The Road To The End Of The World

1 February 2009By Zhu 8 Comments

Crossing The Magellan Strait

Patagonia? Neh. Not Far enough. We decided to reach Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the world, located in Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina.

Going to the fin del mundo is an adventure in itself.

We left from Punta Arenas at 6:30 am. Another short night… Literally, considering it was only really dark at midnight and that it was already very bright when we got up.

The bus was almost empty. I took two seats for myself and quickly fell asleep. I used to be unable to sleep anywhere but in my bed — these days are long gone. I sleep in planes, boats, trains, long distance buses, even bus stations. Give me a few years and I will doze off in front of the T.V. Gosh, I´m getting old.

I woke up when the bus stopped, a couple of hours later. “Pueden bajar“, said the driver. One hand on my camera, the other one on my lighter (seriously, who would be crazy enough to stop smoking when cigarettes cost US$1 a pack?), I looked around. We had stopped right in front of the Strait of Magellan, and a ferry was waiting, with already a dozen of cars on it. Crossing to Isla Grande, Tierra Del Fuego´s main island.

We stepped on the boat and marveled at the clouds. The ferry was going fast but we could see dolphins and some kind of ray fish swimming in the clear blue water underneath us.

We reached the shore half an hour later. Benvenidos a Tierra Del Fuego, still in Chile. It was a long ride on an unpaved — therefor bumpy and dusty — road to the Chilean exit stop, San Sebastian. We completed the exit migracíon and entered Argentina a few kilometers later.

In total, it took us over 12 hours to reach Ushuaia from Punta Arenas, a city that is already in the south of the South. The scenery was beautiful around Ushuaia: we drove above lakes and mountains, and the sky was blue, for a change. We arrived in the evening, without any reservation (obviously, remember, we are backpackers!), tired, starving, and dirty. And we were in for a surprise…