Estoy en Chile

The bus ride over the Andes is pretty, but l o n g... I left Bariloche this morning at 9am and finally reached Puerto Montt at 6pm, 3 hours late. The border crossing was fun. First you exit Argentina, then you pile back onto the bus and drive for 20 minutes where you get off the bus again and deal with Chilean customs and immigration. They empty the whole bus of all the bags and x-ray every one... Once we arrived in Puerto Montt, I realized that I had 'misplaced' my baggage reclaim ticket. So, I had to wait until all the other bags were gone, and then give the driver and the steward a kiss on the cheek each before they would hand it over...

We've changed our plans a little. Michael was going to meet me in Bariloche and we were going to head South on the Argentinian side of the Andes, but, I managed to get a couple of last minute tickets on the Navimag ship in Chile. The ship is a cargo boat that transports passengers too... The trip will take 4 days and travels South through the Chilean fiords, coming out into the Pacific for one (bumpy) channel crossing. You can see photos and a video of the stormy seas here....

Gotta go shopping for seasickness tablets tomorrow!