Crossing the Andes

Pete and I had quite the time getting from Argentina to Chile.

We didn´t reserve a spot on a bus in advance; the owners of the hotel we were staying at told us that we could show up at any time because there would be buses leaving all day. Boy, were they wrong. We showed up at 9:30AM (quite proud of ourselves for the early start) to find almost every bus going to Chile left at 8:30AM. After checking with 3 different companies, to no avail, we realized that we might be in for some trouble.

Finally, approximately 9-10 companies later, we found a minibus company that sold us 2 tickets to Santiago, Chile (it wasn´t even the destination we wanted, but at that point we were too desperate to care). It turned out that our seats were up front with the driver. Cozy, to say the least, and definitely the best view of the house.

When we were pulling out, the woman who sold us the tickets ran out, and said something really fast in Spanish to me, and then the Spanish version of OK GREAT BYE!
I got her to repeat it, and I finally figured out that she wanted us to share our two seats with someone else - she said not to worry because it would be a small boy. The entire trip Pete and I were on the look out for the mystery niño who apparently was going to sit on our laps through the Andes. It turned out a 12 year old kid did get on the minibus in Chile, but we made him sit on the floor (sorry niño).

Although I was slightly terrified of the driving (the entire road through the Andes only has one lane on each side, and our driver loooooved the blind pass technique), the trip was absolutely beautiful. The Argentine side of the Andes was covered in snow, and the weather couldn´t have been better.

The border was both pretty annoying (long lines) but also amusing. The Chileans were really, really serious about not letting foreign fruits and vegetables into their country. They had trained dogs crawling around everywhere on the veggie alert! They chose Pete´s bag as a ´practice´ for one of the dogs. I guess he looked innocent (read: he looked like a gringo). A border guard cut an apple in half, took a big bite out of it, and shoved it under Pete´s bag. Then they set the dog loose, the entire line watching expectedly. The dog, a golden retriever, pranced about happily through the luggage. He stopped for a minute above Pete´s bag, gave it a sniff, and proceded to lick my hand until I pet him. Then he trotted off. Moral of the story - if you would like to bring any illicit fruits or vegetables into Chile, go for it. The dogs will be none the wiser.

Also, the 8-hour drive through the Andes was the most beautiful road trip I´ve ever taken. I give it 4 Smeds up.