Road Music – Disc#6
Animal by Miike Snow

When travellers cross from Argentina to Chile at Lago Buenos Aires they mostly seem to take the Chile Chico border point. We went on a detour and were rewarded with the most amazingly remote border crossing – Paso Roballos – hereafter to be known by us as Paso Robbo!!!

With Miike Snow’s debut album – Animal – blaring out we headed south out of Los Antiguos on a minor road that quickly turned into a very memorable journey.

‘Old Robbo’ was beautifully spectacular and worth the pain of day’s difficult road surfacing. We were rewarded with scenes of rolling mountainsides, pastures of cattle and salt lakes at ear popping altitudes.

“I’m still an animal!” We shouted as plumes of dust thrusted from the rear of our camper van like a space shuttle at take off! Passing a stuffed fox topped gate post it was clear that this was edgy wilderness – but we had the music!

4 years ago this month we witnessed one of the most memorable and indeed memorising performances at Glastonbury 2010 by Miike Snow. They came out to the a packed John Peel Stage wearing faceless white masks and promptly ripped into a set starting with ‘Burial’ which is a great track.

There a bit of an odd band but they had the place in the palm of their hands that day. Oh did we reminisce as piano and catching guitar riffs blended with natural spectacle through our widows. We only stopped for a chorizo and bread lunch and a game of spit the cherry nuts in the cooking pan (champion was his modest self ;-)) followed by a chance meeting with German friends travelling in the opposite direction.

We reached the border point and both Argentinean and Chilean police seem bemused to find an Elvis plastered camper van on there doorstep, we’d been only the third visitors that week according to the immigration book. With our bums as black and blue as the song we were playing of the same name due the difficult terrane we had in countered, a trio of 3 Chilean cyclists waved our entrance on to the legendary Ruta 7 – the Carretera Austral.

With the beautifully turquoise River Baker in the valley below we sat and had a cup of tea and cake – how very English. The journey ending shortly after at the town of Cochrane with catching lyrics rebounding around the cab. Proper day, proper journey.

Favourite Track 2 – Burial