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A Life Less Ordinary

Tag: border crossing

Mendoza Province, Argentina, Part One – Mendoza City & Surroundings

May 28, 2024 / / 39 Comments

After spending two weeks in Santiago, the capital of Chile, Mark, Maya, and I headed towards Argentina again.

Mendoza Province in Argentina
Visited places in the north of Mendoza Province

Since we wanted an early start for the border procedure, we slept our last night at an extremely loud and busy fuel station, still in Chile, forgetting that we could have returned to a better spot in Argentina, before crossing the actual border.

Parked by a loud fuel station

You see, official formalities take place in one building for each country and these buildings are 16 miles (25 km) apart! When you leave Chile, you don’t have to stop at the Chilean border facilities and vice versa. So, you can drive into Argentina and camp, before checking into the country. As a matter of fact, the actual border is located in the Christ The Redeemer Tunnel, which cuts through the Andes.

The actual border between Chile and Argentina is in this tunnel

And, a provincial park that contains the tallest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemisphere, Aconcagua, is also located in Argentina before crossing the border. Confusing?

Aconcagua Provincial Park

Our “early start” actually didn’t help, because we still needed to drive an hour to the border, navigating the tight and plentiful switchbacks called Los Caracoles to reach the Los Libertadores pass.

(As always, click on or hover over photos in galleries to read their captions.)

The switchbacks of Los Caracoles
Ready to climb Los Caracoles
Following truck uphill on a nice day

This area, including the border, frequently closes in the winter months due to heavy snowfall and rock slides. As the busiest and most popular commercial border crossing between Chile and Argentina, you can imagine the delays this might cause. Luckily, all was fine when we passed through in late April, but a week later, the pass closed for the first time this winter season.

Looking down over the switchbacks, where road construction often causes big delays
Leaving Chile

On our drive, we also realized Aconcagua had to be seen and stopped at before the border formalities. I had hoped to do a hike here, but dogs weren’t allowed, you had to book ahead of time, it was freezing and super windy outside, and we had no idea how long the crossing would take. So, we briefly stopped for a free viewpoint and overlook of this majestic mountain.

The scenery in this part of Argentina is stunning!
Sign for the tallest mountain in the Western and Southern Hemisphere
A glimpse of Aconcagua

Los Libertadores crossing into Argentina

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From Cusco, Peru to La Paz, Bolivia – As Overlanders

January 29, 2024 / / 23 Comments

Peru

Cusco

After my cousin and her husband left Cusco on December 6th, Mark and I finished some work assignments and camper projects (and I created a 2024 calendar for my family), and socialized with our Canadian friends Sheri and Jeff. Just as we were ready to leave town, we learned our American motorcycle friends Katherine and Brandon would arrive the following day!

(As always, click on or hover over photos to read their captions.)

Great group photo of us and our vehicles in Cusco
Dinner out with Katherine and Brandon at our favorite vegetarian restaurant in Cusco
Mark gives our friends tips about how to reach Machu Picchu

We didn’t want to miss that, of course, and decided to camp on the edge of Cusco for a couple of nights to spend time with them – and work. We have met up with Katherine and Brandon in “every” country of South America so far: Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. (And, most recently, Bolivia.) After seeing them several times in Baja, Mexico and Idaho and Oregon in the US.

Drinks and popcorn in Bella with Katherine and Brandon
Katherine carries dog food for strays on her motorcycle – Maya knows!
Waving our motorcycle friends off again – not for long, this time…

Sheri and Jeff – who we were supposed to meet down the road – had finished their Sacred Valley explorations by then and joined us as well. We had fun times together, especially when Jeff revealed one of his T-shirts… I mentioned in a previous post that our friends had a few surprises for us. 😊

Back at Piss Alley, where we camped near Jeff and Sheri’s camper for our last nights in Cusco
Drinks out in Cusco with friends – Jeff and Sheri surprised us with this funny T-shirt!
A slightly better look at the surprise T-shirt Jeff was wearing

Tinajani Canyon

Us, truck camper overlanders, moved on and drove for two long days. Our first stop – after filling up with propane at the other end of Cusco – was Tinajani Canyon, where we had camped and walked before.

Crazy drivers in Peru – they always have to cut you off. Always.
Another, long-term, road closure in Cusco
Company of a skinny stray dog while patiently waiting for our propane tank to get filled.
Getting our propane tank topped up on the edge of Cusco
Road work – at every bridge – between Cusco and the border
Arriving in Tinajani Canyon for the second time

It was quiet at night, but a tad chilly at 13,000ft (around 4,000m). We paid the cheese factory a visit, but they were out of Gouda. This is where the exhaustion and sickness caught up with me, leading to an extra night of staying put, for me to rest. The symptoms reminded me of the flu and I was “out” for five days.

Camped in Tinajani Canyon with Jeff and Sheri (Photo courtesy of Sheri Ouellet)
My favorite spot to hang out – protected from the strong winds and enjoying the nice view
Can you spot Thirsty Bella?
Maya keeps me company, but has an eye on the camper (which contains Mark) at all times!
One more visit to the local Tinajani cheese factory
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Peru, Take Two – Our Border Run to Bolivia

December 20, 2023 / / 27 Comments

Many months ago, back in Ecuador, I invited my cousin and her husband to join us in the Cusco area of Peru when it would be time for their “winter vacation” in November/December 2023. They had visited us many times before, mostly when sailing on our then 35ft catamaran Irie. The idea of having them travel with us on the Baja peninsula in Mexico two years prior fell through and, last winter, when we had just arrived in Colombia, a visit had seemed too soon.

Plans were set in motion, with the only potential caveat our allotted time in Peru upon entering the country. When we crossed that border between Ecuador and Peru the end of July, Mark and I asked, pleaded, and begged for a six-month entry stamp at Peruvian immigration, something we knew friends had been able to obtain, which was one of the reasons we had picked this particular crossing. Our request was denied.

We received 90 days in the country with a “visa” expiration date of October 27th. Not enough time to cover my family’s visit. Yet, we did not despair. Despite the extension system in Peru having just been scrapped in early 2023 due to all the indigenous protests, we knew of ways to get more time in the country and gave my cousin the green light for a trip to Peru.

Fast forward to the end of October, when our time in the country was running out and my family had their holiday in the Cusco area sealed: from November 20th to December 6th. We had heard and read and learned that it was possible to drive to the small border of Kasani in Peru, park the car, check out at immigration, walk across the border into Copacabana, Bolivia, check in and out of the country there, and return to Peru to receive another 60-day entry stamp. With that stamp, you could either apply for a TIP (Temporary Import Permit) extension for the vehicle online or at the border. So, that was the plan…

On October 25th, with a couple of days to spare (experience had taught us that officials in South America don’t like to deal with things too far ahead of time and many extensions and permits are issued last minute), Mark and I set our plan in motion. Not only was a positive outcome of this border run necessary to spend time with my family and friends who would return from Canada to Cusco during this period, we also had skipped Machu Picchu, Arequipa, and Colca Canyon – highlights in Peru – counting on being able to see them during our extra time…

Driving east along Lake Titicaca

Our water and fuel tanks were topped up, our fridge was relatively empty, and our Peruvian soles had been spent (an issue when trying to fill up in gas stations around Puno that didn’t accept credit cards), just in case we wouldn’t be allowed back into the country anymore. It was important to us that neither our camper, nor our dog left Peru to not make things more complicated.

Looking towards Bolivia from the parked camper

So, we parked Thirsty Bella in a parking lot on the Peruvian side of the border around 9am and walked to immigration to inquire about our options. The first officer I talked to made my heart sink: “You are only allowed to stay 90 days out of every 180 days. You will have to leave the country for three months if you want to come back.”

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Baja Bound (Part One) – A Change of Scenery

February 24, 2021 / / 66 Comments

The Plan

Mark and I had been playing around with the idea of going to Baja California, Mexico, during the winter since the fall of 2020. But as long as I needed reliable internet every day (first to publish my book, then to promote it, on top of other jobs and blogging commitments), crossing the border was not going to happen.

As January approached and we found ourselves in an uninspiring, windy California desert that turned even more chilly from the moment the sun set (before 5pm), the desire to find warmer weather grew. Don’t forget our home measures only 80sq feet, so being able to live outside is a requirement. Whenever my live webinar/presentation for the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) was delivered, we would leave the US for a chunk of time.

Except, the day after my “performance,” rumor had it that the border officials in Mexicali were cranking down on non-essential travel into their municipality. Would they turn us back if we crossed there, even when only driving through? We didn’t want to lie about our reason for visiting (saying that we were going to Mexico for dental work for example), besides, I’d just been to the dentist.

So we changed our plans, added a few more days to prepping our crossing, which now included an extra drive back east to a different border town after doing laundry, washing Zesty, and stocking up the van in Yuma, AZ, instead of El Centro, CA.

The interior of Baja California seen from the interior of Zesty

(As always, hover over or click on photos in galleries to read the captions. My photos are heavily resized for easier loading of the page.)

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