Returning to Argentina

As we drove the three-kilometre-long tunnel that connects Chile to Argentina once again, a feeling of relief washed over me that we had made the ascent on our newly built engine. Ahead of us our friends drove on in their Mitsubishi camper, ready for our illicit border plans. We had coordinated our departure from Chile in order that we could both enter without declaring our pets. Our previous paperwork had long expired and we had no intention of paying another £100 for another set, especially when it would only be used one time. We had previously discussed where we would stop with our partners in crime as this border has several steps that you have to carry out in order to pass. We had planned a rather more elaborate entry if it was just going to be the two of us, involving one of us cycling in, but in two cars it was rather easier.

We passed the first checkpoint and received our piece of paper with a number 2 on it, representing the two of us, from the policeman. Then we continued onwards towards immigration. We turned off on a side dirt road just before it and parked up on the spiky scrub at the side of the road. Our friends went first, being infinitely more organised than we were. They had already packed their cat Finley as well as any cat-related items into bags. We plonked him on the worksurface in the back of Ruby, while a pile of fruits, vegetables and cat products went onto the front seats.

While we waited for them to drive over and complete immigration, we sorted out our own illegal produce. It was a bit too much effort to get out the cat bags for this and so we popped them on their harnesses. I emptied the things we weren’t allowed out of the fridge and then we made our own pile. It’s amazing just how much cat paraphernalia we have. When it’s in a heap outside you can really see how much space they take up!

Our friends were back in around an hour, mission successful. Now it was our turn. We piled up all our stuff outside their van and shoved the very unhappy girls inside. Then we hopped in Ruby and drove the few remaining minutes down the road to immigration. The upside of this border is that the immigration office is off to the side of the road, I guess due to the large distance to the actual border as well as the other parks and so on in the area, there is a fair amount of traffic that passes by which has no intention of crossing. Therefore, there’s no need to block off the road. This was also great for us because it meant we could stop and go back and forth without anyone taking a blind bit of notice.

We pulled into the building and straight up to the first window. This time I handed in our slips from Chile as before we’d never got an exit stamp. This time he also didn’t want to give me an exit stamp, despite me telling him we had problems before not having it. I guess we’d figure that out later if it came to it. Then, we moved along to the next window. This drive-by border and its booths was pretty quick for us last time and this time was no different. We parked up on the side as instructed. A woman came and glanced at the van, then told us to wait there while she prepared our vehicle documents. She returned about 10 minutes later with said paperwork, this time granting us 8 months in the country. That was it, in less than half an hour we were driving back out again and back to the cats.

While we had a very quick and easy experience, it appears that half an hour in a strangers’ camper had been highly traumatic for the girls. Despite the fact they’d stick their noses straight in there uninvited. We bundled our angry cats and all their stuff back into Ruby, ready to make our final descent towards the last checkpoint where we would hand in our stamped ticket from immigration. This had been slower than the actual crossing before, but thankfully today the queue was a short affair. It occurred to me that maybe there was an extra stamp on the docket we were about to hand in for pets. I couldn’t remember from the last time and so when they waved us over to the side of the road, I half-heartedly hid Lexi under a bag, which appeared to traumatise her even further. Who knew if she would ever recover from this horrific day she was having… I’m pretty sure they could see the cats still, but whether they noticed or cared was another thing. After a quick check of our papers, they waved us on and we were officially back in the land of wine.

With our somewhat late start and slow ascent of the pass to get here, it was now getting on in the day and so we led the way back to that lovely river spot we had stayed at the last time we had done this crossing. We arrived in the last of the afternoon sun, just in time to set up by the burbling river, which was now running with much clearer water than the last time we had been there. Our friends seemed just as happy with the spot as we were and that evening we sat around a small campfire and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the mountains.

After a gloriously peaceful night, we just couldn’t tear ourselves away from the spot just yet. Our friends too had enjoyed it and wanted to stay one more day. They drove the short drive down into Uspallata for a few basics, while we enjoyed the beautiful sun and for the first time, our new awning! We spent a day relaxing by the river and simply taking in the fresh visa smell, it was just that little bit sweeter from our successful free crossing the day before. Even though we could have stayed here longer, it was time to see something new.

The following morning, we set off for Mendoza. Our friends would be following us, but they would most likely be staying in the free parking in the city park, while we decided we’d like a nice hot shower and to do some laundry at the campground. Before we arrived there, we stopped off in the centre to visit Mercado Central and hopefully a big supermarket. What we had completely forgotten was Argentina’s ridiculous opening hours. While many countries close for a short siesta, Argentina likes to shut down from around 1-5pm. By the time we’ve got up, packed up and arrived somewhere, you can bet it’ll be past 1pm and so we only saw the closed gates of the market. It also appeared that Google had brought us near a big supermarket like we’d thought, but instead to the city plaza. It was quite nice, but not great for shopping and we decided we’d rather explore the centre later.

We headed out towards the campground, stopping off instead at a Vea supermarket. We were looking to replace the bottle on our SodaStream that had run out a week or so ago and while we thought we’d need the bigger hypermarket to do that, we happily found some here instead. We also found them selling off local bottles of gin for just £1.50 and so it was in great spirits that we arrived at El Mangrullo at the end of the afternoon. It wasn’t the cheapest campground, but it was quiet. There were only a couple of other campers there, some of whom left that afternoon. Most notably, we met Eric, Brittany and Caspian again, this time outside of the workshop!

We had only planned to stay here a night, as it was a bit pricey for us, but with the weekend coming and after having spent so long in the garage we decided this was a nice place to stay and enjoy it. We got all the washing done, enjoyed a glorious hot shower and cooked up some food on the barbecue. We offered to put on a kids’ movie on our projector for Caspian on Sunday, our final night there. We made hot chocolate and ate popcorn while watching Ratatouille wrapped in a blanket against the ever-cooling nights.

Now with the weekend over, we decided to move on. So we said our goodbyes and headed south. We hadn’t explored the city really, but that was ok as we only planned a brief diversion, before coming back. My birthday was coming and we wanted to treat ourselves, once again, to Bodega La Azul.