"Fin de Mundo": Onto Ushuaia

After leaving Lago Blanco on Chilean Tierra del Fuego, and chatting with a couple of Swiss overlanders, it was time for yet another border crossing, which at this point, would make it three crossings between Chile and Argentina, and I had two more before I would eventually head north in Argentina. I headed down the road towards Paso Rio Bellavista, a border crossing only open during the summer months, and what a hoot. After about 14 km of mellow ripio, I got to the Chilean side of the Paso, and thought I was going to have to honk my horn at the gate to get someone out there. But, guess someone saw me as first a young guy from immigration showed up, then another guy from customs wandered out of one of the row of small cabins which lined the road. And just as quickly as I drove up, I drove off, exit stamp, done, papers for my van, gone, gate up, and then down what could barely be described as a road to the Argentinian side. I had to cross a small river along the way, no bridge, really, just a couple of steel planks across the water, hoped my van would make it, which it did, but really, this is the best you can do? And as before, the Argentinians were totally mellow, and especially out here in the middle of nowhere. I bet these guys had never seen a US passport before, and again as usual, all they wanted to talk about was Trump, the new President in the USA. I got my entry stamp, new papers for me van, and after a brief conversation (".... Trump es muy malo, por Estados Unidos, y toda Sudamerica ....."), I was off down another stretch of just brutal ripio. The Swiss couple I had talked to earlier had warned me, but still, another 40+ km of ruts and potholes and rocks and brutal washboard, it was starting to get very old. I just hoped my van would hold up. 

Survived the 40 km, but it took time, so once I hit pavement at Rio Grande, Argentina, Ruta 3, I hurried down the road towards Ushuaia. I did not make it there that day, stopped 160 km short at a private campground, Camping Norte, another dive, but people were very nice, and at $60 pesos per night for me and my van, dirt cheap. It did not matter, after yet another long day on the road, I was hungry, tired and thirsty, so after a couple of beers and a quick dinner, I took a walk at sunset and then headed to bed. The next day, I would make it back to Ushuaia, a long way south from where I started.

I was on the road early, and with pavement all the way to Ushuaia, figured it would be a short trip, only 160 km or so, and I would be there. Well, the road was good, but the winds were brutal again and, I had to climb up a winding road to a pass, then back down a winding road and eventually into Ushuaia. It took longer than expected, because I also, as usual, stopped often to snap some photos. I had already decided that I needed to stay in a hostel or hotel, even though I heard things were pretty expensive in Ushuaia. I needed a shower, had been a few days, and needed some time on the internet, so got to town, and it ended up taking me hours to find someplace to stay, just was not going to pay $1200 pesos (almost $70 USD) per night. Plus, as I mentioned before, I am not a fan of sharing a room with complete strangers in a hostel, but even those places were expensive, $300 pesos or more for a shared bedroom and bathroom. I found a place for $900 pesos, Hostal Rio Ona (really a hotel not a true hostal), not happy, but did include breakfast (which turned out to be pretty pathetic, and pretty much the norm in Argentina compared to Chile or even Peru). I stayed two nights, did some banking during the day, wandered around Ushuaia, and one night, had the best king crab pizza you could ever imagine, there were huge chunks of king crab leg meat covering the pizza, wonderful. I was in Ushuaia in the early 1980s, and of course, I recognized nothing, the town has really grown, and as it is a jumping off point for cruise ships to Antarctica, it is crowded with shops, restaurants, and well-heeled tourists. I should mention that while the focus of Ushuaia is for tourist heading to Antarctica, it is the terminus for many tourist traveling the Americas, including those traveling from Alaska to Ushuaia. I saw bikers and hitchhikers of all types, a number of overlanders and, there is a good mountain biking culture in and around town. I went on a great ride from the edge of town, up to a ridge above town. The ride almost killed me, as I was totally out of shape by then, had not really been on my bike since tooling around Punta Arenas, and that was hardly riding. But, there is a great network of trails NE of town, and from what I heard, there is some challenging terrain. Too bad I had neither the time, nor the physical conditional at that point to explore. Next, off for Tierra del Fuego National Park.
 
After two nights in the "city", it was time to get back to camping, and hiking. I took off west of town, and Tierra del Fuego National Park is not far away, maybe 24 km, so would be a short day. I heading out of town, and almost immediately, guess what, more hitchhikers. This time I picked up six Chileans, mixed group of university students off on a little backpacking trip before classes started again. They were a nice group, though cramming them, and their backpacks, into my van was a challenge. Fortunately, we did not have far to go. Once we paid our $210 pesos as foreigners to get in, we headed first to the mirador Lapataia, and the "Fin de Mondo", the end of the world (really just a sign, symbolic, but still cool). After a short hike to the mirador, we loaded back up and headed back to one of only three campgrounds in the whole park (well, free campsites, think there is at least one private campground in the park which cost money). I was very disappointed, especially considering the cost just to get into the park. Camping might be libre, free, but it was not free to enter the park, so I expected more. I pulled into only one of a couple of spaces in the Verde Creek Campground which offered at least some privacy, instead of just parking along the river, totally out in the open, like some others. There were barely any facilities, pit toilets (which were not terrible), and that was about it. I did have time for a hike later in the afternoon, an out-and-back hike to Laguna Negra. The next morning before heading out (there was just nothing special about this park, not worth it to stay two nights), I hiked the Del Turbal trail (Peatbog Hike, 2 km), which connects at the mirador to the Senda de La Baliza (Buoy Hike, 3.0 km), before returning back to the campground. I had hoped there would be more to see, more hikes, though I did not make up to Roca Lake, another part of the park, as camping is not free there, and I thought the views would be better further south in the park, along Lapataia Bay which spills out into the Beagle Channel. I was a bit disappointed, there was not much to see, or do in Tierra del Fuego National Park. This would not be my last disappointment in Argentina.

Although I was a bit disappointed in both Tierra del Fuego National Park, and Ushuaia, I still made it to both, and, had driven 7009 miles since leaving Lima, Peru. I had many places I wanted to visit on this trip, during this adventure, and I named this blog page "54 Degrees South" for a reason, I needed to get to Ushuaia. So, I made it to Ushuaia, and Tierra del Fuego and the "Fin de Mundo", places few have ever, or will ever, visit. This is as far south as you can drive, and while there is more to explore south, such as Puerto Williams on Isla Navarino in Chile, south of Ushuaia, and Isla Hornos and Cabo de Hornos, Cape Horn, I had gone as far as I could go. It was now time to start the long journey north, time to hit the road, yet again.
​Erratum: Ushuaia, Argentina is actually a bit closer to 55 degrees South latitude (54.83 degrees S), my bad.

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