On to the Island of Tierra del Fuego

Next, off to the island of Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) and to what we thought was the “southernmost city in the Western Hemisphere”, Ushuaia. Summer was definitely over and we were starting to experience some seriously cold nights. We didn’t want to get snowbound in Ushuaia so we wick it up a bit. The most direct route on to the island took us to the city of Rio Grande on the island of TDF. It turned out to be a long day in the saddle. From Calafate we crossed over to the East side of the continent, cross the Magellan Strait on a ferry, manage 2 border crossings and log 420 miles before arriving at Rio Grande that evening.

As we crossed the Magellan Strait it was fun to let the mind drift a bit. We were looking at essentially same landscape and stretch of water Ferdinand Magellan saw in the 1500s when he discovered the significant shortcut for round the world voyagers. Wow.

The landscape of Tierra del Fuego island runs from interesting ocean views, mountains, fungus treed forests to long boring stretches of plains. Here are the pictures to show you what I mean.

Sadly a lot of the island’s trees are dying. I believe from a fungus.

Stopping by the Perito Glacier

Our next destination is the Perito Moreno Glacier and National Park. The closes city to the Glacier is El Calafate, situated on Lake Argentina. The road south of Bajo Caracoles was mostly dirt and gravel with little stretches of asphalt. Slowly but surely the romantic Ruta 40 will be entirely paved and no longer a challenge to complete. El Calafate is a very busy town. Surprisingly busy since the tourist season ended several weeks ago, I’d hate to see what it was like during the height of the busy season. The main street is teeming with shops and people filling them up. I can’t complain though. I was able to find a shop that sold those fancy berets the Argentine horsemen wear. This town has a large number of adventure vehicles that look like they have never been off road. This picture sort of captures the range of diversions in town.

The temperature dropped 20 degrees as we approached the glacier area.

I’ve seen glaciers before and was not sure the extra day, extra miles and $20 USD would be worth the trip. I still didn’t like that they charged us foreigners 3 times what the locals pay but the Glacier is spectacular. They have a well done aluminum and wood walkway down to the glacier face that provides a number of close-up views. While we were there big chunks of the glacier fell into the water. We heard them but I never saw it happen. Unfortunately the sound that catches your attention is the last stage of the event, save for the wake created by the ice falling in the water.

We met a couple from Germany on a GS. They shipped their motorcycle from Germany and planned to leave it in South America so they could return next year for more touring. More motorcycles showed up in the parking lot. Three of them were from New Zealand.

The ride out to the Glacier and back to Calafate was pretty scenic also.

Patagonia's Ruta 40

This will be our first full day on the Patagonia’s Ruta 40 and we were looking forward to the experience. We rejoin the road on the lower, southern section. Here are some views showing the diversity of the road surfaces and views.

The road is not widely known, outside of the Advrider site and South America, actually Argentina. In recent times the road was highlighted in the Che Guevara Motorcycle Diaries movie and book. Before that it featured in the retelling of the Butch Cassidy saga. In Argentina, to travel the road is the ultimate manly feat. It is sort of like the Alaska’s Haul Road to Prudhoe Bay reputation. After you’ve done Ruta 40 you earn the right to the t-shirt and bumper sticker. Of course Chris and I set out to find stickers for our panniers. The road runs mostly north to south though Argentina’s Patagonia area. It is about 3000 miles in total beginning at the northern Bolivia border making it one of the longest roads in the Western Hemisphere Americas. Its scenery runs from spectacular to downright boring as it travels through long stretches of desert like flats and through snow capped mountains. It is paved in the north and mostly corrugated dirt (Ripios) in the south.

The wind is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. The velocity was high but the gusting was the real problem.

Even if you are hard as a rock, if you stay in one place too long, the wind wins. A striking aspect of the road is the damage it inflicts.

On a longer straight stretch boredom can set in. At one point, to ward off drowsiness, I stopped to chase an Armadillo across the tundra. It was a cute little fella and fast.

Attempting to hide under a bush…

The Bajo Caraoles Cross Roads

We spent the night in the Bajo Caracoles Hostel. I imagined it was similar to the old road houses that dotted the US highways before the interstates. It was a colorful establishment that included a little general store, snack bar, restaurant and gas station and a colorful attendant. Everything a traveler needed.

A knife, saddle, flashlight or torch….whaddaya need? Chips?

A box of wine? whattaya need?

We checked in around 6:30 PM and very hungry since there was no place to stop for lunch and we only had that skimpy breakfast that morning. The guy running the hotel told us we had to wait till 8:30 for dinner. However, he told us to have a seat and disappeared only to return a few minutes later with a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches. The sandwiches hit the spot. With no internet there was not much to do but take a walk around the little village.

The town reminded me of some of the small Alaska and Yukon villages I have visited. It consisted of maybe 4 dirt streets and 30 building made of a hodgepodge of building materials and styles. On our walk around the village we counted no more than 12 people, 5 horses and 2 dogs. The entire village is powered by a big diesel engine mounted in a block building. The front of the engine pokes out of the door, I guess for cooling purposes. All of the village’s power lines emanate from the little block building. It provides power to the street lights, gas pump and each of the houses. The engine runs non-stop and can be heard throughout the village. After a while you no longer notice the droning of the engine.

Later that evening we got a loud knock on the door and an announcement that dinner was ready….finally. After dragging out dinner for as long as possible, we retired to the room. I read my book until falling asleep As the sun set over Ruta 40.