While the one guy worked on Babe's paperwork (wow...I haven't seen carbon paper in a long time!) the other guy told us it's just as well. There's civil unrest in Chile right now over a couple of heated topics. They're putting up road blocks and causing disruptions in the delivery of food and more importantly petrol. It's quite possible we could have gotten all the way to Cochrane and not found any diesel!
Once we were sorted we headed up along Ruta 41 which runs parallel up the Chilean border towards Los Antiguos.
We stopped in town for late lunch/wifi fix. It's a pretty town. Too bad we weren't there in January when they have their cherry festival! Before leaving we got diesel in the tank and refilled the jerry-can. Given the stories we've been hearing you just never know where the next available refill will be.
Between Los Antiguos and Chile Chico is a much bigger border station. Heck - the road was even paved! We first stopped on the Argentinian side and did passport control and customs. No problem. We drove on to the Chilean side to try our luck with attempt 2 in getting through.
They also did passport control (yay-a new stamp!) and customs. Afterwards they went through the truck with a fine tooth comb looking for fruits, veggies or any meats and cheeses. We also had to have our packs scanned in one of their machines. It was thorough but fair and there was NO mention of the right-hand drive. It took about half an hour in all and then...we were in Chile!!!
Having eaten up all of our forbidden foods, we stocked up at the only super mercado open on a Sunday evening. There was a decent selection of things on offer. I've never had a grocery bill come to 22000$! It sounds like a lot but works out to about $40. There's new math to do on this side of the border.
It was a long drive from Chile Chico to Puerto Guardal but boy was it beautiful. It's likely the prettiest road I may have ever been on. The sun was setting as we twisted along the roads making it even more beautiful.
It had a few hairy spots where I couldn't look at the plunging cliff into Lago General Carrera on the right. Zach was a pro and was having fun. We maxed out at about 50km/h but I think our average was more like 20km/h!
El Mirador turned out to be a gem of a spot. We've arrived in the dark and my jaw dropped getting out of the car. The stars are spectacular! We checked to see if they had room and we got the last cabin that they had open. They're slowly shutting down for winter and they're in fact closed next week. We were really lucky.
As soon as we saw the cabin we both knew we wanted to stay an extra day. There was enough cushion in the schedule to have a few days off from driving. If so - this is the perfect spot to explore a bit more.
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