Into Chile

Even though Tierra Del Fuego is still in Argentina, we need to pass through a little corner of Chile to get there, which means 2 border crossings. Border crossings take ages and are a pain in the arse. When crossing into Chile we arent allowed to take any fresh food or animal produce. Depending on the mood of the guards we have to take all our bags off the truck and have them scanned, or have the truck searched for any food/guns/drugs/animals. The guards purposely take ages to look at your passport and there is always a queue. We spent over 2 hours at the first one so we chucked a rugby ball about for a while to pass the time.

Rather than go through another border crossing that day we decided to bush camp in Chile and cross into Argentina the next day. We drove around looking for somewhere by the road that we could pitch our tent, and we saw what looked like an abandoned army camp and turned into it. Immediately we were confronted by a few young-looking soldiers and Luca jumped out of the truck to go and talk to them. Everyone thought we were in trouble with the Chilian Army but Luca came back and told us that the guard said it should be OK if we use their old gym hall to sleep in. The soldiers were youngsters doing their national service and guarding a disused army camp. The soldiers couldnt speak any English and all came out to stare and wave at us like we were mad. The atmosphere was a bit wierd and exciting, as we were in the middle of nowhere in what looked like a dilapidated, scary soviet base from some bad horror movie. The gym they let us use used to be a basketball court and was in some state of disrepair but it was shelter from the wind and cold so it was a perfect place to camp. Everyone was in a good mood, for some people it was their last bush camp before their trip ends at Ushuaia. We put some tunes on and people danced as they made food. Later on, after a few drinks, we moved into the scary back room and everyone put their head torches on flash mode and we had a little disco before bed.

The next day we left early to cross the Straight of Magellan to get to the border crossing into Argentina again. Apparently dolphin sightings are common but we didnt see any.