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Chile

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This is a list of all (presumably) hitchable border crossings between Chile and Argentina. It first appeared on the page of [[Argentina]], that's why they sound like going from Argentina to Chile and not the other way around. Follow steps in opposite order if you are coming from Chile and going to Argentina. Not all of them have information yet, so if you hitched one, please add info!
 
Some crossings may be closed due to weather conditions, so before you go you can check the chilean border police twitter @UPFronterizos (https://twitter.com/upfronterizos).
'''Argentinian Border Crossings North to South'''
'''''Paso Pircas Negras''''' on the Ruta 76. From La Rioja province to Region III de Atacama. Let us know if you hitchhiked this.
'''''Paso de Agua NegraAguas Negras''''' on the Ruta 150. The customs office is near [[Las Flores]] 90km away. Crosses from [[San Juan]] province into Region IV de Coquimbo. [[User:MOAH|Mind of a Hitchhiker]] got offered a ride from [[Rodeo]] and took it. This is the highest border crossing between the two countries, with a maximum altitude of 4.780 meters. A large chunk of the 180 km between border checks is unpaved, but with all the glaciers, it's one of the most spectacular routes across the Andes out there. The Chilean side is called Juntas del Toro and the nearest town city is [[La Serena]]. It's only open from December to April, and might close on other days as well due to bad weather. Read [[Las Flores]] on how to do it. [[User:Miriam|Miriam]] tried to cross from Chile to Argentina in April but there was so little traffic that it proved impossible and gave up after 24 hours. Of the approx. 10 cars crossing each day, most had no space because as of 2017 many everyday products are so much cheaper in Chile that everyone fills their cars to the max. Apparently in summer there is more traffic.The chilean border posts are nice and bored, might let you use their kitchen, living room and wifi if you ask nicely and chat with them. There is a nice place to camp by the river but bring enough food.
'''''Paso Internacional Los Libertadores''''' between [[Mendoza]] and [[Santiago de Chile]] is probably the best option with lots of truck and civilian traffic. You will also pass Mt. Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Southern and Western hemispheres. There's a tunnel between the two countries. Goes between Mendoza province and Region V de Valparaiso.To hitch, you can start at the road leaving Los Andes north (on how to get there from Santiago, check Santiago page). Careful, every once in a while it closes due to weather conditions for some 2 or 3 days - check twitter @UPFronterizos before going!
'''''Paso Vergara''''' on the Ruta 226. Crosses from Mendoza province to Region VII del Maule. Argentinian customs is 8km from the actual border. Let us know if you hitched this.
'''''Paso Hua Hum''''' on the Ruta 48. Crosses from Neuquen province to Region XIV los Rios. Argentinian customs is 3km from the actual border. The Chilean one is on the actual border. In Chile you need to take a ferry to get connected to the other roads. Let us know if you hitched here.
'''''Paso Fronterizo Cardenal Antonio Samoré''''' on the Ruta 231. Crosses from Neuquen province to Region X de Los Lagos. The Argentinian customs is 17km from the actual border. Let us know if [[User:Miriam|Miriam]] found it very easy to hitch, there is a constant flow of traffic and even under the worst climatic circumstances they usually don't close for more than a couple of hours. You can start right on the intersection where the road to Puyehue and Cardinal Samoré leaves Ruta 5 close to Osorno. Be aware of the opening schedule (usually from 8 am to 6 pm, meaning the last car is allowed to start chilean customs at 6 while the argentinians wait until the last car has passed and vice versa). On weekends you hitched this onemight have to wait several hours in customs.
'''''Paso Pérez Rosales''''' on a Ruta with no number, from Puerto Frías in Argentina in Rio Negro province. Nearest Argentinian town of size is called Llao Llao, near [[Bariloche]]. You'll have to take several seasonal ferries in both Argentina and Chile to get here. The nearest town of size on the Chilean side is called Peulla in Region X de Los Lagos. This border is not visible on Google Maps, only on Open Street Maps. Please let us know if you accomplished this masterpiece.
'''''Paso Futaleufú''''' on the Ruta 259. Crosses from Chubut province to Region X de Los Lagos. The distance between the two immigration offices is less than 1km. This is a major tourist hot spot, so if the border isn't closed, it should be fairly hitchable. Please verify To get out futaleufu, you need to be patient : there is not a lot of trafic. Walk out of the hitchability once youtown until a bridge : cross it. Just after it there is a bus station : good place to wait espacially if it've crossed heres raining.
'''''Paso Rio Encuentro''''' on the Ruta 44. Crosses from Chubut province to Region X de Los Lagos. The Argentinian side has a town named Carrenleufú and the Chilean has one named Alto Palena. Let us know if you crossed here.
=== [[Bolivia]] ===
 
The border area between Chile and Bolivia is spectacular and terrifying. It's at very high altitudes in the Andes mountains. There's a stark contrast between the living standards between Chile and Bolivia. Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the region and not many people own cars. There's loads of shared cars/taxis roaming between the villages. It's a best practice to stick to major routes if one is adamant to hitchhike all of Bolivia without ever paying for a ride. Know how to ask for a free ride. While the border between the two countries is long, many of the crossings are designated as "solo referencia" - only for reference - and not to be used as an official border with immigration and customs and passport stamps. There's some risks to crossing borders "illegally".
 
'''Bolivian border crossings north to south'''
 
'''''Tripartito Triple Frontier''''' is the northernmost point of Chile and a triple border between Chile, Perú and Bolivia. There's no town on the Chilean side, just the A93 road and a marker at the triple border. The town in Perú is called Tripartito and the town in Bolivia is called Ladislao Cabrera in La Paz Department. It doesn't look like there's any customs here to get any entry/exit stamps. The Chilean region is called Region XV Arica y Parinacota. Let us know what is up with this place and how hitchhiking is here.
 
'''''Paso Visviri''''' is 10 km south of the Tripartito border and is (probably) an actual functional border. The Chilean town on the A93 is called Visviri in Region XV Arica y Parinacota and the customs are about 2 km from the actual border. The Bolivian town is called Charaña, La Paz Department and there is no information about customs. Let us know if you've been here.
 
'''''Paso Chungará - Tambo Quemado''''' on the CH11 between (very roughly) Putre in Region XV Arica y Parinacota and (very roughly) Oruro in Oruro Department. This is quite a popular border crossing for trucks and lies at 4680 meters above sea level. [[User:MOAH|Mind of a Hitchhiker]] was here in early 2016 on the Chilean side to visit the volcano and lake and not to cross the border. She camped at the Chilean forest guard CONAF Guarderia de Chungará at Parque Nacional Lauca. There's a guy who is stationed there permanently, and if you ask nicely, he'll let you sit inside for a while to warm up and make yourself a cup of hot something. This area sees four seasons in one day, so camp next to the building or one of the little walls for wind protection, use your storm lines and hope the wind direction doesn't change. Amazingly beautiful area.
 
'''''Paso Colchane - Pisiga''''' on the CH15 between Colchane in Region I Tarapacá and Pisiga Bolivar in the Oruro Department. It's at 3700 meters above sea level and the border is open from 08:00 till 20:00 (at least in the summer; we don't know if it's open year-round). The immigration offices are about 100 meters apart and the total distance from town to town is about 2 km. On the Bolivian side is a gas station at the end of town in direction Oruro. Let us know if you hitchhiked this border!
 
There are 2 buildings which both have Bolivian and Chilean customs. You'll want to head straight for the second building. This crossing seems to be primarily used by buses and when TheLoneBaker came through in January 2017, the line took roughly 2 hours and then had to wait several hours for a ride on the other end.
 
The customs here appears to be very lax despite all the posted warnings of bringing plant and animal products as they didn't actually ask me if I had anything when they went to X-ray my luggage. I gave up my honey but I'm quite certain had I left it in my pocket they would never have known. Just be sure to tick the box on the form saying you have something to declare so you can feign innocence if you do get caught. I also had a bag of cocoa leaves which they let me keep without issue.
 
Additionally, it appeared to TheLoneBaker that many people were bypassing customs completely and there were even people with carts who would load luggage and push it to the other end by going around the fence.
 
'''''Paso Salar de Ollagüe''''' between Ollagüe in Region II Antofagasta and Avaroa in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. Both villages have a gas station and the distance between immigration offices is 6 km. It's open from 08:00 till 20:00 year-round. The road is made of gravel and there's parallel train tracks. The nearest Chilean city is Calama and in Bolivia it's the city of Uyuni. Let us know if you hitched this border!
 
'''''Paso Portezuelo del Cajón''''' between [[San Pedro de Atacama]], Region II Antofagasta and... well... nothing in particular in the Potosí department of Bolivia. The Chilean immigration is on the Ruta B-241 inside San Pedro de Atacama, so don't miss it. The road then turns into the CH27 and has to be followed for 47 km until there's the actual border. The Bolivian immigration is on the actual border. There's the Laguna Verde, the Laguna Blanca and the famous Salar de Uyuni on the way to [[Uyuni]] in Bolivia. Perhaps there are a few villages, but nothing noteworthy. Uyuni is the nearest city, which is nearly 400 km from this border, so don't underestimate it! There's loads of tour offices in the touristy San Pedro de Atacama to organize a trip to Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni and to go to the city of Uyuni and not much non-tourism traffic. Best hopes are to hitch a ride with people who own a 4WD and are traveling the whole distance. The immigration office in San Pedro de Atacama is also used for crossing the '''Paso de Jama''' into [[Argentina]] towards [[Jujuy]]. Let us know if you crossed from Chile into Bolivia via this border!
=== [[Peru]] ===
Chile and Perú have a bunch of territorial disputes but are otherwise friendly to each other. Compared to Chile's other borders, this is a very short stretch and there's only one border crossing that people are actually using. '''Peruvian border crossings west to east''' The only official border to/from Perú is "'''''Paso Chacalluta" ''''' where [[User:MOAH|Mind of a Hitchhiker]] hitchhiked over the border from [[Tacna]] in Perú (complejo fronteriza Santa Rosa) to [[Arica]] (complejo fronteriza de Chacalluta) in Chile in 2016 and describes in the process as followingother direction in February 2017. People get a little nervous around this border so it might be hard to convince people to take you all the way through customs, which is mandatory with the form that says the number of people in the vehicle which they need to show at both sidesand needs to be stamped everywhere. Your driver will need your name, document number and a few other details like whether you're married or not. After getting your entrance stamp to Chile, the Chilean side requires you to fill in a form declaring you don't carry seeds and other plant products or have more than one laptop, two phones and some other random rules applying to your luggage. Only your luggage goes through the x-ray machine and your body doesn't go through a metal detector, so what's in your pockets probably remains your own business. Occasionally they have dogs here. Upon leaving Chile for Perú your luggage might be checked too but there's not information on how to pass in the opposite direction. At the Peruvian side all people get out of the car to pass through immigration without their luggage.You'll get to fill in a form of which you get a stamped piece of paper which you need to carry around until you leave Perú. The Peruvian side should be relatively easy to get through. The distance between both offices is less than one km if you do everything by foot. After passing both borders with your driver you can find another ride or just carry on with your driver as everybody drives through the big cities of Tacna and Arica either way. In February 2017 [[User:MOAH|Mind of a Hitchhiker]] crossed this border on foot. The Chilean side asked 1000 CLP (about €1.40) for some forms, which was strange as the year before, crossing the border was for free. Both borders were hugely understaffed as it was the summer holidays. Bring a hat and enough water. Everywhere they kept asking for vehicle information and everywhere that answer was met with "on foot" ("a pie" in Spanish) and being sent to the "taxi" line. With so many people crossing the border, it took more than three hours to complete the process to enter Perú. After the final vehicle check outside the border area, the Peruvian officer from that checkpoint tried to talk her out of hitchhiking to [[Arequipa]] and the dude kept stopping taxis to Tacna for her even after repeatedly saying no thanks. She had to leave the excellent shoulder there to walk 200 meters not to be bothered anymore. There she stopped a car and wizarded herself to Arequipa like she fucking said she would. '''''Tripartito Triple Frontier''''' mentioned before under border crossings with [[Bolivia]] is the northernmost point of Chile and a triple border between Chile, Perú and Bolivia. There's no town on the Chilean side, just the A93 road and a marker at the triple border. The town in Perú is called Tripartito and the town in Bolivia is called Ladislao Cabrera in La Paz Department. It doesn't look like there's any customs here to get any entry/exit stamps, so maybe stick to the border mentioned previously if you want to get to Perú. The Chilean region is called Region XV Arica y Parinacota. Let us know what is up with this place and how hitchhiking is here.
== Sleeping ==
Chile is a very safe and easy country to camp or squat. Hostels are rather expensive, so camping is a better method. The local gas stations (usually COPEC) are almost always hitchhiker friendly, and will be happy to let you crash behind the place for the night, as are police stations and truckers service areas. The cities to exert special caution in when crashing out are Valparaíso (known for a somewhat dodgy center) and the capital Santiago -- those two make for the lion's share of crime in Chile.Couchsurfing is quite popular!
[[user:MOAH| Mind of a Hitchhiker]] made a little [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcwYI4EoysM YouTube video] of a day hitchhiking and freecamping around the Puerto Montt area.
'''XV Región de Arica y Parinacota''' ⇒ [[Arica]]
'''I Región de Tarapacá''' ⇒ [[Iquique]] — [[Pisagua]]
'''II Región de Antofagasta''' ⇒ [[Antofagasta]]
'''III Región de Atacama''' ⇒ [[Copiapó|Copiapo]] — [[Caldera]]
'''IV Región de Coquimbo''' ⇒ [[La Serena]] — [[Coquimbo]]
'''V Región de Valparaíso''' ⇒ [[Valparaíso]] — [[Viña del Mar]] — * [[Los Andes]]
''I decided to hitch almost the entire length of Chile as a young, solo, female gringo with horrible Spanish skills... It was great! Quick wait times, camping spots were easy to find, and the camion drivers were great hosts. I'm always looking for information of the experience of solo females, so I thought I'd share. The most relevant difference between latino and north american (my home) culture is how forward latino men can be. In North America, if I get in a car and the driver tells me I'm beautiful, I ask to be let out right away because of some bad experiences, but in Chile I'm figuring out that's a lot more accepted in their culture. You will probably get told you are "bonita" or "linda" pretty often, but I don't think you have to be scared.'' -[[user:Pidgintoe|Pidgintoe]]
 
 
- [http://loshermanoshambre.com/would-you-trust-a-trucker-with-a-scorpion-tattoo-a-hitchhiking-tale/ Would you trust a trucker with a scorpion tattoo? A hitchhiking tale], nice blog post about hitchhiking in Chile
 
[[Category:Chile| ]]
 
 
[[de:Chile]]

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