Driving to the End of the World

Driving to the End of the World

Our Route South

We were warned that the long drive down Ruta 3, along the eastern coast of Argentina from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, a distance of 6292km, would be long and tedious; highlights being the YPF garages with their coffee and stale croissants. It was anything but; the croissants weren’t stale! And it was so much fun, that we’ve neglected to keep you, dear readers, informed. But please do bear in mind that much of this area is without cell phone coverage and we only have internet in towns and YPF garages.

Back in Argentina

Having departed Uruguay, we spent our first night in Gualeguaychu, a border town which we had traversed before, but not bothered to explore. A very helpful policeman led us on his motorbike to our camp spot. We found it to be a nice town, with pleasant riverside restaurants. It was great to be paying very reasonable prices again. From there we journeyed to just outside Buenos Aires and stayed a few nights at San Antionio de Areco where Dave made some running repairs to Big Bertha, primarily fitting the new fan clutch that Sybille and Hermann had bought over from Germany for us, and servicing the auxilliary driver’s cab heater – a wasp’s nest was found to be blocking it’s exhaust (fortunately, the wasps were long gone!). One problem we had at this time was fuel availability. Although reasonably priced (around 40p/litre) there was at the time a temporary hiccup with distribution, meaning no fuel available at many stations or rationing when it was available.

An Election

Over the course of our trip down south an Argentinian election was playing out. This impacted currency exchange rates (to our advantage). The first round on 22 October eliminated all but two of the contenders for El Presidente. This left Milei and Massa battling out in the run off on 19 November. Milei is far right and often appeared at rallies bearing a chain saw. We rather think he looks like Wolverine (or Englebert Humperdink, for those of you older readers)! Massa is more traditional, but has presided over Argentina’s woeful economic situation in his current role as economics minister. Not a great choice. But it was an interesting backdrop to our trip. (Milei won.)

Meeting New Friends

We are very pleased to have met Sascha and Kerstin, Mike and Chris and Axel and Christina. They are German overlanders also making their way to Ushuaia. We drove individually, but arranged to meet up at campsites where we shared information, meals and visited tourist attractions together. Throughout our previous travels, it has been rare to meet with people again, due to different itineraries, but in South America, everyone has to get to Ushuaia for the summer period. We have found this to be a new and enjoyable experience.

San Antionio de Areco to Mar Del Plata

Travelling from San Antionio de Areco, we crossed below Buenos Aries towards the coastal city Mar Del Plata. These were fairly tedious roads, but we did stumble on an excellent wild camp spot on the way. It bordered a lagoon with a 12km track arounds its circumference, which we hiked in the morning.

We visited the very elegant Juan Manuel Fangio museum in Balcarce, his birthplace. Three floors of racing cars, David very much enjoyed it. He is clearly very well celebrated in this town.

Mar Del Plata was our first of many coastal towns heading south. It is a big city and we elected to stay in the docks area. Here we feasted on prawn, calamari, fish empanadas (an Argentinian version of a pasty!) and good ol’ fish’n’chips after our tours of the city.

Mar Del Plata to Puerto Madryn

Following the coast, we headed south to Bahia Blanca in search of a cambio to change some of our US Dollars into Argentine Pesos. We were having no luck, it being a Sunday, and eventually parked up alongside the square in the centre of town. Francine got out to ask a taxi driver if it was ok to park, but instead struck up a conversation with a couple of guys in the car in front who turned out to be informal money changers. Two amiable brothers who changed our money and then proceeded to give us travel tips.

We then went onto to El Condor where we met Mike and Chris for a second time and Sascha and Kirsten for the first time. El Condor is famous for its parrot population – thousands of parrots nesting in the cliffs – quite a spectacular (and noisy!) sight.

And we also saw the first of many Malvinas War memorials.

Next was the Valdes Peninsula, famous for its marine life via Las Grutas, where we enjoyed an exceptional seafood lunch!

We stayed ‘in town’ for a couple of nights at Puerto Madryn to get some shopping done and watch some rugby world cup, before heading out onto the peninsula for a whale watching trip from Puerto Piramides. We then toured the National Park and saw our first Megallanic penguins and elephant seals. On the way back to Puerto Madyrn, we camped on the beach and watched countless whales, within a stone’s throw.

Puerto Madryn to Puerto Deseado

We all met up again in Gaiman, a town that was once predominantly populated by Welsh immigrants and was Welsh speaking. It still is very Welsh (for tourist purposes) and its claim to fame is that Lady Diana once took afternoon tea here. We, of course, did the same. David was disappointed that there was no clotted cream (though that would have raised the whole issue of whether it should have been spread on the scone before or after the jam…).

We visited another Penguineria at Porto Tombo and walked amongst the birds who were all on their nests incubating their two eggs. Some had better positions under bushes than others, who were just sitting in the open.
Continuing down the coastal road (gravel track) we visited Camarones before hitting the tarmac again and visiting the town Comodoro Rivadavia and its upmarket neighbour Rada Tilly.
At this latitude (over 46⁰ south), the furthest south we had ever been, it was starting to get quite cold, despite it coming into summer. The wind was fierce and unrelenting.
Our convoy next met up at Puerto Deseado where we took a brilliant boat trip out to the Isla Penguino. The island, 22km from Puerto Deseado, is home to colonies of several species of cormorant, skuas, sea lions, Magellanic and Rock Hopper penguins.

Puerto Deseado to Laguna Azul

Leaving Puerto Deseado, we headed south west on dirt tracks and found our way to the Miraradores de Darwin, a magnificent look out over river canyons. We camped the night on top of the cliffs. We eventually got back to tarmac (“Hooray”, says Francine – ever the Adventurer!) and a YPF garage where we topped up on coffee, croissants and internet. Next was the Petrified Forest National Park with its very interesting 45m x 1.5m petrified (fossilized) trees, that are becoming exposed as the land erodes. We camped just outside and were soon joined by a couple of French overlanding families. We were amused that they camped inches behind us and rather think that Big Bertha was being used as a wind break! The next day, we went hunting for armadillos before heading to San Julian.

After a few days in Puerto San Julian together with our German friends we headed south, towards our ultimate goal, Ushuaia. On the way we visited Monte León national park and more seals/penguins! Before crossing the border, we camped out and hiked with Sascha and Kirsten at Lagna Azul, a pretty volcanic crater lake.

Crossing into Chile

To get to Ushuaia, you must first cross part of Chile, before once again re-entering Argentina. We entered Chile at Monte Aymond where we were warned that customs were very serious about prohibited food items (fresh fruit and veg, dairy, meat and the like). Francine escorted the agricultural agent into our cabin and after twenty minutes David was worried the interior was being torn apart. Going to investigate, David found Francine and the agent pouring over a copy of the Chile Lonely Planet, as he pointed out the places we mustn’t miss! Sascha and Kirsten were not so lucky and waved goodbye to their fruit and veg. Leaving the border we headed for the ferry that would take us to Tierra Del Fuego and the end of the world.
We parted company temporarily with Sascha and Kirsten and explored this southern part of Chile: very sparsely populated and mostly national park. Taking the indirect road around the coast we visited a ghost town (abandoned by petroleum workers) and the small town of Porvenir, where we stopped for a coffee and WiFi. Whilst there, we met some fellow travellers who told us of a boat tour, exploring the fjords, that departed from Caleta Maria. Plans were changed and we decided to head that way before backtracking to the northern border to Argentina and Ushuaia at San Martin.

Although informed that the visits to see the King Penguins, the only colony in South America, were booked out far into the future, we called in on the off chance and were immediately able to join a group. So lucky! The penguins were beyond the range of Dave’s camera equipment, but fortunately, Sascha took a couple of good photos (thanks Sascha).

We then set out for Caleta Maria and really enjoyed the coastal road before turning inland. We camped on a plain with a view of the distant mountains, over which we would travel. We woke up to snow as far as the eye could see! This made for a very dramatic day’s drive. That evening we wild camped in a valley near Chile’s southern ‘end of the road’.

In the evening we hiked up the valley marvelling at the busy beaver’s dams (considered a pest here, after their introduction from Canada in the 1940s as part of a failed pelt business venture).

And so back into Argentina

Crossing back into Argentina we joined our friends Sascha and Kirsten at Tolhuin and caught up over an evening meal prepared by Kirsten. We have never seen so many overlanders and overlanding trucks in one place before. It seems everyone is heading for Ushuaia. Having some time before our Antarctica cruise, departing Ushuaia, we headed to the northern coast to check out a shipwreck at Cabo San Pablo. And once again, 10km away from the road to Ushuaia, the overlanders disappear and we had this stretch of coast to ourselves. We stayed on a campsite run by a lovely old couple, Miguel and Sylvia, who cooked us a wonderful fish dinner.

From there we ventured down to Haberton Estancia and the small fishing village of Almanza where we camped two days next to the Beagle Channel and bumped into Mike and Chris again.

End of the Road

We then arrived in Ushuaia, End of the Road and End of the World! We took the mandatory photographs, did some shopping and then headed off to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Here we walked some very scenic trails over three days, took more photos at the very end of Ruta 3 and sent a postcard home to Mum from the Post Office at the End of the World. We then returned to Ushuaia, leaving Big Bertha at a campsite, to join our ship, the Ocean Victory, to Antarctica.