This past Saturday we drove to a small ski area in the northeastern part of our mission with Elder/Sister Hughes and Elder/Sister Thompson from the Santiago East Mission. We were up around 10,000 feet and right next to the Argentine border. In the western states the mountains have lots of Aspen and pine trees. The ski areas are easy to spot but here we found the mountains to be totally brown with no growth and we also didn't see any animals along the way, even at lower elevations. The Andes are spectacular with the rugged peaks.

  We called this the zigzag as the road had 29 sharp turns/curves. We stopped at about the half-way mark to take this picture. Truly amazing!!

This is what the zigzag looked like on the phone's GPS. And that was just part of the 29 curves.

We drove through these yellow "tunnels" both ways to and from the top. We figured they were protection from rock slides and snow avalanches. We could see through the windows.

This crevice was right next to the road. We wonder if it happened due to regular changes with time and with the weather or due to earthquakes. Chile is infamous for having them quite often.  

Our jackets felt great at the top!! It was quite windy and in the 40's. Such a change from our 80+* days in Santiago.

We drove to the border and enjoyed seeing the welcome sign.