Crossing the Border: Argentina to Chile

Hola Gente Maravillosa!

I'm not going to lie, I'm by no means the most organised traveler in the world. While I'm pretty on the ball back at home, when on the road I always assume I have all the time in the world and everything will fall into place. So doing research into how I'd actually get from Argentina to Chile didn't even enter my head. I just assumed I'd hop on a bus and it would be super easy. How wrong I was.

So, it was winter while I was in Argentina, and apparently they actually get snow in the Andes. Who'd have thought?! As I come from England, I'd completely forgotten it was winter, despite being in Argentina for the past 3 weeks. It was sunny and 20+ degrees pretty much every day, which equals to a cracking summer back home in Blighty! So imagine my shock and horror when I found out the pass through the Andes, that connects Argentina and Chile, was closed due to heavy snowfall. How bloody dare they.

Now this would have been all fine and dandy, as I was enjoying my time in Mendoza and didn't mind hanging around for a couple of days. However, we had a flight to catch from Santiago, Chile in 5 days, so time wasn't exactly on our side. As the only other option was to fly from Mendoza to Santiago (at around £300 WTF), I was praying to everyone I could think of for the pass to open. 

Every morning we would go for breakfast to hear the news 'sorry Chi Chi's, the pass is still closed.' However, on the Friday morning, we heard a rumor that the pass was going to open for a day on Saturday, providing it didn't snow again that night. With hope in our little hearts we headed off to the bus station to make our enquirers. What a fat lot of good that was. We tried several bus companies, all of which either pretended they couldn't understand our excellent Spanish, or repeatedly said the pass was closed and they had no idea when it would reopen. Helpful.

Our only option was to wait till the morning and get to the ticket office as soon as it opend, to hear news about the pass and hopefully book onto a bus. We had tried to reserve seats on a bus, but when the pass is closed they stop all new reservations on any coaches due to go through the pass. So it literally turns into a waiting game. 

Luckily, when we arrived at the ticket office on Saturday morning, the pass was open and the bus was leaving in an hour. Mass panic followed; we had one hour to get back to the hostel, pack, check out and get to the bus station. Thankfully we just about managed it and made our way to Chile.

All the stress of waiting for the pass to open was definitely worth it, as the drive through the Andes was stunning. Just take a look at these beauties.

So if you're planning on crossing the Andes, in either direction, please make sure you do your homework! Especially in winter. The pass can close for several days at a time and the communication for pass closures with the bus companies is pretty shocking. If, like us, you aren't willing to pay a ridiculous amount to fly then make sure you leave plenty of time and factor in a few days for a delay. It's bound to happen. And the moral of the story: always do your research kids.