANCE.
(Ever tried writing down expressions in English translated from Spanish? Hope you got the gist of it anyway.)
Back for our immigration checks - not even a side glance at Anton's passport - bags back on the bus and on we go into Chile.
Down the Hill to Santiago.
I've been along a few winding roads in the past, but this one beats them all. I guess the thing about it is you can see all the bends in front of you and behind you, as well as all the vehicles on the road. Given the Andes are pretty high, that adds to it too.
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| I think I saw 'No Overtaking' signs. Going up behind a slow truck might tax obeying the road rules. |
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| Someone got off here. |
Eventually we arrived in Santiago, about 2 hours late due to immigration delays, late leaving Mendoza, and a few stops around Santiago for what seemed to be seeing the driver's friends.
Seeing as we'd been here before and there wasn't anything special on we knew about, we thought we'd take our chances and find the hotel we stayed at before. A problem was it was 7:00 pm and dark instead of 5:00 pm and light. As a result it wasn't that familiar.
OK - on the Metro to the University station near our hotel from last visit a few years ago (we had some money from last time). No problem. Off we get. Not too familiar. Let's walk and see. A few landmarks were in the distance, but all didn't make too much sense. More walking (it's down the main boulevard, so you can't go wrong).
Eventually it starts looking familiar. Oops - there's 2 University stations on the same line - different universities - we got off at the wrong one.
Getting warmer (actually getting quite hot after carrying 20 kg backpacks for a few kilometers not quite knowing where you're going). Eventually after a few familiar backstreets and some backtracking, we find our old hotel down it's little cobblestoned street. (The trick was hearing a tourist with a wheeley-bag going over cobblestones in the distance - "Must be that way").
9:00 pm: Any rooms? Si. All's well.
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| Everyone's happy. We've been here before. |
From our last time here Chilean food was...well...not quite our style. We passed a Chinese restaurant in the backstreets which was still open so we thought we'd give it a go. There was a queue for take-aways and a few people inside, so that usually means it must be OK. We suspect that this particular Chilean restaurant owner exports copper to China, and imports pre-cooked Chinese meals on the returning ship.
Buenos noches.
