6. Back in Chile
DAY 168 - 169
I got up early today, but I was kinda hanging around. I made myself a coffee I found in the apartment and I was checking my emails and messages which came through overnight. Back home I almost never miss my morning coffee. But on this trip it is a very rare occasion. The reason is, it's almost never available in the hotels and I'm too lazy to stop for coffee when I am already on my bike and going. Some people have some painful withdrawals when they stop drinking coffee but I didn't notice at all.
Anyway, I finally got going and I am heading out of the town. The weather is partly cloudy and temperature in high teens. I'm on a freeway so morning rush hour traffic is not a problem. I soon turn onto a highway which leads to the border. The traffic picks up considerably. 2/3 of all vehicles are heavy commercial trucks. Unlike the other passes, I expect this one to be very busy. This road is the most direct link between two capitals, Santiago and Buenos Aires. Also, this is the shortest route between Pacific and Atlantic Ocean connecting huge Seaports on the both shores.
I am heading westbound, and there are huge mountains ahead of me. There is still lots of snow on the top of them. I stopped for the gas and the last gas station on Argentinian side. There is a big lineup of cars, everybody's taking gas. One reason is that the gas is cheaper in Argentina, but also the next gas station is more than 200 km away. While standing in the lineup that several people start talking to me noticing my Canadian license plate and my huge bike. It is very easy to start a conversation. People are not intimidated to approach you when you are alone. At least the wait in the lineup goes by quickly. I had a quick breakfast in the bistro there and I am on my way again.
The clouds disappeared by now, and it is sunny day with the blue skies. There is only one way to get across the pass and everybody's heading that way. The road has only two lanes and it is painful when you get stuck by one of the trucks, which is all the time. It's times like that I need to wake up most of my horses and make a quick pass. Again the road goes from one valley to another, and getting progressively more and more narrow. Mountains around are beautiful as I got accustomed in the Andes.
I stopped at the place, called Inca Bridge. It's a natural bridge over fast flowing river. There are also colorful limestone deposits, which make for nice and colourful photos. It is a tourist attraction so there's a lot of people there. And there are a lot of motorcycles there as well. I see more and more bikes as I go further south. one of the bikers there is a guy named Serge from Montreal. He rides exactly the same bike as I do and have exactly same helmet in the same colour scheme as I do. He has been riding all over the place and is on his way to Buenos Aires and then to Thailand where he lives. When people ride in South America, most of them miss Brazil. There is not that much information about riding there. So I keep asking everybody about where to go and more importantly, where not to go. Those people who have been there they all loved it. But every single person was telling me not to go to the big cities like São Paulo or Rio de Janeiro. The guy who has parked his bike next to me, Ricardo, was coincidentally from Brazil and his message was very clear. Don't go anywhere near the big cities. It is too dangerous on a motorcycle. Ricardo told me that he was born in São Paulo, but he would never take his bike there. I think I got the message loud and clear.
I take pictures of all the bikes and say goodbyes and continue on my day. This valley is little bit different than the other ones. It has some alpine feel to it. There is a lookout ahead of me, and I know what it is. I did my homework and check on my maps and I even have it marked in my GPS. This is the only place on this route where you can see the highest mountain of Argentina, Aconcagua. Is almost 7000 m tall and it is also the highest mountain in both Americas and the highest peak outside of Himalayas. I took few pictures. The mountain is very close and it is pretty imposing. Time to head further.
I'm getting closer to the border and there are two ways you can get through it. The first one is the old dirt road going up on one side of the mountain range and over the pass at the top and gazillions switchbacks on the other side down. That's what I wanted to take. On all pictures and maps this road looked absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, when I got there, the road was closed. Rats, this would have been the highlight of the day. What can I do. I had to take the option number two, which is far less exciting, the tunnel. They dug out about 3 km long tunnel through the mountain. It is very convenient, fast and safe but way less spectacular.
Right when you emerge from the tunnel, there is Chilean border crossing station. Huge complex of buildings, it looks like it has been built fairly recently. It has several sections, all covered because most of the days are not as sunny and work as today. The border formalities are again fairly quick and simple. I am through in no time.
Right after the boat crossing, there is the famous ski resort Portillo. It is not as much as a resort as one big hotel. It is situated in a saddle among the mountains on the side of a beautiful lake. National downhill ski teams from several countries are coming here in the summer for a preparation for upcoming winter season. One of my close friends from back home used to work here as a ski instructor for many years. To be honest, I would last one week over there. Besides the hotel, there is nothing 100 km on each side of the border.
The road from there goes down to the valley via series of 28 switchbacks. It looks very impressive. It is all paved though and actually not a big deal. The switchbacks at the previous passes were much more impressive. From there it is only one hour to get to my destination at a small town of Las Andes. There isn't anywhere really to go and explore so I had a dinner, did some grocery shopping and worked on my pictures.
DAY 169
It really quick getaway from the town. I've noticed the last night that there is a self-serving car wash at the gas station by my hotel. I stopped there on the way out and gave my bike a nice bath. I planned the route today so I can avoid Santiago with its insane traffic. But every road I took today there was a huge amount of traffic. Passenger and commercial trucks as well. Later I found out why. The trucks where going to a huge seaport of San Antonio. There is a massive container terminal and there is a lot of cargo going back-and-forth from there. And passenger cars were going to one small town with beautiful beaches. It appears that people from Santiago take this route to get to the ocean. The landscape close to the coastline is very similar to that of Washington or Oregon coast. Rolling hills with some pine forest and beautiful beaches. I found on my maps a nice campground close to a lake not far from the ocean. My GPS tried to take me the wrong way but a quick correction from the friendly locals pointed me to the right direction. It is a nice campground only a few hundred metres from a beautiful lake. I quickly and set up my camp and I'm heading for the lake. It is nice summer day here so I go for a swim. It's nice and refreshing. To my surprise, the water is actually salty. I check on the map later and sure enough, there is a very narrow gap on the beach, where it is connected to the ocean.
Overall, fairly unremarkable and easy day but I need days like this as well.