Today has been fun.

We set off from Cochrane this morning with Ben ready to cross the border into Argentina. With fuel bladders full, paperwork printed for the remote border crossing and dreams of bife de chorizo and red wine for dinner.

Fuel is hard to get in Argentina, especially in remote towns and if there is a petrol station, it doesn’t mean it has petrol. We identified a town that had a petrol station with a reliable supply and made that our destination. 423 kms. As our bikes only do around 230-250, we had to take extra.

I was expecting the road to the Paso Robalo pass to be a bit rocky so I was prepared for a challenging day. The weather was beautiful and the scenery stunning and thankfully the road wasn’t too bad in the end.

As this border post is remote, we had to apply for a permit (a Salvoconductor) online ahead of time and specify the date of entry. It said on the website that you needed to allow 5 days to receive approval and if you indicated a date less than 5 days it would be an instant refusal. We also read on numerous posts that the date you specify doesn’t matter and you can pass at any time as long as you have the approval.

There is clearly a reason I am telling this story.

We applied for the permit 4 days ago but specified tomorrow’s date, thinking we could pass whenever we were ready. After riding to Tortel (dont bother) and Villa O’Higgins (end of the Carretera Austral), we were ready to cross the Paso Robalo border.

After riding 80 kms we arrived at the border post and presented our documents.

‘The date on your permit is tomorrow, you can’t cross today’

I won’t go into the pleading in bad Spanish we did and reasoning we gave them. They were not going to budge.

‘Can we sleep here?’ I asked, already knowing the answer but trying to portray how desperate we were to cross

‘no’

The thought of doing the ride again, despite its beauty, and spending another night in Cochrane was super disappointing for all or us. It’s one thing to mentally prepare for a hard road once but to have to do it three times was a little overwhelming.

We eventually left with the plan to try to get wifi back close to town and reapply with today’s date as the guard advised.

‘but it says it will be immediately rejected if we specify a date within 5 days’ Dean said in his Italian/Spanish.

They assured us it would be fine.

So, we head back, all pretty deflated and in disbelief. Around 10 kms in, Ben saw a caravan parked a little way off the road and went to ask them if they had internet.

Bingo.

A lovely couple from Holland were happy to share it with us. So, we reapplied with today’s date.

The approval came through in 10 minutes! So happy, we all headed back to the border post and processed customs with no problem.Next Argentina.

Once the guard had finished his lunch, he processed us one at a time and before long we were on our way.

The road on the Argentinian side was a lot more rocky than the Chilean side but just as beautiful, maybe even more. Less green but with blue lakes with pink flamingos. Well worth the stress!

Ben went off ahead while Dean patiently rode behind me as usual. About half an hour ago, around half way through the rocky road towards to Ruta 40, Dean realised that he was missing his backpack.

‘I have to go back to the border post, it’s the only place it can be. Find a shady place and wait for me’

First of all, there is no shade. Second, we already have limited fuel so I’m not sure where this is going to leave us, and third…what if he left it in Chile and not Argentina? Or with the Dutch couple? The papers for the bike are with me so crossing into Chile is going to be impossible

Its at least an hour each way (it took us/me about 2 to get this far) and it’s 4 pm. We still have 300 kms to ride to get to our destination/fuel. I just hope he doesn’t try to go too fast.

Ben has come back to find us and is now sitting with me under a ‘tree’ to wait for him…

Dean retuned at 5.30.

After contemplating what we would do if dean didn’t appear after two hours, Ben heard the motorcycle over the mountains.

He had left his bag at the Chilean border post and after some pleading with the Argentinian guard, he was allowed to cross back into Chile by leaving his passport with him. The guard in Chile handed him his bag and gave him some petro to get him through! How kind. They weren’t so bad in the end.

We ended up arriving into town at 10 pm, just as the sun was going down, totally exhausted. Thankfully, restaurants in Argentina are open until 1 am so we found a place to eat some meat (not bife de chorizo) and drink some wine before crashing.