
Perhaps due to too much reading as a child I developed a romantic notion of border crossings early on which, with my first actual experience crossing an international border (from the US to Canada) was quickly dashed; instead of the grand adventure I’d expected, only a bit of beauracracy and we were in a different country. In border crossing after border crossing I’ve experienced long lines, checkboxes about fruits, vegetables and animal products rather than the wild adventures I’d dreamed of. Until yesterday.

The border crossing from Villa O’Higgins, Chile (the end of the Carretera Austral) and El Chaltén Argentina (in the shadow of might Mt. Fitz Roy) cannot be done by car or bus.

It started with a boat crossing Lago O’Higgins, a 2.5 hour crossing that generally has great views of the surrounding mountains and glaciers. I rode to the port on Saturday in pouring rain, loaded my things on the boat and took a seat. About half an hour later a member of the crew announced that there were horrible winds and waves over 7 meters high, we would have to postpone the journey to the next day. So it was back to El Mosco, where we were joined by two great Italian guys, Marco and Lucah. I spent the day helping Jorge with his computer and then we all shared some wine and dinner as the evening wore on.

The next morning we were back on the boat, and this time we left, arriving a little late in Candelario Mansilla. There the border crossing is over a path that cannot be navigated by vehicles (other than bicycles!) so crossing is either done on foot, bicycle or horseback. I got a horse to carry my trailer and gear, and rode the bike, more or less. At the start you pass through Chilean immigration, then 15km later (up a steep and rocky road initially, then up a nicer path for 10 more km) to the Chilean/Argentine border.

From there it is another 5km to the Argentine border post, but along a path that is narrow, deep and filled with obstacles like rivers without bridges. Some had a single log over them, so I’d have to carry the bike and walk across, or roll the bike and walk sideways very carefully with my feet below the pedals. It was not really ridable, except in small sections. Marco was a fast walker and luckily I had his help for some of the trickier river crossings. I might have been very wet otherwise.

We got to the Argentine border post with what we thought was an hour and a half before the next step, a boat to the other shore of Lago del Desierto. Turns out, though, that Argentine clocks moved an hour forward that very day. So we had, in fact, half an hour, and that would have been fine except that the horses had not yet arrived with our luggage and would not, in fact, for another 2 hours. So we were stuck at the Argentine border until the next day, since the boats run once or twice a day.

Fortunately the argentine border guards had a refugio, simple but good protection from the wind, where the two Italians, two Israelis and I could spent the night. They cooked us a delicious dinner of rice, beef, potatoes and homemade bread, and of course great wine.

This morning we woke to catch the boat which was supposed to come at 10:30. But 10:30 came and went, no boat. A lot of wind, though, and it turns out that the boat left the port and turned back due to waves in the center of the lake. It did finally arrive a little after 2, but we didn’t leave again until almost 6 since the winds had picked up again. After a choppy ride to the opposite shore, I decided to skip the final 40km ride over rough roads due to the fact that 1) it was new year’s eve and 2) the wind was blowing badly enough that I couldn’t stand up. Great idea, but the bus wouldn’t take my bicycle. Fortunately for me, the guy from the boat was headed to El Chaltén and offered me a ride.

It has been a wild, wonderful couple of days, and my most memorable border crossing to date…
(I’ve been taking a ton of pictures, and will update the past several posts with them tomorrow when I get speedy enough access to allow it.)
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