The End of the World!
Trip Start
Sep 28, 2005
1
51
103
Trip End
Jun 24, 2006
Ushuaia,
Argentina
Wednesday, February 1, 2006
Miles travelled: 44680
It's the end of the world! We've arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, on the island of Tierra del Fuego. Charles Darwin called Tierra del Fuego the "uttermost part of the earth", so if you pair it with Timbuktu, we've really gone to some places off the beaten track! Ushuaia is a charming little city at the base of snow-capped mountains, facing the Beagle Channel. Next door is Tierra del Fuego National Park, with mountains, lakes, and lots of rabbits and beavers. It's pleasant, but not as spectacular as some of the places we've already been.
Getting to Ushuaia was also an experience. It's a long 2-day drive from Torres del Paine. We re-entered Argentina (we're collecting quite a few passport stamps on this leg of the trip) and then crossed the Straits of Magellan by ferry. The Straits were first navigated by Ferdinand Magellan on the first journey around the tip of South America in 1520. Then onward through the desolate northern plains of Tierra del Fuego, where the temperature got colder and the winds even stronger. We intended to camp, but the conditions were so bad that we ended up just sleeping on the floor of a small hostel at the Argentine border.
AND, we were cruising along on a pretty poor road with howling winds, nearing sunset, when BAM! we hear a loud noise and a terrible grinding/scraping sound from under the truck. We pull over, the drivers take a look, and tell everybody to get off immediately. Somehow we've run-over a random piece of metal in the road and by sheer bad luck, it got kicked up through the protective grating and pierced our main fuel tank. Diesel fuel is pouring out of the tank and pooling on the road. Fortunately, diesel is pretty nonvolatile so there's not much danger of fire. Nevertheless, "Houston, we have a problem." Our drivers are trained for this, so they ingeniously rigged the backup fuel tank with spare hoses to feed the engine, just in time to get us back on our way as the sun sets. This fix is enough to get us to Ushuaia, where the main tank is repaired.
This brings to a close the southbound half of our trip. We say goodbye to a few folks and pick up a few new people, and tomorrow we begin our journey back north, along the Atlantic coast of Argentina. While the first 3 weeks of our South American trip has been mostly about scenery and adventure travel, the 2nd half will be more about the people and culture as we journey through the Argentinian pampas to the cosmopolitan capital of Buenos Aires -- home of the Tango. Then it's off to Brazil and Rio for the crazy Carnaval week.
