Border Crossing from Bolivia to Chile:

S.W. Bolivia to San Perro de Atacama

Vehicle Import:

Driving out of the South West Corner of Bolivia there is a small Bolivian border post at the 4486 meter mountain pass.

See picture at left.

The single officer stamper our passports and signed off the Temporary vehicle import, which he gave back to us.

He asked for Bol20 but told him  ‘no  comprendé espanol’

He then just waved us on.

The border post for Chile is 45Kms further on at San Pedro de Atacama.

Once into Chile the dirt road becomes a good bitumen road. here you can turn left to Argentina or Right to Chile.

In San pedro de Atacama follow the signs to Aduana (Customs).

1. 1. At Immigration fill out the immigration forms.
   

2. 2. Then through the stickered doors to do the temp. vehicle import.
   

3. 3. Very friendly and very helpful. All over within 1/2 hour.
   

4. 4.We declared a cabbage and some meat in the freezer but that was OK. may not always be the case as Chile can be quite strict on fruit, vegetables and meat.
   

5. 5.They had a quick look in the vehicle.
   

3rd Party Insurance:

None was offered nor asked for. There was also nothing available at the border.

We travelled without 3rd party insurance and without problems.

Travel in Chile:

Driving is easy with road uses being tolerant and rule abiding.

Drive with lights on outside of town.

Main roads are exceptionally good, and even secondary roads are bitumened. Many are tolls for trucks (commercial) and buses, as you approach Antofagasta and Santiago they are also toll roads for private vehicles. Sometimes we were class 4, other times class 2. Class 2 is a sedan car so when ever we got a Class 2 receipt we showed it to the next toll booth. Sometimes that worked and saved a few pesos.

Tolls north of Antofagasta CP900 / US$ 1.55

Tolls north of Topiapo was CP6100 / US$ 10.57...WOW !!

Tolls into Santiago around the CP600 and were Class 2.

Santiago has many toll roads that ring and cross the city - these were all a ( prepaid ??) electronic tag system and we never worried about it.

Camping: We free camped everywhere and there are lots of places some exceptional.

Food: Super Mercados in almost every town. The larger the town the bigger the choice

Fuel: Fuel was available almost everywhere, but be aware small towns may not have commercial stations. Price for diesel CP698/Lt or US$ 1.20/Lt

Copec and Petrobras are the main brands and at the larger stations we also topped up with water.

Water:

Available at larger service stations. More often we needed a longer hose than the 3 metres we carry. ( a 2metre extension I will carry in future)

Internet:

Available at the larger service stations that have a coffee/gift shop as part of the facility.

Shipping out of Santiago:

From our Colless Young contact in Australia, Allan Colless put us in contact with:

Carlos Martínez

Pacific Anchor Line Group

Phone +56 2 2753 4000

Mobile +56 9 9679 2649

E-mail : carlos.martinez@pal-logistics.com

WEB www.pal.cl

They proved OK, and everything was finally organised although they failed to keep us informed when things were delayed. ( See our blog for details)

We loaded the container at SAAM in Pablo Neruda Street, San Antonio which is about 100kms west of Santiago. The people at SAAM were very good and although we paid for them to stuff (load) the container we in fact do it ourselves. Which we preferred.

We had also been given the following company information for shipping into or out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The actual shipping port was Zarate.

Agencia Maritima Sudocean, agent for MOL

25 de Mayo 555

19th Floor 1002 Buenos Aires

Argentina

Tel: 54-11-4310-2300 Fax: 54-11-4310-2320

For our actual Travel Diary through Chile see: GoannaTracks Across Chile

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