Fin del Mundo

It was a super nice morning when we left Rio Gallegos. It wasn't even windy yet. The terrain on the way to the Chilean border was pretty featureless except for all these small volcanic cones and their lava flows.

There were several of these mini-chains of mini-volcanoes.

These little volcanoes were pretty cool.

So I'm not sure if the borders are more relaxed here but it seems to be getting easier and faster. The Chilean Aduana official even took the time to chat with us and confirmed road directions that had been given to us by some other bikers. After the border crossing we headed for the short ferry ride across the Strait of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego.

Finally got a decent picture of a guanaco. There were many. This one was daring me to come a little closer so he could kick my ass. I think he was the boss of the group.

The ferry to Tierra del Fuego

Getting a little local knowledge can really help sometimes. We turned off the paved road at Cerro Sombrero and got on the best gravel road of the trip. This road took us south to Onaisin to intersect the road to Porvenir. Most of the other traffic, except for trucks, took the main road to Rio Grande. We made good time on this road and quickly got to San Sebastian to exit Chile. Then on to the next San Sebastian to enter Argentina once again. It's kind of a pain but that's the way it is.

On the road south of Cerro Sombrero. This is an average estancia.

More Fuegian countryside

The Chilean border post at San Sebastian

While we were making such good time heading for San Sebastian we had passed a few other bikers heading north who were giving us a thumbs-up and big waves. I was starting to get excited about getting to Ushuaia. When we stopped for gas in Rio Grande I suggested we keep on going. It was only 3 pm or so and there was only about 215 km to go. Neil wasn't hard to convince. I'm glad. I doubt I would have slept that night in Rio Grande.

Between Rio Grande and Ushuaia the landscape changes dramatically.

On the Ushuaia side of Garibaldi Pass.

It felt really good rolling into Ushuaia. That had been the real objective of the trip for me. It was time to celebrate.
We spent a few days just hanging out in Ushuaia. It's an interesting place and there are tourists here from all over the world, as you can imagine. Cruise ships leave regularly from here to Antarctica. Many round-the-world sailors make Ushuaia a replenishing stop. Most of the people we talked to weren't your average travelers. One woman I spoke to briefly in a restaurant had been in Ushuaia since January waiting for new rigging for her sailboat. She had some kind of mishap while rounding Cape Horn and badly damaged her boat. She was trying to do a non-stop voyage by herself from Victoria, BC.
We each did our own thing here during the day. Neil went for a tour of the town one day and did a boat tour to see some local wildlife the next day. I checked out the museum at the famous jail here. It was very large and I had to rush a bit to get through it in 4 hours. I took a walk up to the ski hill where they have a campground in the off season. I had emailed with a biker from the States on the way here so I met him there for a coffee. He told me about the big sign at the end of the road in Tierra del Fuego Park so I had to go do the picture.

Looking back from the shoreline in Ushuaia towards the ski hill.

Another monument to the heroes of the 1982 war. There is a lot of strong sentiment here about who the Malvina Islands belong to.

Looking back to the east side of the harbour.

The old jail in Ushuaia

An un-restored section of prison cells in the jail

This is the area they have fixed up for the museum. There were displays in nearly all the cells and common areas for three wings of the jail like this. I was really impressed.

This shows one of the five (or maybe 6) wings of the jail.

From the ski hill looking back to Ushuaia

Downtown Ushuaia

Fin del Camino

Thursday morning we left Ushuaia to go to Porvenir, Chile. It was quite windy most of the way and I was glad the hundred and some odd kilometer gravel section from San Sebastian to Porvenir was in such good shape. Maintaining an even keel in such wind keeps you focused for sure. Other than the wind it was a beautiful day with nice scenery.

Typical scenery across the north of Tierra del Fuego

Bahia Inutil on the west side of Tierra del Fuego

Just east of Porvenir

Some pink flamingos. I'm pretty sure they weren't the plastic ones you put on the lawn. Although that would be a funny trick to play on us tourists.

So here we are in Porvenir, Chile. We will catch the 2 pm ferry to Punta Arenas this afternoon. Depending on how Neil is feeling we will either stay there or carry on to Puerto Natales. Oh yeah. We even got to go to the hospital here in Porvenir to find a medico for Neil. He had some weird throat affliction so they gave him some stuff for that. He's feeling much better today.
Also, sorry for the long times between posts. Sometimes there's no internet. The hotel in Ushuaia wanted to charge us for internet use. That's the first time on the whole trip anybody tried to charge for wi-fi.
Well, I'm too stubborn to fall for that.
Chau