Meteorology and Bureaucracy

The Andes control everything in South America – trade, travel, national identity, industry, history, religion, and most importantly, the climate.

In the northern half of the continent, the winds blow from the east and pickup megatons of warm Atlantic water that is blocked by the Andes. This creates Amazonia on one side and the Atacama Desert on the other; the world’s wettest and driest places right next to each other. In the southern half, the winds blow from the opposite direction from the west over the cold Pacific and even colder Humboldt Current. The winds pick up cold water which the Andes have been trapping for eons to make the glaciers, fjords, and forests in southern Chile. This leaves nothing left over for Argentina but the Patagonian wind.

When we crossed from Chile to Argentina, west to east, the wind was howling. Here is Lake General Carrera that spans the border with the permanent snow, rain, and rainbows rolling over the mountains in the west and leaving cloudless skies and gales in the east. The plants in Chile are pines, ferns, and grass with cattle grazing. In Argentina, any plant that ever stuck its head up over a few inches has been clipped by the wind and the process of natural selection in this hostile desert ecosystem. The animals we saw were hares, guanacos, and armadillos.

Rain forest to desert in half an hour over the hill.

Bureaucracy.

Most of the time the border crossings between Chile and Argentina are well organized and co-located; both nations working together to make the crossing as easy as possible for their citizens, but often the posts are miles apart. On this crossing we all managed to miss the Chile Carabinieri post in town and rode 25 km on a treacherous road that was either dirt or crazy patio paving in 90 kilometer per hour winds – only to be told to go back and get our passports stamped on the other side. Both sides were still in the duplicates-with-carbon-paper era and this was not a rapid process.

So we got to stop and admire this view three times. Life has its compensations.