Tierra del Fuego

After decades since learning of Magellan's voyage through here, and just as many years of curiosities of the landscapes, to get to the southern tip of the Andes in Tierra del Fuego we started in Punta Areans, Chile. We stayed for 2 nights with our couchsurfing friend Christian, an extremely generous public works administrator who opens his home to foreigners for free virtually every night. He stressed that travelers are ambassadors of our countries (why do Tampa punks need taint the US image, well, even more that is), and informed us of the seldom-visited, wild stretches in southern Tierra del Fuego on the Chilean side with a new road being constructed to the Beagle Channel over a pass through the Cordillera Darwin (who sailed through there, but didnt name it). The descriptions of mountains more stunning than Torres del Paine, tourist-free, and friendly ranchers who'll easily give hitchhike rides and homestays inspired us to go south, the long way (hitching). 17 interesting rides and 9 days later we arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina, which resembles a Scandinavian sea-front city on steep slopes with towering peaks above. The highlights are below, but what stood out most was cultural landscape that can't come through the pics or words. Besides the neat insights into many jobs of salt-of-the-earth folks in this remote and extremely wind-swept land (including fishers, ranchers, fence makers, bridge builders, loggers, and more), the immense kindness, generosity, and warmth is beyond description.
  

The gastronomic peaks of Punta Arenas (a mellow port city with a similar feel to Bellingham) were the churros and an old-school diner, so popular that it was saved from demolition by being moved  with it's foundation and all, serving only tiny chorrizo sandwiches and banana milk. 

Kiosko Roca, Punta Arenas serving up sandwich choriqueso y leche con platano since 1932 and now famously known as the ´mejor picada de Chile´, with a classic poster taboot

From Punta Arenas, we ferried from Punta Arenas to Porvenir, a tiny town on the bay serving as entry to Chilean Tierra del Fuego.

Porvenir and our first hitching spot

Santa Maria fishing village / row of shacks, where we were invited to stay by our first ride. The fishers headed out at 9pm to go fish calamares in the bay til 2 am.

A couple of hitches later we got to spend a couple of hours with these incredible creatures.

King penguins, second in size to the Emperors at about 3 ft tall

Can´t go swimming until they finish molting... best time to meditate...

We LOVE penguins!

Spectacular lupines of the Estancia Cameron where we got to stay that night and eat with the gardener, fence-maker, visiting priest, and supervisor Don Victor.

Original wood-fired stove of the Estancia...impressively hot

3 herders and their horses and dogs bringing 3000 sheep across a cattle gate to bathe them (antiparasitic)... awesome!

One happy dog

 

Reaching our day´s destination, Lago Blanco...

Looking for a spot to camp, we approached what we thought might be a caretaker´s house. Turns out that we spent the evening with 5 argentinian fishers and Julio (on the left, who we´d later meet up with in Ushuaia)... lots of laughter, argentinian phrases, great food. Wonderful night!

Back on the road the next day after having breakfast and mate with Julio, we got a ride out to a small loggers´ camp, cutting lenga.

Turned out that the camp was still 25km away... after 2 hours of waiting for a ride and having seen only a couple cars pass, we decided to start hiking...against the wind!

Just as we gve up on a ride to Lago Deseado, and decide set up camp by the side of the road, a government truck is about to go by... after some waving and yelling we ride with them to Lago Fagnano...two mountain pases away...

Stunning Sierra de la Paciencia (very fitting name- on our return we had to wait for 30 hrs for a ride. Fortunately there was a lodge caretaker, Coco, who shared his great stories, cafecito, and trout. Although having a terminal brain tumor, he has outlived doctors´predictions through positive thinking and tranquility)

Lago Fagnano (Chilean side)
 
Lago Fagnano. The road to here was only completed 7 years ago. We met and heard later many a story of the pioneer and legend German Genskowski

The military are in process of building the road through the Darwinian Mountains to the Beagle Channel (some say it will take 20 years although government officials were more optimistic). All for the sake of sovereignty and access to Isla Navarino (without having to go trough Argentina). Unless you know the estancia owner of Caleta Maria or have made friends with the military, this is the end of the road...

Hanging out in Coco´s trailer with one eye on the road at Lago Deseado... our longest exercise in patience yet

  The characteristic lenga forests, bogs, oxbowed rivers, and...

  Guanacos, 150,000 and counting in Tierra del Fuego.

Hiking the 1km across the border between Chile and Argentina and crossing a river (why put a bridge in?)

The gold and grey of Argentinian estancia lands

Stunning Ushuaia! Fin del mundo...or of the South American continent. Our home for the last week.

Our time in Ushuaia included a 5 day backpacking trip up the Valle Carbajal and Sierra Valdivieso (shown here with Lago Fagnano at the back)... just endless mountain passes, alpine lakes, peat bogs (3-5m deep, like walking in snow), and...

Beaver dams and ponds! Introduced in the 60s beavers are a having a field day in Tierra del Fuego. Estimated at 300,000 they have no predators and thousands of valleys to deforest and dam. This guy came to check us out as we arrive to an alpine lake...totally unafraid. You´re from Canada? We have your beavers here...

After years of claiming to be an old growth forest activist, Noah is caught girdling trees!

One of the most lovely streams

Draining trudge through peat bogs

A couple of the amazing peaks of Valle Carbajal.

Cold windy morning, with gorgeous views awaiting.

Sunny days are hit and miss...

After getting back from the backpacking trip, we took a sailboat ride to visit sea lions and comorant colonies in the Beagle Canal and the Isla-H. Luckily the wind was with us.

Imperial comorants, South American sea lions and Fur sea lions

Cuddle sausages

Looking west to the Darwinian Range from the Isla H.

Looking east to the mountains east of Ushuaia

Iconic Mount Olivia and 5 Brothers Mountain

Lupines like weeds

Ushuaia´s carnaval (with dances from Bolivia and Brazil).

Smelly foam wars instead of the customary water balloons...

We head tomorrow (by bus this time) back to Punta Arenas and from there to Puerto Natales to reach the world famous trekking mecca of the Torres del Paine. Praying for sunny days! We heard that until mid-February, the infamous towers were covered in clouds. Next posting in  couple of weeks...