Population Argentina: 44.7 million. Average number of people per square km – 16 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand – 15).
Population Chile: 18 million. Average number of people per square km – 24 (India – 380, China – 150, New Zealand – 15).
The journey across the north of Chile and north west Argentina was zig zag across the Andes Mountains to visit areas of interest to us on either side of the border. There are purest that would stick to Route 40, which starts from just south of Ushuaia at the bottom of Argentina and traverses Argentina all the way north to the Bolivian border, a distance of some 5,200km; or stick to the Pan-American Highway, which follows a route along the Chile coast. We do not care much about road names or numbers and are more interested visiting places that interest us.
Santiago was one of the few places on our travels where things did not go quite our way. Nothing really to complain about if one considers the many dozens of good experiences we have had during our travels. On the downside, I was hit with painful emergency tooth treatment and we also experienced probably the worst vehicle service on the planet from a Toyota dealer. You would be best not to go there. They had not done some of the basic maintenance work and there was oil dripping from the sump. To add insult to injury, they set about doing the re-work in the driveway.
With much excitement and joy, we collected Ursula, our daughter, from Santiago (Chile) airport, and set off across the Andes mountains to the world renowned wine area of Mendoza in Argentina. There are travel reports on the internet relating to this 350km journey that describe horror stories concerning altitude sickness and many hours stuck at the border in long ques. None of these issues materialized. The top of the pass is at a relatively low elevation of 3,200m. The pass is only two lanes for most of its way and therefore passing the numerous trucks does take patience and a little nerve.
We found the border crossing facilities for both Argentina and Chile to be very convenient side by side in one building. There were only four cars ahead of us. We were however taken aback, when we were told by another traveler, that unlike our other Argentina border crossing experiences, the officials had a strict “no fruit, vegetables, dairy” policy. We were not planning on having any confiscations and therefore we quietly backed out of the border control area, and drove a few kms back up the valley to enjoy a hearty lunch of fruit, tomatoes and dairy products. The little that was left over we gave to a local sheep herder. Once back in the immigration and customs area, we were totally amazed that the official waved us on after a 5 second look at our vehicle. We saw the officials searching cars ahead of us, but it must have been the smiles and greetings of Barbara and Ursula that saved the day.
This trip over the Andes mountains from Santiago to Mendoza was worth every km. The scenery is spectacular. The rock cliffs are incredibly high and the snow caps are brilliant white. One section of the pass has 29 curves zig zagging up the valley side. There are splendid views in every direction. At one point on the Argentina side of the pass, one can pull over and view the highest peak in the Andes mountain range, Mount Aconcagua. This peak is just short of 7,000m above sea level. The Puente del Inca (Inca Bridge) hot springs, has very high mineral content and deposits layer upon layer of red-yellow crystalized minerals on the surrounding rocks. Apparently, indigenous tribes knew about this place and used its waters way back in ancient times. During the last century, a hotel and bathing facilities were constructed at the site, but was recently destroyed by rock falls. Only the baths, now out of bounds, remain.
Mendoza is especially known for the production of world class Malbec wines. We spent a delightful four hours at the small, but top class, Roberto Bonfanti winery. There were no other visitors and we enjoyed a personalized tour by one of the Bonfanti family members. This winery has a 100-year history and the beautiful and carefully tended vineyard has numerous olive trees interspersed. This, we are told, is a sure sign of a very old vineyard as the previous century thinking was that an additional income was required during the out of grape season. The guide was very informative and interesting. The first Malbec vines were brought to this region from France nearly 200 years ago. We found it very interesting that they believe the greatest value of the wine is from the character of the skin. Every effort is made not to crush the grape and grapes are placed intact in the wine tanks to start the fermentation process. The best wines derived from grapes with thick skins are matured for two years in oak barrels. The visit was topped off with a very leisurely lunch in their top-class restaurant. We were treated like special guests. The fertile valleys are also well suited for production of fruit and vegetables. Good place to stock up.
The journey from Mendoza to the northern border of Argentina is a 1,800km drive mostly along the high altitude Andes valleys above 3,000m across mostly amazing desert landscapes. People claim the Atacama desert to be one of the driest and harshest deserts in the world. The landscapes were formed by tectonic activity including volcanoes spewing out ash and lava over thousands of years. The rock forms were of different colours and amazing shapes. One region high up in the Andes had huge sand dunes. The strong winds had over time blown fine sand into the Andean valleys where it was deposited against the mountain slopes and in narrow gorges. There were many amazing places where one could stop for a picnic. The best part of these back roads was that one could travel several hundred kms and not see another vehicle or person.
Some of these arid areas had the benefit of water from rivers carrying snow melt from the high Andes mountain peaks. These small towns were like an oasis in the desert with plenty of fresh fruit on offer.
The region is rich in minerals and numerous mines had been developed during the past hundred years. This must be one of the reasons why these back roads had been developed. Many of these mines had fallen on hard times and were abandoned. These have now been reduced to ruins, good for a nosy around.
There were numerous salt lakes that had formed in depressions in the valleys between the high Andes peaks. Some were totally dry, whilst others had water and the colour being according to the salts washed from the surrounding rocks. One salt lake, about 15km across, appeared to have a track which cut across it, which we took as a shortcut. Big mistake. The track soon deteriorated into an extremely uneven track which we later worked out was used by a drilling machine searching for lithium deposits deep below the salt. For some reason, the salt surface in this lake was extremely uneven and rock hard.
Having not learned our lesson to be very wary of salt lakes, we ventured too close in our vehicle to get a better look at some flamingos. The vehicle was too heavy for the salt crust and we got ourselves solidly stuck. Fortunately, not long afterwards, two 4WD vehicles arrived at the lake and it took both of them to pull us free from the salt lake. These guys were excited to have the chance to try out their never used before, recovery gear. The high altitude flamingos are interesting. They feed on algae found in the lake. The flamingos migrate to wetlands at much lower altitudes during winter.
The Ischigualasto Provincial Park is located a few hundred kms north of Mendoza and the area is known for dinosaurs fossil finds and interesting rock formations. The dinosaurs finds have been set up in a purpose-built on-site museum and is worth a visit. The park includes a 40km circuit road to view the rock formations. The annoying thing about the inefficient and controlling government policy is that you may only travel in convoy following a park official driving ahead in his vehicle. We have sufficient experience to know that we can easily find several other spectacular scenic areas elsewhere for free and driving on our own without having to put up with bureaucrats.
A few hundred kms further north, we came across the Talampaya National Park. This park has a narrow gorge with shear cliffs 140m high. Again, we were faced with ridiculous National Park bureaucracy. For a small fee they would drive you (no self-drive) the few kms to the entrance of the gorge in a minibus. There you can see the cliff of the gorge and some petroglyphs in poor condition. For a ridiculous fee, they would drive you in the minibus into the gorge. Again, we happily chose to find alternative tourist experience options, free of annoying official meddling.
The remote areas have a fair amount of wildlife, and we were especially pleased to find an armadillo. According to locals, armadillo are common, however not according to our experience. The fascinating little armadillo has a hard scally covering and feeds on bugs, grubs and worms. The one we came across was not phased by us and went about digging in the sand for grubs.
A young alpaca took a special interest in our picnic lunch. This animal must have been raised by bottle because it had no fear of us. It left the main herd and came to investigate what we were up to. It had the cutest face you can imagine.
Close to the northern Argentina border, and near to Bolivia, we crossed the 4,800m high Jama mountain pass into Chile. The air is thin with reduced oxygen. It takes effort to move about, although we were well acclimatized. The scenery is beautiful with numerous volcanic cones visible from the road. We had a very peaceful Christmas in a hostel in the small border town of San Pedro, made so much more special by having Ursula with us. Boxing day we headed back up the Andes past an active volcano and into Bolivia.
