The Infamous Ruta 40

Since there is no road connecting central and southern Chile we were left with three choices after leaving the estancia: 1) Backtrack 10 hours and take a very long, expensive ferry along the Chilean coast. 2) A long detour through Argentina and then a drive south along the Atlantic coast on all paved roads. 3) A short detour to Argentina and then a straight shot south on the infamous Ruta 40. According to our guidebook, "Ruta 40 is not a road to be taken lightly. A good toolkit, food, an extra tank of gas, and a couple of spare tires will definitely come in handy. Frequent suicide bids by the resident sheep are also common, so beware."

Our thoughts: "Let's see...no toolkit, no extra gas can, only one spare tire, and a low-clearance, unreliable vehicle. But we have plenty of food, and more importantly, plenty of wine. Plus, if we hit one of those suicidal lambs we could add to our food stash..." If you've followed our trip this long you'll have no problem guessing which option we chose. The long, barren stretch of Ruta 40 sounded like too much of an adventure to pass up. Plus, since it follows the eastern edge of the Andes, and is therefore in its rainshadow, it receives almost no rain...The perfect reprieve from the nearly constant rain we endured in Chile.

Although we were expecting the worst, Ruta 40 went relatively easy on us (and our Wicked van). We spent just over a day covering the 350 very empty miles from Perito Moreno to El Chalten, easily averaging a solid 35mph. Besides a few sections of very rocky, muddy, and/or rutted road, the drive was much easier and smoother than the grueling Carretera Austral we drove in Chile. Our Wicked van amazingly held up without any problems. She even seemed to enjoy her newly acquired thick coating of mud.

Ruta 40 is a long, lonely road:

Getting dirty on the Ruta 40: