Day 17 – 8th December. Tierra Del Fuego.

Rio Gallegos – Rio Grande (TDF) 373 kms (180 kms Track)

Total Distance So Far: 4,338 kms

I had been looking forward to reaching this island ever since the early days of planning the trip. The shear remoteness of Tierra Del Fuego always held a bit of excitement about it for me. I had read the interior had not changed since the time Darwin spent here 150 years ago working on his Origin of The Species theories.

The first stretch of 70 kms from Rio Gallegos was fairly straight forward just the ever present sidewinds to manage. I then left Argentina and entered Chile. The customs process was pretty straight-forwards and took just 30 mins. Due to the way the borders are you have to cross into Chile and then back into Argentina to get to the bottom of TDF. I had read customs formalities can take hours when it is busy, so I prepared some tea and a sandwich just in case. Luckily for me there were only a few truckers. Another 45 kms riding south and you reach the ferry on the north side of the Magellan Straights, named after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who discovered the east-west corridor in 1520. Sadly for Portugal, he was in the employ of Spain at the time and had to declare these lands, and whole bunch of islands in the pacific also for Spain. He named the southern island Tierra Del Fuego (Land of Fire) for when he arrived he noted the natives lit numerous fires along the coastline warning their fellow tribesfolk, unaware of their impending demise! Land of Fire is clearly an inappropriate name – Land of the Bloody Frozen Fingers is far more apt.

For 150 years The Straights and the main town along it Punta Arenas used to be one of the world’s busiest shipping routes and ports, until the Panama Canal was opened and overnight they fell into obscurity and decline.

The ferry crossing was fairly rough, and we had some killer whales, and dolphins as company. I treated myself to a hot chocolate in the luxury on board cafeteria.

The east side of TDF is mainly flat and supports livestock farmers, a fishing industry, and fairly recently several natural gas companies have set up shop bringing new prosperity. The west side is a continuation of the Andes, is glacial, mountainous and uninhabitable. I’d be crossing the flat/hilly east side today, and would need to cross over one mountain range tomorrow to get to Ushuaia. Although small compared to Patagonia and the Pampas, TDF is still quite a size, being roughly equal to Scotland. But then again everything is on a huge scale in Argentina, which is over 11 times the size of the UK.

Crossing the Chilean part of TDF first was a bit hiss and miss as I could not get any GPS maps, and the road map I had only had a gravel track, which was the main route around the island. I wanted to get off the main track as it was just so dusty. Every time a lorry went past I got covered in it. After a dozen lorries it looked as though I had rolled around on the floor. I also wanted to get the feel of the centre of the island where it was more remote so I headed inland with a compass and reading off distances to get rough bearings, to make sure I would eventually come back out into the right area. Every 20-30 kms or so there would be another track, and if pointed in my general direction and looked like it was still in use I took it. I had got used to farm tracks running for 40, 60, 80 kms by now. A bit hap-hazard but it sufficed.

It was a good move. Although it’s a really barren and windy place it was also very beautiful. There were some huge valleys, lots of cattle, and I passed a few gauchos herding them. After 160 kms I reached the main track, near the Chile customs exit, and headed back over the border into Argentina which only took another 30 mins.

Back in Argentina I get surfaced roads again, and the last 90 kms to Rio Grande, the largest town on TDF, was easy going. Still strong winds from the west, and with views of The Atlantic on my left. Tomorrow I’ll head south for the last time on this part of my journey, to Ushuaia, for a two days rest. It’s the most southerly town in the World, and just 650 miles north of Antarctica.