03.13.08 - To Ushuaia

A Busy Bus Day

It is rare to look forward to a dozen or more hours trapped within the confines of a bus, but today was definitely the exception. The Dutchies and I would be leaving the bustling Patagonia metropolis of Punta Arenas (population 125,000) for the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia (population 61,000). Unfortunately, Birgit headed north, so or group was now down to only three. I joked with a couple of German girls in the Punta Arenas hostel, that we were running low on Germans so may have to adopt them into the group.

South American buses are rolling examples of "false advertising". To look at the door markings, one would expect nothing but pure luxury service. To be optimistic, at least there was a bathroom onboard, as everything else turned out to be a visual misnomer.



A very nice surprise to the day turned out to be that many of the roads marked as “dirt” on the map, turned out to be paved.



We even had a ferry crossing into Tierra del Fuego.





Once on the other side of the channel the roads turned to the promised dirt surface, so it was good to have the metal grate, a third of the way up the cracked windscreen.



Anticipating the typical highly bureaucratic and drawn out Chilean/Argentine border crossing, we were all surprised and refreshed at the speedy, simplistic, and efficient ten minute stop before entering Argentina.



I thought of my Uncle Don at a gas stop a few hours further down the road in Tolhuin.



One of my favored childhood memories was riding in the back "rumple seat" of one of his Ford Model “A” cars, while riding around the back roads of Southaven, Michigan.



A few more hours further down the road brought us to the southern most city on the planet, the tourist and fishing city of Ushuaia, Argentina.

The harbor is historic, with old grounded vessels venerated near the docks.



Viewing the massive trans-Antarctic Ocean ships at the port made me cross my mental fingers. I had come to Ushuaia specifically at this time to try catching a “last minute” fare and excursion to Antarctica. With this accomplished, I will have set foot on all seven continents in less than two years. (Ok, maybe I actually crossed more than proverbial fingers… )



Sunset brought typically mixed and colorful skies. This town was a total mystery, so it was not hard to be excited for the next few days.



Walking back to the hostel and entering the kitchen/dining area, I was surprised to hear voices calling to me. It was Stephie and Andrea, the two German girls from Punta Arenas. So, the Dutchies and I had little choice but to serendipitously adopt them into the clan.