October 21, Day 17: Los Antiguos to Chile Chico
Not far to go today: just a jaunt over the border from Los Antiguos in Argentina to its neighbouring town Chile Chico in Chile. Since the two are so similar except for the country they're in, I'm going to extrapolate from every small mismatch, a deep and profound difference in the culture and economy of the two countries.
Fave features of Los Antiguos and Argentina: great wall art and having nice doggos everywhere.
This trip is so short and simple I didn't even bother to set up a route in Komoot. Say farewell to the hostel, sail off down a sidestreet, past the tourist trap place that wanted 10 euros for a milkshake (not kidding), and out towards the border.
The wind is westerly, and it's strong, but I'm only going a few kilometers so I don't care. It's been a calm few days, and I'd forgotten about the Patagonian wind - but the wind maps show winds on the route: there's probably going to be headwinds until I'm properly over the Andes. This one isn't too bad in comparison - I would like it if I can say that about the next few days.
The Argentinian half of the border crossing is pretty quick: hand over the passport, get a receipt, out in ten minutes.
The Chilean half of the border crossing is much more complicated. There's a few questions about where I'm from and where I'm going and having a UK passport but living in the Netherlands complicates things (it's "Hollanda" in Spanish, by the way. And the United Kingdom is "Reino Unido".) They recognize me from yesterday's tour to the Catedral de Marmol, and are very polite and helpful but for some reason it takes much longer this time. The panniers gets searched, but that's it - no bike disassembly like I saw yesterday, fortunately.
From left to right: The Argentinian border control. Two signs saying “Welcome to Chile”, they must mean it. They have bike parking outside their border control! A river walk in Chile Chico.
First order of business in Chile Chico is to get the ferry ticket arranged. This is in the bus terminal building, but despite the name there's apparently no bus business here, they do have six office rooms with a different business in each. Find the right one, avoid comedy misunderstandings with bad Spanish, all done.
Next is accommodation. Hostal La Victoria is close by and well reviewed, let's try it! I head in the entrance and hit a dark, locked door. Try the shop in the same building; indeed they are the same business and I get a respectable hotel room for 30 euros, nice.
Laundry. There's exactly one laundry service in town, and it's on the opposite side from me. I head on over: it's run but a very nice old lady out of her house. But they don't take contact/credit card payment, the only options are transferencia or cash. It'll have to be cash: I looked into "transferencia" for that cafe in Perito Moreno, and it's a dead end.
So I'll need to pick up some cash; Google says there's an ATM next to my hostel. After lunch! It's past 1300 and I'm hungry. I've just finished off some canneloni when I remember that ATMs in Ushuaia not only had closing times, I found one that closed so early in the afternoon it was weird enough to share. Maybe I should check? Wish I'd thought of that earlier because it's 1359 and they close at 1400.
I get out of the restaurant as fast as I can without looking like I’m skipping the bill - but the town's only ATM was fully closed by the time I got there. Maybe it's just for a siesta, when does it reopen? Tomorrow, after the ferry leaves. This is a problem. I went back to the restaurant for dessert.
As far as problems go, this isn't really that serious. A nice lady is holding my clothes hostage ... and actually I'm not sure what the ransom is. Does she take Argentinian pesos - I still have 7000!
From left to right: Wall art in Chile Chico. The old ferry. Guacamole seasoning!? The coffee that won me over.
Actually that's enough drama I want to talk about coffee.
A Google review of a service station on the far side of town mentioned an ATM in passing. I trudge out there without delay, it works, it takes my card, it provides a respectable amount of cash first time, and unlike Argentina the fees are a respectable few euros, instead of 16%.
On the way back I stopped at BarbaCafe, and this is news because it's the first respectable coffee I've had in South America. Let me back this up a bit. Most places serve coffee. Instant is common. Drip/filter is standard in hotels. A few places actually had coffee machines, which does get your hopes up. But they consistently overheat the milk to the point it's re-pasteurised and since it happens every time I wonder if that's how people in Argentina like it.
If that's the case, the locals won't like this one: the milk had been frothed instead of boiled; it had been layered with the coffee instead of mixed. Already good. But BarbaCafe is run by a caffiend who takes the business so seriously he roasts his own beans. I'd buy some beans to support him ... except that's unnecessary extra weight and I have six more weeks of cycling and a thousand more kilometers of Andes ahead of me.
The best I could do is take a promo sticker he had, which is now adorning my laptop. It's not very pretty. But when I look at it, I remember the excellent coffee at BarbaCafe in Chile Chico, which instantly shortcuts all the price, culture, road, and food comparisons possible between these two fine countries...
In conclusion: #teamchile.
