I’m here almost 7 months but still I can’t understand only fictional lines witch are dividing south America table for countries. Border between Chile and Argentina is only then when You want it. 10 km of no mans land where are houses as normal and You can walk as You want, but it’s yours business to find control point and ask about stamp. That Chile and Argentina don’t have best contacts it’s not a special secret, but best proof for that is Way of the Cross which is between control point in Argentinian and Chilean side 😀 First station is near Chile side, and last on Argentinian side. And You can find explanation 🙂

After almost European Argentina, Chile is more latino, with more fire, and freedom. But than you see much more police on streets, you can’t camp where You want and You can’t drink alcohol on streets. After few days You can feel in air ghost of Pinochet.

First city on the other side – Chile Chico – is near the deepest lake in whole South America! In first day I met there on street group of students with whom we had together fun during three days of music festival 😀

Only one official exchange office in fishing shop 🙂

To go to north there is two options – You can swim in ferry on the other side in one hour and pay something like 2000 pesos, or go around in 3 days and have a lot of fun 😀 Choice was simple so I stand in queue of other hitchhikers and I waited for my first truck.

Yeah, queues of hitchhikers. In whole Brazil I saw only 4 other hitchhikers, and I jumped as a crazy. In Paraguay And Uruguay were nobody, something was changed in south of Argentina. But in Chile is real madness! Until Chile my main “problem” was when car didn’t wanted to stop. Now problem is because car don’t have place to stop because is so much hitchhikers! It’s much more hitchhikers on road sides than mosquitoes! We are looks like buried to knees signs near road. When we are waiting we are dancing, singing, cooking, telling stories, drinking and all day someone is grabbed by asphalt river and someone else is spitted out like Jonas from metal whale. Near rivers and leaks every night are huge unofficial camping with 20-30 tents of other hitchhikers who left on shallow of night. And there real gipsy camp – people from whole over the world, thousands of languages, cooking in kettles on fire, washing, cleaning, drying, clipping, and a loot of love 🙂

In that village have home something like 100 persons, but every day on street wait around 30 hitchhikers

From that smal truck went around 30 persons 😀

Goverment is carrying about hitchhikers and closing whole roads for some hours. Beer time!

When I camped under that Golden bridge I didn’t knew what will happen there. Every night that small beach is changing in backpackers camp. I met there guys from Brazil, Chile and girl from Germany, so together we spend there 3 days 😀 Other backpackers came and gone and we just sat there and sang songs and drank wine. That was really good time!

When I waited enough I jumped into truck who driver was a great fan of Paris-Dakar race. I know that not only from his stories but also from that how he drove our truck. I never thought that truck can go so fast, jump over bridges, cut turns where on other side were INCREDIBLE views! In Chile Chico I started my story with Caretela Austral – one from most beautiful roads in whole world which is going through almost whole national parks of Chile! Whole this road should be written on Heritage List of UNESCO! Every turn, bridge and straight is a view on marvelous mountains, valleys, rivers and lakes. And because it’s unpaved road so you are going in 40km/h but you feel like in car’s cinema during National Geographic movie. I said that one day I will come back here, buy a small van, go once again and stop in every place where I want. And because I write it also here I need to do it 😀

This road is like one, huge meeting point. There is only one road to north so we need to go together. And that’s how during circle around one from the biggest lakes in whole world I met Juan who drove on bicycle from Santiago to south (we will meet once again in capital). We met couple of times because even mountains he could do more than 100km and I because of view I didn’t wanted do more. In other place I met girl from Germany, who I met few weeks before in some summit in Argentina. Two times I met amazing girl from Canada, who Is travelling alone through world. There was a guy who 15 years already is going on bike through whole world! There was a couple from Nederland who sold absolutely everything and now they are going through South America on bikes. There were also group of students from Czech Republic who In camper from 1974 are going through whole world (I wanted just to jump for few seconds but when I wanted to camp they putted out only glass which they have inside and a special words: “ we need to drink together” and we drank. I hope that I will not meet so much guys from my region because mornings after that always are very difficult 😀 ).

Hitchhikers who I met told me about cathedrals in marble in Rio Tranquillo, so with great hurt I paid 10000 pesos, jumped into motor ship and after 20 minutes of going through the lake I was inside caves, corridors, cathedrals and churches… in marble. Water corroding marble in thousand of years create marvelous place. Colors, shapes, smoothness of walls, visual softness of many kinds of marble intimidate. That was really cool to see it, touch it, but 10000 pesos is a little bit to much like for my standards. But what I saw that’s mine 🙂

In Lake District almost nobody live. Biggest villages have around 400-500 people, but they create incredible climate. Incas villages drowned in sky. That’s why when I came to Coyhaique, biggest city in region where live around 40 thousand people, I wanted to buy almost everything from shop! Chile is another country where everything is much more expansive than in Poland but even that I took a lot, I went to cash and… another time the same. If You can see how SLOOOW people are working here! If anybody will work so slow in European market they will fire him in second. If in quick cash where clients have only 10 things, are more than 10 people, You can be sure that You will wait more than 30 minutes. And if anybody will want to pay by card?! Theirs terminals need 2 minutes to connect. And if transaction will be delayed? Here visit in supermarket is like best lessons of meditation…

BTW, I need to eat a little better. During last 3 months I eat only tuna, bread, water and sometime tomato. Every time that pack cost me 10 dolars 🙁 I feel that I’m loosing energy. Just go to Peru and Bolivia, there I can eat much better. Now I’m leaving Chile to visit Argentina for few days and walk a little bit in mountains.