Annoyance averted, crossing the Andes, moonlit volcanoes

This morning, we were awakened by a frantic message from our trip leader Marta that a bridge was being worked on, and we had to get going earlier than planned to avoid an enormous detour. Skipping breakfast at the hotel, scampering into the bus bleary-eyed, watching the bus driver taking curves a bit quickly, we made it past the construction. Passing also involved Santi (local guide from a day ago) showing papers to police indicating that our weight of vehicle could cross before 8AM. Twice, I think. In any case, the OAT team marvelously helped our bus through the construction zone. Marta called a restaurant, before it was open, left a message, and got us deliciously fed in record time.

Santi told us to watch for the change in ecosystems as we climbed into the Andes. As we drove west, the number of trees increased dramatically due to larger precipitation. Along this pass, paralleling a railway that Teddy Roosevelt took around the turn of the last century, the scenery was incredible.

We passed an area of dead trees and learned from Santi about a 2011 volcanic eruption that coated Bariloche, the town we spent a few days in, with ash. Mostly pebble-sized pumice and smaller ash, but the photos were impressive. One showed our local guide sweeping the pumice behind a bush (not under a rug) in his backyard.

Our group was lucky with the weather, because we were able to see the volcano that caused the eruption, more inland, eastward, than most of the Andes chain.

We went from one National Park to another in a matter of hours. At the top of the pass, the continental divide, we could walk from Argentina into Chile in a second.

We stopped for lunch at a car museum.

Marta took us on a tour of the town. The beautiful woman statue, a sacrifice to the gods of the volcano, was our goal.

• Chile & Argentina