East is warmer
Trip Start
Oct 23, 2006
1
146
228
Trip End
Apr 15, 2009
Puerto San Julian,
Argentina
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
A few of us drove to the end of the road where Eastancia owners allow camping on their land. Eastancias are large well kept ranches, some as large as towns, usually with sheep, sometimes with cattle and occasionally with people. In the case of Eastancia Harberton, sheep ranching is no longer lucrative, so they set up a tourist center and explain the history of Eastancia's. It is here, hidden away in a meadow where we camped for a couple of days along the Beagle Channel.
On the northern trend, we make our way to Rio Grande, a bottle neck in and out of Tierra del Fuego, our second visit here and possibly a last chance to spend one more night with a fellow traveler
Hard to get a seat in this restaurant.
. Other than for Club Nautico which has camping facilities and hot showers, there is no reason to stay in this windy town, even though it is fairly well serviced and supplied, it doesn't help travelers going north because we all have to cross the near by Chile border, where fresh food and dairy products are not allowed and in some cases hefty fines are charged for attempting to sneak something across. We have never tried but have seen others get caught even after given several chances to declare questionable food. It is also the case for animals where we must have a new health certificate for Gillie if we have been longer than fifteen days out of Chile. During our stint in Rio Grande we heard from friends whom we first met in Guatemala and shipped with from Panama to Colombia, and who are now in Punta Arenas on their way to Ushuaia, better late than never, everyones pace is different, and we don't want to miss them so off to Punta Arenas we go, also because we needed a good excuse to go back to the free zone to look for a new camera. It was a happy and over due meeting, we were always too far apart to have arranged an earlier meeting but here we are together finally for a good days visit and a restaurant meal together, our first meal out since Santiago which makes it all the more special.
Punta Arenas is a biggish place with all the big stores, in which we wander, look but don't buy, we don't need anything aside from groceries .....and maybe ....a new camera
Need an engine?
. Our friends left and we spent one more day in the very friendly hostal/camping owned by a young couple who treat you like family and give you a traditional Chilean greeting if you revisit as we did. Most travelers stop in Punta Arenas for the free zone and most rigs leave with a set of new tires, as we did. Aside from the free zone the only other reason for coming here is to take the ferry to Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego, although you can drive around (as we did this time, for the change), the ferry is the more popular route.Along the east shores of Seno Onway (seno is a bay or cove) east of Punta Arenas we enjoy an off road drive along the shores, which is home to a community of penguins, who chose to settle on the shores of private property or maybe it became private because of the penguins, anyway there is a fee to drive the road to the colony and then an extra ten dollars per person to view the penguins. Maybe it is a good thing, maybe the penguins need protecting, and maybe they get paid to wear those funny little suits. We left the penguins and continued on along the bay to the end of the road, at least we think it was the end of the road because there was a river in the way and after Dom walked across and tested it , only to find the rocks slippery and unstable and no signs of any one crossing it lately, and not wanting to test Diane's shoveling skills, decided it was the end of the road for us. Further along a forest clearing beckoned us to come on in a stay the night and so we enjoyed a shelter from the wind and crashing surf, while a sepia colored brook trickled beside us
Too much river for Eve, this time
.Rio Gallegos, not a destination but a stop over at the end of a long straight monotonous drive along Argentina's east coast. We spend one night here in this mostly industrial port with a lively hood of coal shipping, oil refining and wool raising. Thank goodness for the colorful flamingos, racing rheas and don't stop and look at me or I'll run guanacos to entertain us and give opportunities to practice with our new camera. Now we can professionally zoom right up on those run away rear ends.
San Julian, the end of yet another uninteresting, days drive along the flat grassy plains of south east Patagonia. A small place with big ideas, demonstrated by wide streets and boulevards and well kept homes and gardens, in contrast to seemingly limited services and few people. The municipal campground might be the hub as campers come and go. We feel comfortable here and set up to stay a few days to wash winter clothes and pack them away for awhile and chat a bit with other travelers but mostly wile the days away with much needed projects. Gillie is prancing around freshly groomed in agreement of taking time out for little grey fuzzy projects. We move on tomorrow but today we celebrate Dom's birthday. He started his day with coffee and a good book sitting in the sun this morning.
We are experiencing warm weather finally after a long stretch of wintery weather which is pretty well a constant state in lower Patagonia along the Andes where the glaciers and towering craggy spires make their own weather systems and only offer moments of clear skies to reveal their stunning nakedness.
Comments
Happy Belated Birthday Dom!
Sorry I missed it. You don't look a day over 94. Had I known, at least one of the beers I raised that day would have been in your honour.
Bbbn