Over the Andes to Santiago de Chile

After a wonderful stay in the city of Mendoza, Argentina, it was time to fly back home. My flight was on Aerolineas Argentinas, the Flag carrier of Argentina. It was first to Buenos Aires from Mendoza. Then to Santiago from Buenos Aires. Then to US from Santiago on American Airlines.

My Argentinean friends told me of the bad record of their national airlines and sure enough, the flight to Buenos Aires was delayed. I got four subsequent notifications of delays and luckily, I had decided to cut my losses short. I did not want to fly across the country to Buenos Aires, wait several hours, then fly back across the country, fly over the Andes mountains and then get to Santiago.

For a mere $20, I could book a ticket on the bus which drove over the Andes, and in just about six hours of relative comfort, promised to bring me to Santiago.

The Aerolineas Argentinas kept telling me of flight delays and promised to either rebook me or refund my fare. They never did refund my fare citing some technicality.

I went on my Andesmar bus which appealed to me as a sure way to make my flight out of Santiago.

The 340km journey to Santiago started right on time from Mendoza bus station.

The seats were comfortable, and I could see the Andes mountains at the distance.

The sky was blue and the mountains right outside of Mendoza had no snow on them.

As the bus progressed, in about an hour, I saw beautiful peaks with snow on them.

I was enjoying the ever changing view from my window. There were various sizes, colors and shapes of mountains I was passing by.

The Andes Mountains have the tallest peak in South America named Aconcagua, which is close by from Mendoza. It has its summit at an elevation of 6,961 meters (22,838 ft). I had tried to unsuccessfully climb it over 10 years ago.

I came closer to the Aconcagua national park as the bus proceeded.

The mountains and valleys looked very dramatic.

More snow was visible now.

The blue sky and the stark mountains made for a good contrast.

I started seeing the snow more and more.

Soon I could see Argentinian families enjoying snow sports on the mountain foothills.

Right next to the road, people could park their cars and get on the slopes to have some fun.

Kids and adults from many families were there, all were enjoying themselves.

Some slopes looked easy while some were long runs of steep downhills.

Some vistas were of unspoiled sides of mountains where no human footsteps had fallen that day.

Through the snow, some shrubs had managed to survive.

The local peaks looked sharp and jagged.

The snow and the black rock were quite picturesque.

By now, the bus had reached the international border between the two countries.

The very smooth and steep side of the mountain looked amazing.

More than halfway through the journey, we came to Los Caracoles, where the road is very windy and particularly challenging on the Chilean side. The incline is steep, and the sharp, narrow turns make it one of the most difficult roads in the world to navigate. The Argentine side offers a gentler slope, providing some relief to those who have successfully navigated the perilous Chilean ascent.

In a short while, we were at the customs area. The bus stopped and all passengers had to get out.

The customs area was humongous and very cold. I realized why the Argentinian friends said dress warmly when going by bus.

The customs check completed, and the bus had to be checked by the officials. All passengers had time to enjoy the sun and take pictures.

When all was done, we continued further.

The road was wet, slippery and curvy now.

There were gondolas above and hundreds of trucks and private vehicles crossing this international border.

The very winding road I saw in the map was in front of me. I could see it turned 180 degrees.

There was more snow on the ground and the mountains now.

Half an hour later, we were back to warmer area, it was sunnier and greener.

From a distance, the Andes range was still visible.

Finally, I was at the Santiago Bus station. I had not had lunch and it was almost dinner time. I found a really good restaurant which was part restaurant, part musuem, named Ocean's Pacific.

It was extremely large restaurant and had so many nautical knick knacks on display.

The food was excellent and delicious too.

With a good meal and few more hours to kill, I went to the Santiago downtown, walked around, saw a parade with a girls' marching band and slowly made it to the airport for my onward flight to the US.