Three weeks driving day and night on a dusty road in Patagonia with limited access to a shower and having as home a crowded van was probably not enough!
Addicted to this lifestyle and to Wicked Campers with Fabio and Yan we decide to give it another round and go even more South, up to where the road can bring us!
And I mean it literally!
Our new house is a three seater van with a big wolf painted on one side. I must admit it’s not the epic Mystery Machine, but the Wold has its charm and grit!
Our new house is a three seater van with a big wolf painted on one side. I must admit it’s not the epic Mystery Machine, but the Wold has its charm and grit!
Alejandro helps us with an early check in the night before and early in the morning we’re on the ferry that transfers us to Isla Grande, the biggest island of Tierra Del Fuego that is the archipelago at southernmost tip of South America’s, shared between Chile and Argentina.
One week and “only” 1900 Kms to drive..
we finally have the time to stop more and adapt the route and schedule to the surprises and meeting that are waiting for us.
Luck doesn’t wait long and when we stop for a bite in the grass of a farm (Estancia) the owner comes to welcome us with a big smile and a dozen of fresh eggs for these “gringos” visiting their land. We drive through the Penguins’ reserve to then turn east and get inside the mainland up to the Blanco lake. The night is over us and we need a place to camp.
Our feeling together with an open gate bring us to turn right a couple of Kms before Pampa Guanaco following a road across a field and then, following a farm hint, inside one of the most amazing roads of the whole road trip. The dirty road goes deep inside a forest that appear to be magic at our eyes in the lights of the sunset. Even more surprising is the location where we finally park the van few meter from the water of Blanco lake where fishermen build a small shelter with a fireplace and even a grill to cook some spicy sausages! Gnammy! 🙂
After checking in a national park at the police station we will drive the rest of the day to reach our first “dead-end road”!
The southernness point a road could bring us in Chile! We really are at the end of the World!
At least for a couple of years more: the road is currently a construction site to build a road and connect the southernmost port of Chile: Puerto William, located on another island of the Archipelago.
As done back in O’ Higgins we point in Maps-me our next destination Ushuaia that appears to be only 40 Kms away.. We run the app to route the direction and suddenly the Kms to drive become over 300.. We will need to drive back north, but not before a night stop in Caleta Maria, our second dead-end road!
We discover the real beauty of Caleta Maria the following afternoon when after a deep sleep we’ve an incredible day with Juan and his wife. They are building some cabanas after the end of the road on a spot hidden by the wind and reachable only through the beach. The hospitality of Chilean people is another time surprising and leaving us without words. Juan prepare coffee and after that fresh “sopapillas”, a typical chilean fried bread. The atmosphere is great, the talk natural and when the wife wakes up we start preparing a tasty chicken soup to which we contribute at least with good red wine.
Meantime the rains give us some peace and the clouds open up to show us an amazing landscape with high mountains raising directly from the sea. We would stay longer, but Ushuaia is waiting for us. We will reach it the following day after a cold night up in the Bellavista pass.
Ushuaia is what I actually expected: a big city built around a port and with nothing really to see except for the national park where we squeeze in after 20.30 avoiding to pay the entrance fee.. shhh.. Keep the secret!
Another end of the road, but the most touristic one with even a map craved on wood to show how south in the Wold we are!
Not bad, but “Wilderness and Nature” are calling and we drive back on the road to Tolhuin to take a very dirty road heading West along the Beagle Canal up to Harberton Estancia. We ask some information and reach a camping spot that will remain in our hearths. We are all alone in the complete dark warmed up by a good bonfire, but not really understanding the beauty of the spot where we are. On a small grass between two rivers we are awaken by the noise of a group of horses crossing the river.
“End of the road” is somehow attracting for us
and we drive till Estancia Moat.
This represent the easternmost and southernmost point of Argentina and probably whole South America. A police station wait us at the end with a couple of dogs and not more.
But the road is kind of hypnotic in its beauty and we take another detour on the way back to reach the closest point to Puerto William on the other side of Beagle channel: only 7 Kms aways and 200 USD if we take a boat..
It’s now a month we are driving only toward South, the colder and winder places and after reaching the end of any possible road it’s now time to turn around and start going back North!
We stop for the night in a wood next to Lago Fagnano, cook lunch with a bonfire on the coast of Lago Yehuin, give a lift to a cyclist on the border with Chile, but the real surprise comes for the night. A light in the dark attracts the attention of Yan and her conviction brings us to explore it. The place is called China Creek Estancia, a farm where the owner welcomes us to his land to camp and also gives us some precious wood to light up a bonfire and fight the cold. With a girl from China on board we can’t resist to ask the origin of the name China Creek and in the dark night the landlord tell us the sad story. In the old times of the colonisation by Europeans, prostitutes were used to be called Chinas. This place was actually where they used to be relegated and abused by Europeans.
This is actually our last night in the wild with a bonfire and cooking in the open air and also our last night on a Wicked Camper!
It has been a month having a van as house and I must say it has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Travelling with a house-van is by far the Best way to explore Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego: having the freedom to explore these wild lands, turning into a side road driven by instinct, stop next to a lake or an highland to have lunch, have the opportunity to meet the locals and share with them their culture…
I would do it again tomorrow!
So whoever is up for adventure with low comfort, a lot of dust and dirty roads, probably very few showers and a lot of un-expected good and bad stuff happening along the way.. now you know the way!
