As I get older, I become certain that most of us (me included) have not grown beyond being childish, and arguing over childish things.
A while ago, we told you about our saga of crossing from Chile into Argentina (see here). Now we’re crossing back into Chile from Argentina. Why?
It all has to do with Argentina and Chile’s skirmishes with their borders. We are actually heading south on our way to the town of Ushuaia (which, by the way, is in Argentina). But the border zigzags back and forth as we head south. In part, this has to do with the squabbles between Argentina and Chile. Like little children, they continue to bicker over “That’s mine!”
When we left the town of Villa O’Higgins, Chile, to go enter Argentina, we had to cross a huge lake. To the Chileans, the lake is called Lago O’Higgins. To the Argentinians, the lake is called Lago San Martin.
The border between the two nations now runs through the middle of the lake, negotiated by a British third party. Before that, the two nations couldn’t agree on which nation had possession of the lake. So, like King Solomon of old, the British cut the lake in two, and that was that.
And then later, after we crossed into Argentina the first time, we had to go south by a ferry on another lake, Lago del Desierto.
It wasn’t long ago that Lago del Desierto was a Chilean lake. The two nations squabbled back and forth about who really “owned” the lake. Afterwards, the British, serving as a “neutral third party,” determined that the lake ultimately emptied out into the Atlantic Ocean, and so ruled the lake belonged to Argentina (since the Atlantic Ocean was on Argentina’s side). So the border swings in favor of Argentina.
So the border lines weave back and forth. As we head south, we’ll be crossing borders between Chile and Argentina. (Admittedly, we ourselves are zigzagging back and forth, so it’s not just the borders.)
Now we are in Chile. In about a week or so, well be crossing borders, from Chile into Argentina. Again.
