28th Feb 2015
Heading north again.
Yesterday I spent the whole day catching up on things
that had backed up while I was out in the bush on all the dirt road for the
past few weeks. As well as banking and
other internet stuff, I also managed to clean the car a bit, change the fuel
filter, grease the prop shaft and suspension, and put all the stuff that hangs
outside on the spare wheels back in place.
By the end of the day I was ready to hit the road again.
This morning Sergio (the camp site owner) was obviously
more ready to leave on a couple of days vacation than I was – When I got up the
showers were locked, and even the door into the nice warm lounge area was
locked ! When I went round the front of
the building to find him, Sergio was packing his car and was ready to go ! I
got him to unlock the showers, and then the lounge area so I could dry my towel
by the stove, and as soon as I started my engine, Sergio was out of there in
front of me ! So if anyone arrives at the
camp site in the next couple of days I guess they will find it closed !!
Filled up with fuel and then NE headed out of town, the
way I had come in 6 days ago. I found
that I quite enjoyed Ushuaia – At first glance there is not a lot too it, but
the more you wander around, and the more you talk to people, the more things
you find out about it and what there is to do.
As I left town, the
sun was shining, 2 new cruise ships were in the
harbour, and the surrounding mountains were clear of cloud. Having driven the road c couple of times
before, not a lot to mention, except of course that my first planned stop was
60 kms up the road at Tolhuin, where the great little Panaderia was !
Stocked up on fresh bread rolls and some assorted
empanadas for elevenses, and then kept going up to Rio Grande. It was difficult to know quite what to do
because I have to cross into Chile just for 200 kms or so, and I also have to
catch the ferry off the island of Tierra del Fuego, and distance and time wise
the optimal place to stop was at the ferry - But not really anywhere to stop
there ! So I wasted a bit of time in Rio
Grande, and found all sorts of monuments to Los Malvinas, before heading slowly
north. I stopped for a sandwich, and wasn’t going to cross the border today
because I still had some fruit and veggies left. But as so often happens, the actual border
isn’t where it is marked on the map, and I came round a corner and there was
the Argentinian border ! Since it was
still only 4 pm, I thought I may as well go ahead and cross so that I can get
to the ferry reasonably early tomorrow.
But first I had to cook my veggies !
So I stopped by the road, got out my little cooker, and steamed what
remained of my carrots and cabbage.
While this was on, I hid my bananas so I would have something for
breakfast tomorrow, and reluctantly discarded my last tomato and a couple of
slices of cheese so I wouldn’t have to declare anything at the Chilean border.
As usual, through the Argentinian border in about 5
minutes, and then RIPIO ! Not 100 yards
past the border, and we are back on very dusty dirt road again ! Grrr.
And the road was so busy – I couldn’t believe how many cars and big
trucks were on it. Collected a second
big stone chip in the windscreen too – Fortunately over on the passenger side –
But the stones must be really sharp or hard or something because it wasn’t a
hard hit, but still put quite a ding in the windscreen. More grrrr.
Got to the Chilean border post about 20 kms further up the road,
and it was busy with people coming the other way. Managed to slip through the crowds, said I
had no food to declare, and was out quite quickly – But during the vehicle
inspection the quarantine guy decided my individually packaged and totally un
opened sausages were not allowed – Despite the fact that at past Chilean
borders unopened things have been allowed through. It is the inconsistency of the application of
their laws that can be so annoying !!
Expensive gourmet vicuna sausages, they were ! Luckily I still had a couple of cooked
sausages, and some cooked spaghetti mince, as well as my recently cooked
veggies, so I would be OK for supper !
Funnily enough, this border crossing is near where I
spent a freezing night about 10 days ago when I camped in the car park of the local
hotel ! Didn’t recognise it until I
crossed the border and found myself passing the hotel – All these dirt roads
across the pampas all start to look the same after a while !!
Toddled on along the dirt road for about another hour or
two, and then started looking for a place to pull off the road for the night.
Saw a couple of “old road sections’, and then passed one which has another
little camper already in there. I pulled
in and found a couple of Aussies, Joan and Gary, who have arrived in Montevideo
recently and are just heading down to Ushuaia.
So I asked them if they wanted the security of some company for the
night, and we then had a beer and chatted about routes and roads for them en
route down to Ushuaia. But it was
getting cold quickly, so I soon retired to Troopie, cooked up my supper, and
got ready to turn in.
Not a hard or long day today, but now it should work out
better to get across the ferry and then back into Argentina and headed up the
coast where there are a series of National Parks and camping areas with lots of
penguins and sea lions and other stuff like that to see ! And apparently it is nice and warm just a
couple of 100 kms up the road – Maybe I will be able to get back into my shorts
again at last !! Fingers crossed.
Pics here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0217UshuaiaToSanSebastian?authkey=Gv1sRgCNC2idnur63k4AE#
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