0185 Angostura, Argentina to Ancud, Chile

20^th Jan 2015  

Once again I never saw a soul in the campsite before I left at 9 am !  Plenty of time and peace for a leisurely (hot !) shower and breakfast before hitting the road to head towards Chile (for the 3^rd time !).  It was such a beautiful view out over the lake from the back of Troopie – If they had had wifi there, I think I might have stayed for one or two more nights.  Just beautiful.  That is what camping is all about – Waking up with million dollar views.  I actually went to sleep with the back doors open last night because it was such a lovely sight, but it got a bit cold later on so I closed them !

Heading off down the road, I hadn’t gone more than about 15 kms when I spotted a set of foreign number plates on the side of the road.  So I did a quick U turn and went to check them out – My first Austrian plates I have seen on the whole trip !  It was a couple from Graz (IIRC) called Kurt and Irene, and we had a good chat about our respective journeys.  They came over from Europe on Grimaldi (the shipping line I am going to use to leave Argentina in April), and have been here for about 18 months – but like many others they park up for a few months and go home for a while.    I told them not to drive down the dirt road past Traful that I mentioned in dispatches yesterday……….  But I had to get to the border before the crowds, so I left Kurt and Irene to enjoy the Argentinian Lake District.

Passed though Villa de Angostura again – this was the place that I said before reminded me  a bit of Banff – I got some pics this time so maybe you can see what I mean ?  There were mountains there, but they were behind me so you can’t see them in the photos !!

Soon after that it was up into the mountains again as we climbed up towards the Argentinian border.  This is the first time I have crossed the same border point twice, and it makes it even easier when you know where to go and what to do !  I think I was thorough in about 20 minutes, a record for this trip.   One of the officials even recognised me and asked why I was coming back so soon – Amazing when even a customs official recognizes you !!  And then the policeman who was organizing the car parking and lining up was SO chatty as I left – He wanted to know everything about my trip and we really had a good chat – Shame about all the cars that were held up behind me !!

Then it was through the 25 kms of no-man’s land between the Argentinian and Chilean borders – I wonder who owns that land ?  Who looks after the roads ?  I saw a man working there – I wonder what nationality he is ?   I wonder what his post code is ? 

And then bang – Big traffic queues some distance out from the Chilean check point.  So much for missing the queues !  Actually, it wasn’t too bad – It probably only took about an hour to get through, and 40 minutes of that was queuing to get into the parking area.   I just cannot get over how easy these border crossings are compared to Central America – They are a bit more like it used to be like in Europe before the EU – Just a mild hiccup during the days drive.  And it is a good job too because over the next month or so I am going to be crossing backwards and forwards across the Chilean / Argentinian border about 6 or 7 times as I work my way south on Ruta 40 and cross into Chile to get to places like Torres del Paine etc.   Only complaint this time was that the Chilean customs guy was overly officious and took every single piece of fruit and vegetable I had !  Normally if you only have one banana or tomato they don’t worry too much, but this time he took my broccoli, my carrots, tomato, banana, the lot.   Rats !!  That was going to be my lunch !!

Once through the border and back in Chile, I decided to stop at a car museum I had spotted the other day on my way through – The Auto Museum Moncopulli.  I didn’t know what to expect, but it turns out that this is currently Chile’s only auto museum, has been put together by Bernardo Eggars, and is primarily a collection of Studebakers.   Some were in totally unrestored condition, others were immaculate, a couple were being worked on right there in the museum.  For me the prize piece was the immaculate 1963 Studebaker Avanti.  I had seen one at the DeLorean workshop I visited in 2012 in Seattle, and I

find them an amazing piece of American engineering for 1963.  And the only RHD vehicle in there was one that I hankered for when I had just left school – An Austin Champ – The little British 4 wheel drive that the army used and had a sealed engine so it could supposedly be submerged – Not sure if that is true or not, but haven’t seen one in ages.  Was it not a Rolls Royce engine ????    And another piece of memorabilia that was rather fun was an old style arcade game.  Whereas now you have a screen with all the graphics, this one had a car attached to the steering wheel with a piece of wire so when you turned the wheel the car moved from the right to the left.  And the road was on a piece of canvas that was on a scroll, so it rolled along underneath the car, and you could scroll it faster or slower if you pressed the accelerator !   Hands up any one who remembers them ??  (Giles sheepishly raises his hand !)

A very pleasant hour spent in Chile’s only auto museum. 

From there it was into Osorno, and back on the Ruta 5 heading south.  I kept going to Puerto Montt where I hoped to find a Tourist Information place to find out more about the Carretera Austral, but a drive through town and a few queries revealed

nothing.  As it was getting on, I filled up with fuel, went to the supermercado to replace all my groceries that the Chileans had pinched off me, and then kept going.  I had a possible camp site targeted about 50 kms south of Puerto Montt, but when I go there at about 5 pm, they were already full !  The guy said there was a camp site at Pargua, where the ferry goes from across to the Island of Chiloe where I was headed, but when I got there, no one knew of any camp site.  So I then jumped on the ferry across to the island, as someone told me there was a camp spot there !

Driving down past Puerto Montt we had the most magnificent snow capped volcano off to our left – I think it was Volcan Osorno.   There was another one a little further south. I think Volcan Colbuco, but this had neither the perfect cone shape or the snow cap, so was not so impressive in comparison.  But the pair of them, along with a line of other snow capped peaks behind them, was certainly a striking sight all the way down beside me for the rest of the afternoon.  I do love my mountains !

The ferry is only about a 30 minute ride, and about 6 ferry’s run 24 hours a day, so I literally drove straight down and onto the ferry.  They had hot dogs for sale on board, and as I hadn’t had any lunch (courtesy of Chilean customs), I treated myself to one – It was one of those yummy ones they do here with a whole lots of avocado and salsa in there – They are pretty tasty, I can tell you !  Not as good as a good empanada, but it certainly filled a hole !  I had been chewing wine gums (thanks, Jenny and Barry Hooper (they were a Christmas present from Benn’s parents!)) most of the day, which wasn’t hard as there were lots of black ones in the packet !! And while trying to down my hot dog a Korean lad introduced himself – he and his girlfriend were touring Chile and heading down to Ushuaia before heading to Perth where they had a working visa for a year or so !

Off the  ferry, 25 km drive in the evening to Ancud, and there was a lovely little camp site right beside the road.  Perfect.  Will explore Chiloe tomorrow and see if it lives up to everything people have told me about it – I have no idea what to expect, so am quite looking forward to exploring a bit.

 Photos here :-  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0181AngosturaToAncud?authkey=Gv1sRgCNrdya_Pr7LGdw#