You can read all about our overnight stay in Pucón, here.
Day 4
We left the town of Pucón to prepare for a long day of driving, which included crossing the border into Argentina. The drive to the border takes you into Parque Nacional Villarrica, which made for a very scenic drive and plenty of picture stops.
The border crossing was quite the adventure. We arrived at Chile’s immigration at the same time two tour buses arrived. We had to wait about 45 minutes to get through the line. We drove into Argentina, and immediately, the paved road stopped… oh oh, what are we getting ourselves into? We had to wait a while in the Argentina customs line, and were told we were missing a stamp from Chile. So, we had to drive back to Chile, and realized there was another counter we had missed. Once we got the stamp, we made the second drive to the Argentina station. Steve had attempted to explain what happened to the employee at the first desk, and not understanding it, she voided our previous visas. After some frustration, the Manager got involved and spoke English and was able to assist us through the remainder of the process. Argentina here we come!!!
Once driving into Argentina, the scene changed, as we were out of a National Park. The road was also gravel for a long time. The next town we arrived in was San Martin de los Andes. It was here that Steve bought a chip card for his phone for Argentina data, with MovieStar. To Steve’s frustration, the chip didn’t work. We set up a temporary Wi-Fi with SkyRoam so we can figure out why it wasn’t working. We eventually decided it was time to hit the road and figure it out later. We drove a few more hours to Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi, known for their 7 lakes. It was simply breathtaking. An hour into the National Park we arrived in the small town of Villa La Angostura. It was cute, and reminded us of Lake Tahoe. Our campsite was about 20 minutes outside of town, and was right along Lake Nahuel Huapi. The campsite was 300 pesos per night for the two of us, but it provided a hot shower – which was needed!
Day 5 – Christmas Eve
We drove back to town to try and sort this whole chip card issue, however, most stores were closed. We did our grocery shopping while the grocery store was open, and Steve found a camera shop that sold phone chips. Steve and the employee attempted to work through the problem to no luck. He ended up giving us a new chip to try – Success! We have data now… except the town has very minimal 3G, oh well.
We headed back to camp to take care of laundry. Laundry in the cold and wind is not a fun task, but it needs to get done. We were hoping to be able to have time to hike, but the weather wasn’t looking good, and getting clean clothes was a high priority. For dinner on Christmas Eve we made Hobo packets – chicken, carrots, onions, and potatoes in a foil packet. It was nice to have a break from pasta and eggs. We were excited that we were able to make a phone call via WhatsApp on Steve’s phone to our families. I had been feeling homesick most of the day, and hearing my parents & my sisters’ voices made me feel better. Steve and I ended our day with sitting by the campfire, sipping on Argentinian wine – a frequent favorite of ours.
Day 6 – Christmas
We had planned on doing hiking, but the rain changed those plans. Instead we decided to drive around the National Park looking for wild life and take photos. Back at camp, we finished laundry and prepared a leftover dinner (and maybe one of us took a nap… hey it’s a holiday!). We also got to talk to Steve’s family, which was really nice. Another evening sitting by the fire was what we planned, but rain and wind though differently – so we took our wine in the van and enjoyed the sound of rain.
The next morning, we enjoyed one more shower and hit the road.
