I cross the Strait of Magellan
Trip Start
Oct 19, 2007
1
105
126
Trip End
Ongoing
Ushuaia,
Patagonia,
Argentina
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Don't do anything today. Not much to do in Calafate besides see the glacier. There aren't really any trekking opportunities and I don't feel like sitting around getting wasted. I spend my day reading a Clive Cussler novel which is like reading an adventure book written by the 15 year old son of Jaque Cousteau who just happens to have an overactive imagination, a small vocabulary and his best friend sitting next to him which is nothing more than some generic book purchased off of the internet that contains horrible one-liners.
Feb 21, Ushuaia
I catch a bus at 3am and I am pretty excited about the adventure that lays ahead. I am heading to Ushuaia which is deemed the southernmost city in the world as it is only 1,200km from Antartica. There is a small settlement in Chile named Puerto Williams that is actually a bit farther south but it's more like a few large sheds crammed with people then an actual city. The bad part about busing to Ushuaia is the fact that I have to go through customs 4 different times. I have to exit Argentina, enter Chile, then exit Chile and re-enter Argentina (it's like I'm fucking two countries at the same time), and each and every time I have to get my passport stamped and go through customs. This seems to me as excessive and slightly retarded. If I keep accumulating stamps at this rate I will have to get a new passport in about 2 weeks as I will have no space left. Not only that, but our bus also gets searched twice, Twice (now I know what's it's like to be black in the US). How fucking stupid is that, it's the same bus jackoffs, do you think we picked up some nukes on the way or in the case of Chile some apples (Chile is more concerned with you bringing fruit into their country than weapons or drugs, believe me on this one). The good part about busing to Ushuaia is the fact that we get to cross the Strait of Magellan by ferry boat. Our driver parked the bus on the ferry boat and I got out and walked up the stairs to a lookout platform and as I was staring out at the gray, prosaic and overcast sky I had this wave of euphoria envelop me as I realized I was crossing the Strait of Motherfucking Magellan. How fucking awesome is that. It finally dawned on me just where I was and how few people will ever get to do this and I thought back to my gradeschool days sitting in class as the teacher (who was an asshole btw) talked about Magellan and the Strait bearing his name (Magellan's, not the teacher's name) and remembering how when I looked at the map how impossible it would be for anyone to ever visit there. Yet here I was crossing the Strait, in southern Patagonia, by myself, feeling every bit like the poser explorer. Then my reverie was suddenly interrupted by the sight of dolphins jumping out of the water alongside the boat. An amazing experience and one that only I will ever be able to fully appreciate and cherish as words once again prove to be as insufficient to explain my feelings and mindset at this time as Lebron James's teamates are at helping him get to the championship game.
I arrive in Ushuaia at 9:30pm and there is no bus station per se just a parking lot next to a gas station located right along the Beagle Channel (yes, named after the ship Darwin was on). The city is much bigger than I expected and I am surprised to learn that 80,000 people live here considering it's location. You see signs and slogans everywhere that depict the words "Fin del Mundo" (End of the World) and the thing is, it truly is and you can somehow feel it. Darwin once exclaimed while exploring southern Patagonia in 1883 "I think I have never seen a place as isolated from the rest of the world as this one". Ushuaia is a tax free zone and the city has grown by leaps and bounds since 1994 when it's tax free status was declared. The first hostel I try to check into is booked but I eventually find another one and the first thing I do (well, after making my bed of course) is go and get something to eat as I starving since I was only ble to eat a small sandwich I took on the bus because we never stopped for food. My waiter is some Argentinian dude named Nicholas who is married to a chick from Seattle and I talk to him about Ushuaia quite a bit since he speaks perfect English. I order the largest chicken and egg (odd combo I know, but money) sandwich I have ever laid eyes on and a large Heineken. I leave and think about hitting up a bar but it's late, I'm tired, I'm smelly and I need to go to sleep, so I do.
