September 17, 2018

September 17, 2018

In 1817, San Martin took his army and marched west across the Andes to attack the Spanish stronghold of Santiago. Instead of flying the 100 miles, we are going to follow in his footsteps, albeit in a vehicle and without a lot of military hardware. The Andes is the longest mountain range in the world, second tallest to the Himalayas. It was a clear day so we had great views along the entire journey.

The Andes have three parallel mountain ranges. The two “shorter” ones are in Argentina, so our journey starts gently following the Mendoza River valley. The terrain is rocky and dry without vegetation.

Near the top we take a short break to see a geological curiosity known as the Inca Bridge. It is a natural rock bridge that happens to be near the source of a Thermal Spring, so the slopes are covered with colorful mineral concretions. Surprisingly Charles Darwin visited here in 1835 during his historic voyage on his ship the Beagle.

Despite the almost perfectly clear skies, our view of Mt Aconcagua, the tallest in the Americas at nearly 23,000 feet, is obscured by a lone cloud clinging to its peak.

At the 11,000 foot summit of Los Patos Pass, we encounter the border crossing with Chile. It is a long ordeal. Apparently the two nations aren’t that cooperative. We have to totally unload the bus and pass all our luggage through an X-Ray scanner. Several in our group are chosen for baggage search. One lady gets some of her souvenirs confiscated. A rocky, snowy mountain top makes for an odd Customs Inspection point.

The Chilean side of the Andes is completely different. It is very steep. The first section is an incredible set of 29 switchbacks down a cliff. It makes for a great picture because it looks so cartoonish. The rest of the journey is almost straight downhill for two hours. I hope the brakes don’t overheat!

The Chile side is also greener and it is Spring in the southern hemisphere, so the road is lined with what looks like Mexican Gold Poppies. We also see lots of avocado, peach and nut orchards beginning to flower. Chile is heavily reliant on agriculture, which probably explains their rigorous customs process.

Just north of Santiago, we pass the Battle of Chacabuco Monument where San Martin met and defeated the Spanish liberating Chile. He then sailed his army to Lima to free Peru.

We end our journey in the foggy capital, Santiago. It is Independence Day (Fiestas Patrias) and we see lots of Chilean flags.

After checking into our hotel, we take a walk up Santa Lucia Hill, a small city park. At the top we get a good view of the city. While Buenos Aires resembles Paris, Santiago resembles gritty New York City. The population is also mostly indigenous compared to the heavy Italian of BA.

For dinner we ate vegetarian Lasagna at an Italian restaurant. We toasted San Martin’s victory with a Pisco Sour. Pisco is a brandy made from Chilean grapes.