On February 19th, 2013 A.D. the troupe set off from Puerto Natales for Tierra Del Fuego. TDF is a largest island on the southern tip of South America, shared by Chile and Argentina. It is so named because sailors who first saw the island were able to see the large fires built by the indigenous people as they sailed passed. Using their keen sense of the subtle, they decided to name the island Tierra Del Fuego which translated means “tierra of the fuego”. Well that about sums up our adventure there. Talk to ya’ll later.
No actually, we had a great time on the island. As we drove along the north coast of the Straits of Magellan we happened upon two abandoned ships on the shore. We had no choice but to risk tetanus and rampage about the wreckage, exploring, pretending to be spies shooting each other, and avoiding a bunch of smashed beer bottles. We then proceeded on to the ferry that was going to take us the TDF. To our dismay we saw the line for the ferry and realized it was about 23 grams (or whatever they use for distance) long. No really, it was actually long and took us 4 hours to get on the ferry. When we finally got to the island it was dark and we really had no idea where to stay. We proceeded to the town of Cerro Sambrero and thankfully found a hostel. The next day we planned on going to a park to see emperor penguins and then make our way to Lago Blanco to camp. After an hour of driving on dirt roads we came to the small privately owned park for the penguins and found out they were going to charge us about $24 to look at them. This was a bit steep for us so we continued on to the lake. We got tot the lake in the early afternoon and met a couple who looked like they were from West Virginia. I was actually surprised they spoke Spanish. He always had full camo gear on, a long ponytail, bushy beard, a four wheeler, Ford F-350, and four dogs. Over the next two days they were incredibly gracious and shared many things with us. We spent two nights at the edge of the lake just camping and enjoying a life of leisure. One day was spent trying to find groceries and gasoline but we found out that the Chilean side of the island is quite barren. Thankfully a logging mill sold gas thus preventing us from having walk the rest of our trip.
On the 22nd we had the goal of reaching the southernmost city in the world: Ushuaia, Argentina. We went to the border the southern border crossing (which is only open in the summer) and quickly made it across. The best part was having to drive through a shallow river. I guess that explains why it’s only open in the summer. After a few hours of driving we made it to Rio Grande. In my opinion, Rio Grande has the charm of Toledo, Akron, Scranton, PA, and Buffalo, NY, all rolled into one. It did, however, have groceries and we piled up on fruits and veggies because we had been deprived of these for fear of them being taken at the border. We then headed down for the southern coast. I had heard there is good camping along the coast near where the original settle of Ushuaia, Lucas Bridges, had raised his family. On the way to finding a camping spot we passed a full grown tree that literally grew sideways because of the force of the arctic winds coming off the sea. In fact, most of the trees in TDF resembled Donald Trump’s hair: windswept and a little thin. We were able to find a great spot up on a hill with a great view of the surrounding land. By the ocean I collected some clam-like something or others and we decided to boil them that night. They tasted ok but thankfully we only each ate one or two because the next day I noticed a sign saying “Danger! Do not collect mollusks.” Boy do we live on the edge!
The next day we girded up our loins (individually, not collectively) and drove to Ushuaia. We were pleasantly surprised at how nice the town looked. While most of the island was a desolate nastiness, Ushuaia is a colorful harbor town surrounded by low snow capped mountains. And of course since we were in the southernmost city in the world, we all had to buy something to prove it. That afternoon was spent unlike any other we had on the trip and we were simply tourists trying to buy some trinkets. That evening we found another camping spot and made a feast to celebrate making it to the edge of the southern world. Rice, lentils, boiled potatoes, hand made tortillas, guacamole, and pico del gallo (fresh salsa) were consumed in rapid fashion. The most disturbing part of the night was realizing the moon was upside down! It was incredibly bright and I was just enjoying looking at it but I noticed the craters didn’t look right. I then decided to look at it upside down and lo! it was the old moon I knew. Unnerved by the moon we decided to start heading north the next day. Actually we had to get a move on it because Josh is flying out of Buenos Aires soon.
Sunday the 24th we visited the southernmost golf course in the world and the southernmost train in the world. Both would have been really fun but both were too expensive so we just started heading north. The most interesting part of the day was when a gas station on the border told us they were out of gas which meant it was going to be very close if we could make it to Cerro Sambrero without running out. Thankfully we did but since the gas station was closed we once again had to stay in a hostel and wait for it to open. Leaving the island the next day was a breeze. We waited about 10 minutes, boarded the ferry, and were even given the treat of watching dolphins swim along the side of the boat. Since they were in water I couldn’t tell how many knots or leagues and hour (or whatever they metric aquatic system calls it) but it was really fast. It was a great farewell to a great island.
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