Rio Gallegos to Rio Grande, 230 (80 dirt, 2 border crossings and one ferry ride)
The entire journey through two border crossings, a ferry ride and over 80 miles of gravel road took us about 11 hours, one of our longest days. We made it, Tierra del Fuego, not yet to Ushuia, but the town just before it.
We knew it would be a long day, so we set the alarm and got ourselves up early. It’s easy to wake up early around here as it doesn’t stay dark for too long through the night. After just a few miles on pavement we hit the first border crossing, Argentina to Chile. First we had to exit Argentina which consisted of along line of mostly Argentinean tourists standing outside in the absolutely freezing wind. It was fairly straightforward, but took us 1.5 hrs. Anxious to keep going with our long day, we were bummed to hit the entrance to Chile which was a much worse and chaotic line. This time everyone was packed into the building, at least out of the cold, but due to the large number of tourists waiting to get their passports stamped and vehicle importation documents, it was a spiral line which wrapped around itself in a very confusing pattern in which you finally got helped by the very few grumpy Chilean aduana officials. That whole process took us 3.5 hours, the actual paperwork only 10 minutes or less, the rest of it in line waiting. We realized that we probably should have hit these borders even earlier as it is tourist season for this area…we’ll do that on our way back up.
The road stayed paved on the other end of the border, and all the way to the straight of Magellen ferry crossing. It started to get colder and windier the further south we went, although nothing more than what we’ve been through in the past. The ferries were supposed to come every half an hour, so we went into the little restaurant to have a quick bite to eat and some hot tea before it arrived. One of the most efficient ferries I have seen, they got the cars off and on in no time and we were off sailing across the sound of extremely choppy waters. Not far was the other side. Still pavement, we were happy. Mike wanted to make sure to beat the following ferry to the next border crossing, and fortunately the gravel road treated us right. There were a few patches of thicker loose gravel, but for the most part it was well packed and allowed us to cruise through it at a steady and decent pace. The scenery became honey yellow grasses against brilliant blue skies. The terrain fairly bleak but spotted with several bushy sheep.
It was already about 5pm when we hit the next Chilean border exit point. To our pleasant surprise it was a very quick and painless process, after a few minutes we were on the road again, racing the tour bus directly behind us to the Argentinean border entry point. We got lucky and within 15 minutes were done! As soon as we entered back into Argentina, the road became paved yet again, thank you Argentina! It is absolutely crazy to me that this little chunk of land which needs to be crossed to get to the portion of Tierra del Fuego that Argentina owns is only passable by entering and exiting Chile. Every year a ton of tourists have to go through this routine just to ride down to Ushuia. It is as if the Chilean border officials at this location do not care too much about the folks trying to get through as they know most of them will only be leaving Chile within hours.
The next 50 miles was on pavement, we were excited to be close to the end of our long day. The road was straight, but the further we headed towards Rio Grande, the more the wind picked up. It was as windy as our rough windy day a couple days back…Mike had to struggle to keep the bike in a straight line and my neck got a really great workout keeping itself upright. I guess it’s good that we have to head back up through the wind in the other direction, so that the other side of my neck gets the same exercises!
We arrived at the hostel where Adam and Valerie were staying. It was so great to see them, last time was on the road from our house to Big Sur. Meeting them as well as making it to Tierra del Fuego, I felt great. I feel like we had accomplished and successfully made our journey today, even though it is not over, we have safely made it to end of the world from our house in San Jose. Meeting up with friends from home brought even more excitement. The very nice owner of the hostel and Valerie put together a great feast of broccoli (haven’t had that since I left home!), potatoes and a roasted lamb. I did my best to not look at it being cooked on the bbq before being able to enjoy it with everyone. Delicious. We couldn’t have had a warmer welcome.
First border of the day - Exiting Argentina (where is Mike? Hint: he looks like a bank robber)
Second border of the day - Entering Chile
Best dirt road of the trip
We knew it would be a long day, so we set the alarm and got ourselves up early. It’s easy to wake up early around here as it doesn’t stay dark for too long through the night. After just a few miles on pavement we hit the first border crossing, Argentina to Chile. First we had to exit Argentina which consisted of along line of mostly Argentinean tourists standing outside in the absolutely freezing wind. It was fairly straightforward, but took us 1.5 hrs. Anxious to keep going with our long day, we were bummed to hit the entrance to Chile which was a much worse and chaotic line. This time everyone was packed into the building, at least out of the cold, but due to the large number of tourists waiting to get their passports stamped and vehicle importation documents, it was a spiral line which wrapped around itself in a very confusing pattern in which you finally got helped by the very few grumpy Chilean aduana officials. That whole process took us 3.5 hours, the actual paperwork only 10 minutes or less, the rest of it in line waiting. We realized that we probably should have hit these borders even earlier as it is tourist season for this area…we’ll do that on our way back up.
The road stayed paved on the other end of the border, and all the way to the straight of Magellen ferry crossing. It started to get colder and windier the further south we went, although nothing more than what we’ve been through in the past. The ferries were supposed to come every half an hour, so we went into the little restaurant to have a quick bite to eat and some hot tea before it arrived. One of the most efficient ferries I have seen, they got the cars off and on in no time and we were off sailing across the sound of extremely choppy waters. Not far was the other side. Still pavement, we were happy. Mike wanted to make sure to beat the following ferry to the next border crossing, and fortunately the gravel road treated us right. There were a few patches of thicker loose gravel, but for the most part it was well packed and allowed us to cruise through it at a steady and decent pace. The scenery became honey yellow grasses against brilliant blue skies. The terrain fairly bleak but spotted with several bushy sheep.
It was already about 5pm when we hit the next Chilean border exit point. To our pleasant surprise it was a very quick and painless process, after a few minutes we were on the road again, racing the tour bus directly behind us to the Argentinean border entry point. We got lucky and within 15 minutes were done! As soon as we entered back into Argentina, the road became paved yet again, thank you Argentina! It is absolutely crazy to me that this little chunk of land which needs to be crossed to get to the portion of Tierra del Fuego that Argentina owns is only passable by entering and exiting Chile. Every year a ton of tourists have to go through this routine just to ride down to Ushuia. It is as if the Chilean border officials at this location do not care too much about the folks trying to get through as they know most of them will only be leaving Chile within hours.
The next 50 miles was on pavement, we were excited to be close to the end of our long day. The road was straight, but the further we headed towards Rio Grande, the more the wind picked up. It was as windy as our rough windy day a couple days back…Mike had to struggle to keep the bike in a straight line and my neck got a really great workout keeping itself upright. I guess it’s good that we have to head back up through the wind in the other direction, so that the other side of my neck gets the same exercises!
We arrived at the hostel where Adam and Valerie were staying. It was so great to see them, last time was on the road from our house to Big Sur. Meeting them as well as making it to Tierra del Fuego, I felt great. I feel like we had accomplished and successfully made our journey today, even though it is not over, we have safely made it to end of the world from our house in San Jose. Meeting up with friends from home brought even more excitement. The very nice owner of the hostel and Valerie put together a great feast of broccoli (haven’t had that since I left home!), potatoes and a roasted lamb. I did my best to not look at it being cooked on the bbq before being able to enjoy it with everyone. Delicious. We couldn’t have had a warmer welcome.
First border of the day - Exiting Argentina (where is Mike? Hint: he looks like a bank robber)
Second border of the day - Entering Chile
YES! 3.5 hrs later we have entered Chile ready for our day
Thank god it was a short ferry ride...look at those choppy waters!
Horses
Some nice scenery
Best dirt road of the tripReunited with our friends
Vegetarians: do not look at this photo
posted by Pedro and Maria at 12:24 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, great job guys. Glad to see you made it to the end of the world. Are you going to take a swim? It seems to be something Adam and I did when we were on the road. Every major accomplisment coincided with a dip in very cold waters. I don't know why, but it's fun. Congratulations!!
B
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