Once back on the open road we considered for the first time after lots of warnings that we were going to struggle to get over the Andes.
Driving west to east from Santiago to Brazil meant driving over these bad ass mountains! They run pretty much all the way down the middle of South America. We had had trouble with these pesky ‘hills’ already in Colombia and Peru and had chosen our route down the coast of Chile specifically to avoid traversing them all the way south.

We had no choice in the matter and although we had been warned of possible road closures and treacherous conditions we had to do it regardless, no matter how long it would take. As we trundled along looking for signs to Argentina (which you would absolutely expect to find in the thinnest section of Chile which north to South is connected to Argentina!) we found ourselves going the wrong way and looking for a place to turn around on the highway.
We found that place in a tiny village.
We drove in with the intention of turning around and getting back out the way we came in but going in the correct direction and found ourselves COMPLETELY stuck!!

There was no way out?!

How was this possible? We drove around and around and around and I am not kidding with you! The way we had come in would take us the wrong way down a highway and every other road came to a dead end!
We thought we must have gone insane!!
We asked everyone we could find but their dialect was so strong we could barely understand a word. Each of us blamed the other and thought we had slipped into a parallel universe and were doomed to spend the rest of our days in this maze!

In the end we just went the way we had come in, made a few slightly illegal U-turns and FINALLY found which way to Argentina by following a lorry with an Argentinian license plate!!!!!! Who needs maps?!

We ended the day in a car park close to the border and early the next morning crossed the border to Argentina! The border was a really snazzy drive through affair and we didn’t even need to get out of the van until it came to checking Peggy in…that is when Alex realised that he had left his only long sleeved item of clothing at Penny and Claudios’ in Santiago…and it was snowing!

Once smoothly through the border we drove towards Buenos Aires and passed through snowy mountain tops, climbed a troll ladder with over 20 hairpins and were followed slowly by LOTS of huge trucks. This troll ladder was also ON a ski run which was a crazy experience. watching the skiers float through the air above us on their way to throw themselves down a slippery slope AROUND a main highway was a strange and intriguing sight!

After all of the fuss and worry the roads were perfect and within a day we reached Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina! We drove around the beautiful city (which felt more like a big town) with its wide, tree lined streets and even found a campsite (which was closed) so we bought ourselves a bottle of wine, drove to the top of a hill and parked for the night over looking the twinkling lights of the city.

Of course everything having gone so smoothly so far, that night we ran out of gas (for the fridge and cooker) and spent the next day driving around trying to find a new gas cannister and a new connection (as every damn country has a different gas adapter) and it literally took us ALL day!
NO-one would take our Chilean tank to switch it for an Argentinian tank…in the end we switched it by distracting the attendant as we handed him the tank and drove off as fast as we could before he noticed…and then to find the attachment uuuggghh! AND then the tank leaked so we had to switch it again and blah blah blah…Anyway we got it done, did the food shop and stayed back on our hill again for another night before completing our trek to Buenos Aires.

We could have happily spent a lot more time in Mendoza but we were getting so tired. Being on the road for just over a year is exhausting and we were feeling the strain a little and looking forward to getting back to America. The language barrier is so draining and even though we could now speak a little Spanish we still struggled daily with the dialect changes and asking questions other than basic directions. We made a decision to get our foot in and complete our tour of South America within a month or so, we really really needed a rest!

We covered the 700km in one day and arrived in San Telmo and found our hotel with relative ease! We had booked it knowing there would be nowhere we could park and sleep in the van and knowing also that we needed some time in one place. We checked in, parked Peggy where we could see her and collapsed into bed!