Transiting Chile - Day 2

After a very short night the wind started picking up early, making packing up the camp challenging. Around 8am we left the Mirador and were on our way to Argentina.

With the wind in our backs we pretty much flew towards the border, including speedy climbs and even faster decents, and kept leap frogging a French cycling couple that we had run into multiple times over the last 2 weeks.

By the time we sighted the imigrations post at the Paso de Jama the wind had grown so strong that it would have been impossible cycling in the direction we came from. Even just rolling down the curved roads into Jama felt anything but safe with the cross wind almost blowing you from the bike at every turn.

Once we reached the border we got our first taste of Argentinian efficiency...

7 different stations awaited us. At each of them we had to collect a stamp. Not a difficult task, you might think...But things were very slow, with some border officers needing a lifetime to type whatever horrendous amount of (useful?) Information into their databanks before letting us pass, leading to a lengthy border crossing process.

The village of Jama was a typical altiplano town with not much more than a couple of blocks of run down brick houses, a restaurant and a gas station. But just looking at the gas station it already felt so much more modern than anything else we saw the weeks/months before: it doubled as a motel, had a café with half decent coffee and even Doughnut, as well as actual toilets WITH toilet seats AND running water 🤯

After the last, short night we decided to call it an early day. We got the last room in the motel and tried to get logistics (money, food, planning for the upcoming days) sorted.

A wise choice, also since at this point the wind had become so strong that even walking the 100m to the one restaurant in town (and only place with wifi) opposite the street became almost impossible. Cycling would not have been fun or safe anymore.

In the restaurant we treated ourselves to an opulent meal of fries, beer and the biggest sandwich I ever had (almost as long as my lower arm). It was amazing! After weeks of ramen noodles, pasta and tinned fish this simply felt like food from heaven. 🍟🍻🥪

🚴‍♀️ Distance cycled: 50 km
🛃 Borders crossed: 1
🌬 Wind speed: 8-9bft with 10bft gusts
🚿 Hot showers taken: 1
🥪 Monster sandwiches devoured: 1Read more