(Puerto Blest, Argentina)

We awoke to unexpectedly sunny skies and beautiful views in Peulla, Chile. However, the brightest part of our day was the news we received during breakfast: we finally had the missing bar code! We could finally cross the border!

The day got better and better. Shortly after passing Chilean customs (located at the edge of Peulla, rather than at the border itself), we saw a pair of condors! At first I only saw the female but then I also saw the male a short distance away. These birds are huge! The wingspan can be more than 3 metres (10 feet) and the male looked to be that size when he eventually flew away.  It is difficult to describe how thrilling it is to see such a large, wild creature in its natural habitat.

While it was hard to top our condor sighting, we still saw plenty of vertiginous waterfalls and snow-capped mountains as we continued our lonely journey in the no-man’s-land between the Chilean and Argentinian border posts. We didn’t see any pumas, but you can’t have it all!

The bus climbed higher and higher to the Argentinian border:  high enough, in fact, that there was a significant amount of snow at the point where Chile becomes Argentina.  We had found snow in July!  Even if there was an unexpected snag at the upcoming border control at Puerto Frias, at least we could say that we had set foot in Argentina.

Thankfully, the only hassle at Puerto Frias was the glare of the sun on the pristine mountain lake (see photo at the top of this post).  While it was challenging for photography, it was a blissful to bask in the sun and to finally leave our border crossing problems behind us.  A short, refreshing boat ride to Puerto Alegre and then an even shorter bus ride to Puerto Blest followed.

Stay tuned for a refreshing excursion from Puerto Blest and the reunion with our group in Bariloche!