From San Julian, it was a fairly quick trip to Rio Gallegos. Since that wasn’t where we wanted to stop, we continued south to the border. In order to get to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, you must cross into Chile where you take the quick ferry to the island.
Punta Arenas, Chile
Being so close to Punta Arenas and its free port, we decided to take a detour and get a much needed new tire. We got there pretty late and after driving around town, we decided to head back to the gas station near the entrance to town, since it seemed to be the best set up for truckers and travelers. Just as we arrived, Raul noticed a young man with a Chevy truck and decided to ask him if he knew a good Chevy mechanic. We call these coincidences, but I think not. His father is the premier Chevrolet mechanic in town. The next day we went to Alejandro’s shop. Nicer people you could never meet. We were served tea and coffee and crackers with homemade rhubarb jam while his workers started on the car. For some reason, he looked so familiar to me. Turns out his grandmother is from Scotland. He looks just like one of my brothers! Anyway – you’ll see pictures in the next post 🙂
San Gregorio Station, Founded 1876
With Subby in order and the new tire on, we headed back up the coast to the ferry that would take us to Tierra del Fuego. Along the way we saw this old Estancia close to the road that looked picture worthy 🙂 An Estancia is where the English would set up a station with their few houses clumped together with the necessary barns and buildings for the business at hand – usually, as in this case, sheep ranching. It made me think of what it would have been like during the pioneer days. We later found out that San Gregorio had been one of Chilean Patagonia’s largest landholdings, belonging to the Menendez wool empire. It consisted of considerable residencial and production centers, a train station and a port for shipping their wool and meat. It is now working as a cooperative, and these buildings are National monuments as typical examples of the Anglo-Scottish sheep estancias.
Guanacos! I want one of these!
Once across the Strait of Magellan, we arrived in Tierra del Fuego. It didn’t look any different from the Patagonia we had been traveling through. Look, see – there are those cute and illusive guanaco and all that flat, treeless land!
.
.
.
... and lots of cute fluffy sheep - I love the black-faced ones! I want one of these, too!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
our campsite for the night - by the way, it's about 9:30pm at this point! Do I look cold? I AM!!!
We drove and drove and drove on those Chilean dirt roads, till we had to call it quits. We found a nice spot off the road and far enough from the view of the nearest estancia to set up camp. It was cold and windy, but we were nice and toasty inside Subby 🙂
.
.
.
Mountains ... with TREES, and SNOW!
Next day, we entered back into Argentina and then headed south again toward Ushuaia. Now the landscape started changing – rapidly!
.
.
.
.
Hurray! Ushuaia - the end of the world is in sight!
We made it!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Setting up camp
We found a very nice campground right above the town. A little pricey, but good company, hot water and internet are worth it!
.
Notice the cooler under the car – much colder outside than inside.
.
.
laundry day 🙂
When we finally got a nice sunny day, we took advantage to get a few things washed. If it looks like we’re always wearing the same clothes, it’s because we are! If you had to wash by hand and wait for a cold breeze to dry them, you would, too!!!
.
.
.
.
Camping "La Pista del Andino" from the left - Fernando, Raul, me and Leo
Once again, we had found new dear friends. True to His word – the Lord set us, the solitary, in family. Fernando is the owner of the camp and Leo is one of those who work with him. Everyone treated us so well and we had a great time for the few days we were here.
.
We also ran into our friends, Ramona and Ralf, here too!
.
Have you seen enough snow yet? Can we leave now?
The first day, we headed up the mountain to catch a glimpse of the Martial Glaciar. It was a cold, grey, cloudy day. While on the ski lift to get us closer so we didn’t have to hike so far, we were rained on.
.
.
.
.
Nope - not ready yet!
On the hike up the mountain, we were snowed on. Such fun!
.
.
.
.
.
hard to see, but that's me
I made a snowball, but couldn’t bring myself to throw it at Raul. Poor Daddy!
.
.
.
.
.
On the way back down, we got hailed on!
.
.
.
.
.
I see you 🙂
It was a great hike, and would have been so beautiful if the sky had just cleared a little. As it was, we got some good exercise, but didn’t see the glaciar. Oh well.
.
.
.
.
.
View of Ushuaia from the entrance to the campground. You can also see the Beagle Strait and Chilean Andes beyond.
.
Whew! It's cold in this penitentiary - and this part is re-furbished!
Ushuaia was colonized and built by prisoners sent from Buenos Aires with the intention of reinforcing their claim on the territory, much like England did with Australia. The penitentiary is now used to house several small museums pertaining to the history of the town, the seas and the prison itself.
.
.
.
.
Raul in the prison wing in its original form - really brrrr cold!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Please Officer! Don't leave him in there!
.
End of the road
Here the route that travels down the distance of Argentina ends. Ushuaia is referred to as The End of The World because it is the southern-most city on the planet. Since leaving home, our odometer shows that we have driven 11,100 miles. Add to that nearly 1,000 miles on the Amazon, and we have traveled over 12,000 miles. In kilometers that would be 17,864 km driven, plus 1,500 on the river. If you compare that to the sign, at this point we have driven far enough to make it to Alaska (as the crow flies)
Bahia Lapataia
The following are a few shots from the National Park of Tierra del Fuego. Hope you enjoy them 🙂
.
.
.
.
.
Bahia Ensenada - win-dy!
We tried taking a hike along the coast here, but dang!!!, it was windy and cold!!!!
.
.
.
.
.
.
Lake Roca
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Rio Pipo
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ushuaia from the hill behind the campgrounds. You can see the camp at the bottom.
Here ends Ushuaia with a couple of parting shots.
.
.
.
.
.
.
a little flavor of the town
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
the port in Beagle Strait
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
a well-mannered lunch buddy
On the way back north, we stopped at Lake Fagnano for lunch. It was a beautiful day … we had a roasted chicken, cold drinks and a patient buddy to clean up the bones. A great stop 🙂
.
.
.
.
Subby and the Zebra!
Guess who we ran into on the road??? Now maybe you can see why they are so easy to spot!
.
.
.
.
.
Ramona, me and Ralf
After visiting for a bit on the side of the road, we decided to stick together and search out a king penguin colony they had heard about.
.
.
.
.
Dang! I almost had that one!
There’s that illusive guanaco again! They are poetry in motion when they jump those fences!
.
.
.
.
.
There they are ... and there they go!
King penguins! We searched high and low for those penguins. Our only indication was that it was somewhere on Bahia Inutil. It’s a very big bay. Finally, I spotted a tiny sign that said King penguins – 500 mts. The small group – not yet a colony – was located on Estancia San Clemente. They charged a small fortune, but what are you going to do after all that! They provided a guide and off we went. Our first approach was maybe a bit energetic and off the penguins went!
this is cool - they didn't run 🙂
Then the guide showed us what to do – low crouching, slow walking, sitting and wait, wait, waiting.
.
.
.
.
.
Ah - an intruder joins the love birds!
Oh my, they’re coming closer.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Love conquers all.
… and closer …
.
there was a bit of a spat between the boys, but the girl made her choice and sent the intruder packing!
.
.
.
Wow! There's the happy couple!
… and closer! I was getting nervous – those beaks look pretty sharp! But after this pose, they looked at us, turned and went back to the others 🙂
.
.
.
.
.
.
typical estancia - you can't really see the sheep, though
After the visit with penguins we headed for the ferry to take us back to the mainland.
Lots of estancias, lots of sheep …
.
.
.
.
At last! A good shot!
… and a few of my favorite subject – guanacos.
.
After getting this shot, we noticed that Ramona and Ralf had fallen behind, so we waited … and waited … and then decided to turn around.
We found them by the side of the road – with a flat tire. At one point, Raul and Ralf had the truck resting on a block of wood and it got scary. I asked the Lord to hold the truck up, and the wind picked up so strong – in our favor. The guys were able to get the jack back in place and finish the job. So, between the guys … and much prayer … the tire got changed. Hurray!!
Back in Punta Arenas
Back across the Magellan Strait, we all headed to Punta Arenas again. Them for their tire, us to check more things on Subby. We hung out for a couple more days, and they continued. I hope we’ll meet again along the way.
.
.
.
me and Ralf at an old, old clock
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Raul by the monument
We wondered why they leave so many rusting hulls in the Strait, but this one had a purpose. It was a monument to those who gave their lives to explored and develop this region.
.
.
.
.
the road south
After Ramona and Ralf took off, we decided to head further south and check out Fort Bulnes and see if we could get down to the lighthouse at Cabo San Isidro.
This wasn’t the worst of it …
.
.
.
what a spot!
It was getting late, and Raul was getting tired, so before we got to the end, we pulled into a small clearing of trees and setup for the night. We spent an awesome night right there by the water.
.
.
.
.
check out the view
I shot this right before snuggling in for the night – about 11:30. So nice. I don’t have a picture, but I woke when it was pitch black and thought I saw lights on that island across the way. That surprised me, so I sat up to look. It was a cruise liner headed through the strait. It looked like fairy lights on the water. 🙂
.
.
Indian Bread
I learned this in Ushuaia, but didn’t have a picture. The orangy clusters on the tree are a type of fungus that the settlers always saw the natives eating, so they called it Indian bread. They only last for a few weeks and then they are gone. In the native language, they are called yummy yummies. I ate one, Raul wouldn’t – chicken.
.
.
.
.
So close to the beginning of the continent!
The next day we continued south as far as we could. We got within 5 miles of Cabo San Isidro before we had to quit. Nothing short of an ATV would get any further. Subby definitely wouldn’t. We found an interesting road sign. It gave the distance by road to Cabo San Isidro and then to Cabo Froward – where the continent begins. We were maybe 10 miles from the beginning of the continent. I like the way the Chileans think – not the end of anything! The beginning!
Fort Bulnes
Our next destination, heading back toward Punta Arenas, was Forte Bulnes – a Spanish fort put there to protect the Magellan Strait from all sorts of pirates and contrabanders!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Palacio Sara Braun
Ok! We are back in Punta Arenas for the last time on this post, so I will leave you with a couple shots. Sara Braun, by the way, was a Russian lady married to one of the two great pioneer sheep ranchers to settle this area.
.
.
.
definitely a government building!
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
cool building
Well, that’s all for now. We’ve visited two of the southern-most cities on the planet – Ushuaia being the end of the world and Punta Arenas, the city closest to the beginning of the American continent. It’s been great, and there’s so much more to come!!!
God bless, and see you next time!
♥
Where will You lead us today 
You made it to the bottom!!! And I love your little knit bobble hat Mommy. So you. On to Chile right? Make sure you eat some of those clams al parmesano when you get to Valparaiso. There’s some special place where you’re supposed to get them, but I can’t remember what its called. Love you!! and PS: Will loves the wildlife shots.