Log in
Join travelers community
Your Profile
Logout
Pehuenche
Argentina
Bec2004-09-15 16:57:46
Displayed times (last time: )
Paso Pehuenche
Paso Pehuenche was a beautiful surprise for me. I had to go to Santiago to visit friends, to get a Paraguay visa and for a business matter but I did not feel like going twice over the Paso los Libertadores which I knew al ready.
Searching maps and my trusty Lonely Planet Argentina guidebook I discovered that it was possible to cross the Andes on a dirt road through the lesser known Paso Pehuenche.
Getting there was not very convenient but that is what I wanted to do. Now that I have seen Paso Pehuenche, I am delighted with that choice.
The first map shows how the Pehuenche pass is almost on a straight line between the ports of Constitución on the Pacific coast of Chile and of Bahia Blanca on the Atlantic coast of Argentina. That makes it an obvious alternative to the intensely used Libertadores pass north of Santiago that connects Valparaiso on the Pacific with Buenos Aires on the Atlantic through a route some 1000 km longer. Moreover, Pehuenche rises only to 2500 meters compared to the Libertadores' 3200. The lower map shows details of the route.
Fortunately, traffic demand being more important than ocean to ocean distance, the decision to develop the Pehuenche pass and the necessary approaches is not obvious at this time. I say fortunately because building a high throughput superhighway through the Pehuenche pass will most certainly destroy the magic charm that I have discovered there. This being said, there is no doubt the superhighway will be built eventually so, if you like the following pictures, go there to see this corner of paradise for yourself before it disappears.
We left Malargue at 7 AM and reached Talca ten hours later. There were only four of us in the Mercedes minivan, the driver Pablo Salinas Basoalto, the owner of Karen Travel, Juan Stuardo Ordenes, his friend Gaston Gonzales Diaz and myself.
Here we are moving south from Malargue along the famous route
...
See photographs from:
Argentina Gallery
