60m
Well today ended being a lot easier than I was fearing, but still had its interesting TISA moments. It started off with no idea if I was doing the full tour/crossing with ferries and busses or just entirely by bus. Luckily, as we were being loaded onto our first bus from the hotel I overheard a different couple mention the same hotel that I am staying in and thought that at least someone else is in the same position. Once again we loaded people in from different hotels, and ended with a fairly full bus load. Off we set to our second stage, our first lake crossing. Ok, everyone have their ferry tickets? Um, no. But at least I wasn’t the only one to say this. No problem. She had ours with our names on them. Why she hadn’t handed them out is beyond me. Everyone got their Chile Customs declaration form? Most didn’t and I got a new one in case it was different from the version I had printed out in Perth, which it was. As we filed off we had to line up for our harbour fees, 1060 Argentinian pesos. Done. Then we got to board the catamaran onto Nahuel Hapi Lake.
Unfortunately the weather all day was drizzle and light snow which meant that visibility wasn’t great. In addition the wind across the lake was severe so I didn’t see the point of going outside. The scenery was spectacular. The colour of the lake, the mountains and the snow on top of them was amazing. We pulled into our new port after an hour of travel to be told that we needed to walk past the hotel (the only building anywhere in sight) and head of to the restaurant, about 300m up the road. I checked with the couple, who were Angus and Tilly, that they were going to the same hotel, which they confirmed. When we arrived at the restaurant they didn’t have enough Argentinian currency to pay for their coffee so I decided to pay for them. I would have spent it on myself otherwise. We struck up a conversation to fill in the time while we waited for our bags to be offloaded from the first boat and re-boarded onto the second. Then we were off on our second bus trip, this time in an old converted school bus without much suspension. Luckily this was only for 15 minutes and we arrived at Lake Fria (Cold Lake) and it looked it. However, when they announced that we might be able to see condors as they nest on the adjacent cliffs I jumped up and went outside. Ha! Like any self respecting condor would poke its head out in this weather. On the other side of the lake was our Argentinian immigration, which took about 50 minutes for all of us to get through. Apparently this is quite short as there are cases of taking up to 12 hours. Onto a new bus and we were now headed for the border ‘town’ of Peulla where we would go through Chilean Immigration and customs. Luckily (or we’ll planned actually, I was the second off the bus so I was able to get through immigration fairly quickly. Ok, here, I think, an explanation is required. There is only one person running immigration. Now we had a bus of about 38 people. To make matters worse, there is only one customs officer, who is looking for any food entering Chile and is quite fastidious in her examinations. Luckily (again, or planning) I had read about this so I declared that I had food in my bag; chocolate. Oh, is that all, move on! Give them something innocuous to find and they are bored with you. I was packed and left when the first person was still zipping up her case. This meant that I was first to the best restaurant, um only restaurant, in this place; in the hotel. It was a fixed menu, and a set price whether you had one course or all three. Well then, all three. After all, I had time to spare. Angus and Tilly arrived as I was just finishing my main course, and about to start dessert, which gives you an idea of how long it can take to get through the proceedings.
Lunch done, and waiting for Angus and Tilly to finish, we boarded the shuttle to our next cruise; All Saints Lake or Emerald Lake. This named as it is green in colour (maybe), but discovered by the Jesuits on 1 November. So either name. This cruise took about 1 3/4 hours, and then bedlam set in. Our luggage was brought off the boat in smallish containers, and when you had your bag you took it over to the new bus and had to put the bag into the hold in the order of hotels we would stop at. And then the scramble for seats on the bus. My bag just happened to be the last one unloaded, and as such I was at the back. No real problem. We dropped everyone off and then I tried to check in. No, sorry. No reservation for Ackermann. Check the reservation code. Nope, not that either. TISA at work. Just when everything of the day had gone well. Eventually, I got checked in, but I will be interested when I talk to SouthBound over what had happened.