TRAVERSE Issue 38 - October 2023 | Page 162

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looked like we would have to go back the same way .
Unless we would harvest one tiny option . We had heard about Passo Rodolfo Roballos , a less-frequented pass of the Andes and an according border . Being so remote already , we decided to give it a try .
Passo Roballos has easily been the most epic pass I ever took . It started out with smooth gravel road winding its way through dreamy hills and occasional herds of guanacos , the wild brothers of llamas . As the road got a bit more rough , the scenery got even more epic . Sharp hills around a rocky river bed and a road . Everything was so vast but felt so familiar . About one-and-a-half hours off of the Carretera Austral , there it was ; the Chilean border house .
Stepping inside , we found one guy handling both immigration and customs and after some chat and a number of stamps , the paperwork was sorted . He came outside with us to open the gate . The deal was that Sebastian who still had a plate would go ahead . I saw the official turn his head at the back of Sebastian ’ s bike . I waited two seconds and smoothly , but not hesitantly crossed the gate and waved at the man . The Argentina side quite similarly was a one-man show in a tiny wooden house . The house smelled like smoked sausage and the guard seemed somewhat surprised to see us . He wrote down our details in a giant book and we repeated the procedure as before . We had made it — we were back in Argentina ! The scenery remained just as unreal . Monument-valley style hills , blue ponds , all kinds of birds including condors and flamingos flying about . We had the sun and quite a sharp wind right in our back — perfect conditions .
In the very south of Argentina , things got pretty remote too . After lots of highway mounting , an aweinspiring hike and witnessing
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