To the end of the world

Saturday 8th November 2014

Accommodation in Tierra del Fuego is expensive and often doesn’t include breakfast, but if you want to eat before the local bakeries open, the big service stations like YPF and Petrobas offer a nice range of coffees and pastries from 7 o’clock in the morning.

General José de San Martín watches over Río Grande

Waiting for our minibus to Ushuaia

The Ruta 3 follows the coastline for a while

We’re not the only ones heading for the end of the world

Stop-over in Tolhuin – with the famous bakery ‘La Unión‘ in the background

The countryside becomes more scenic by the mile

Lago Fagnano

The rough waters of the Beagle Channel

Ushuaia – we’ve made it!

It seems like an age since we started in Buenos Aires (1st September) and passed through La Quiaca (12th September)

Now we have to gather a lot of information and make decisions: accommodation, what to do in Ushuaia, are we going even further south to Puerto Williams in Chile (the real southernmost human settlement on earth), and when and how do we get back on to the mainland, by plane, bus or boat? The ladies at the tourist information office are extremely helpful – their service, knowledge and friendliness are exceptional; we get maps, addresses, the weather forecast for the next days, prices and they even call several hotels for us to enquire if they have vacancies – Ushuaia is always busy and remarkably expensive. We receive a free certificate that we’ve arrived at the end of the world, get our diaries and passports stamped and are very impressed.

After quizzing several tour operators we find out that the tour to Puerto Williams takes at least two days and that the crossing of the Beagle Channel to the Isla Navarino has been cancelled today. This uncertainty we would have to deal with on both the outbound and inbound journeys and although we are ahead of schedule, it’s just too risky – we may be stuck on the island for days. Oh well, there must be still reasons left to come back one day…

With the time frame for our stay settled, we find a comfortable room in the B&B De las Artes run by lovely host Marcos who can’t do enough to make us feel at home – which we do straight away.