Bandits in the snow

It is possible to cross from Argentina to Chile through 2 national parks, making 3 boat trips and 2 legs of mountain dirt tracks one of which crosses the “passo international”. So of course we decided to try (despite administrative headaches). The longest leg was 29km with a pass to climb, to be covered in just over 3 hours (including exiting Argentina and passing through Chilean police, vaccine checks, customs (with all panniers searched), police again and finally bike registration) - and all in time to meet the last boat out.

Although this was an organised trip, the 28 km between exiting Argentina and entry to Chile felt a little like being bandits secretly slipping across the border - all the more evocative with the recent “tulip” snows. I was a little skeptical about making the final boat in time so we had a pre lunch snack in boat 2 and pedalled hard, skipping some of the photos to save time, then into the wind and finally ate our confiscated items at the Chile customs whilst the guard watched smiling but refused a share.

The trip was graced with golden broom, spring leaves, hidden lakes, glacier scoured valleys, snow covered mountains and volcanos ranging from pointy to classic to huge. (See photos and captions for the mountains)Read more