Patagonia II: Part VI
The drive from Chile to Argentina.
None of us wants to leave.
The hotel has been incredibly welcoming, the location outstanding. We linger as long as we can over breakfast, taking in the views and the bounty prepared for us. But we can’t linger long; it’s a five-hour drive to El Calafate and we have a horse riding expedition scheduled after lunch. We drag our feet when it’s time to go.
After breakfast we pack the car and set off, climbing one last time out of the valley. I ask my cousin to stop at the mirador for one last look at the valley. The sun has risen and the Cuernos del Paine are bathed in the rosy light that has yet to hit the valley floor.
At the intersection of the road leading from out of the valley we take our first right turn, putting the mountains and the park in our rearview mirror. The road heads south along the Lago el Toro and the Jeep rattles along the gravel roads. We stop at a mirador for our last view of the Cuernos del Paine, the peaks peeking in and out of the clouds.
As we continue driving, the landscape is bathed in golden light. Here and there we see guanaco by the side of the road, and I dutifully call them out as I spot them. We see few other cars on the road. If it weren’t for the maintained roads and fences, you’d think that other people didn’t exist.
At the border crossing we alight and grab a black folder from the back of the car. All of the paperwork we need to bring the car across the border is contained therein. Our three names are listed in addition to one additional driver—the man who will pick up the car the next morning and drive it back to Chile.
A bus has arrived before us and we wait behind the passengers in the small room. Multiple windows are open and the immigration officials process us all quickly. Next to the immigration building is a cafe and gift shop. On arrival, we accidentally walk into the cafe first.
After leaving Chile, we drive across no man’s land to another small building on the Argentine side. Our papers and passports are checked and we are quickly waved through.
On entering Argentina our GPS tells us to take a left. The main road continues heading south, but we follow the Garmin’s instructions and turn off onto a smaller gravel road. Soon we are bouncing on a narrow gravel road into the landscape. The bus had continued south and we wonder where that road led. We wonder if the Garmin has taken us on a shortcut or if this is the only way forward.
After another hour or so on the gravel road we emerge onto a sealed one. Suddenly we find ourselves back in civilization and turn into the only gas station that we’ll see on our journey to El Calafate. Rodrigo had emphased to us that we need to stop and get gas as there would be no other opportunities until we reached our destination.
Leaving the gas station we head north towards El Calafate. My cousin is happy to finally be driving on sealed roads and the kilometers pass smoothly beneath our tires. I occupy myself staring at the different cloud formations that rise like spaceships and like feathers from the earth.
Nearing El Calafate we catch our first site of Lago Argentino, a bright blue sliver separating the steppe from the mountains. We pull into a mirador the admire the view next to a family that’s paused for the same. We don’t linger; we still have to check into our hotel, eat lunch, and then drive to El Galpón del Glacier for our horseback riding excursion.
After spending a few days in Rio Serrano and Torres del Paine, El Calafate feels huge. It definitely feels larger than I remember. I had been the year before, spending a week visiting the Argentinian side of Patagonia, and it’s nice returning to a place that’s familiar.
After checking into our hotel we have a quick bite to eat before making our way to the estancia. The day has become overcast and blustery, but it doesn’t keep us from the task at hand. Dolores brings us out to the stables and helps us into our saddles and then leads us out onto the trail.
We ride for about two hours, out to and along the river and then to the shores of the lake. The wind whips around us, bringing with it the cold air from the mountains and from the lake. But it’s great being back on horseback and riding through a landscape so different from the one that greeted us at at the Estancia la Peninsula on the first day of our trip. It’s a great way to bookend things, and I am sad that our journey is coming to an end.
Back inside, we drink hot chocolate and warm ourselves by the fire. We have no plans in the evening beyond dinner. But in the morning we are once again to get up early in order to catch the first ferry to the shores by the Perito Moreno. Tomorrow we hike a glacier.
19 March 2023
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