Tierra Del Fuego National Park

Had my first taste of "Ripio" (unpaved gravel roads) as I left Ushuaia to get to the National Park. Only 25 kms of not too rough stuff, but it´s a taste of things to come and the dust kicked up by passing lorries is like a white out in snow.

Had my first bike mishap when a peddle worked loose and seperated itself from the bike, probably due to vibrations on the bus (and a lack of checking on my part) taking a good chunk of thread with it. I seriously thought I would have to get a new crank arm, but 2 hours of bodging with a knife and screwdriver managed to cut enough thread to get the pedal back on. Just hope it holds.

The national Park is beautiful - Beech wooded slopes and terrific views over the Beagle channel. I just had to cycle to the end of Route 3 - the road all the way back to Buenos Aires, as the official start of the ride. Camp was rough (and free) in a secluded dell next to a river with hawks circling over head and rabbits all around with a roaring fire to cook on. Bliss.



There is a great hike up a 970m peak (Cerro Guanaco) with fantastic panoramic views all the way back to Ushuaia 20kms away. I met a couple of American cyclists who joined me on the hike and whom I may meet up with in Chile to hike in Torres del Paine.

The sign says 3079km back to Buenos Aires - it starts to sink in about the scale of this place. Then a freezing 20 kms in the pouring rain back towards Ushuaia to meet up with the Americans for a free camp just off the main road.

Martial Glacier

Thursday 6th
Got a seriously nice day weather wise for a hike up to the Martial Glacier. Cycled (yeah actually used the bike!) the first 5km up a seriously steep hairpin road with the view over Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel just getting better as you ascend. There is a chair lift for wimps up the first half of the climb, but in total it´s about a 2 hour hike up to touch snow in March. I know that sounds like nothing, but this is Southern hemisphere March - the summer kind. The glacier itself is not that impressive, but the views of the bay and the mountains definitely is and well worth the effort.

Strange sight for the day - a cruise ship of Japenese tourists desposited all over the mountain in high heel boots (OK only the ladies), and white felt "Michael Jackson" gloves - men and women. Makes a nice contrast to Gore-Tex I suppose.

Kept up the "Todas del mundo" (rest of the world) end in a hard fought battle of table football with Hernan and Roberto the hostel owners over a couple of cold ones. Serious stuff over here complete with full on Gooooooaaaaaaallllll celebrations.

....And I´ve just fried the memory card from my camera. Bugger. Got a shock from a dodgy old PC and now no photos. Real pi$$er as I had some great shots of the mountains in the sun - that´s pretty rare as they are often obscured by cloud. So apologies pictorially challenged posts for the last couple of days.

Next travel tip - upload stuff to PicasaWeb regularly. Luckily only permantly lost 2 days of photos, otherwise seriously upset!

Finally on the move

Wednesday 5th
Oh it´s just so good to leave Rio Gallegos. The bus to Ushuaia was like seeing a prison warder with your signed release papers. 13 hours gets you to the southern most town in the world! I´m a geek so I looked it up and the nearest rival is Invercargill in New Zealand at a puny 46 degrees 26 minutes. Ushuaia is 54 degrees 48 minutes so it´s south in a big way. 2 border crossings (to Chile and back to Argentina) and a ferry crossing later, you start to see some seriously amazing scenery as you hit the southern tip of the Andes and I started to remember why I am here. And this time I saw the bike going on to the bus and there are no stops for it to get off on the way. We are both going to arrive at the same time. A unique experience so far!

Got met at the bus terminal by Hernan - a seriously nice guy with a car waiting to take me to his dormitory, which just seemed like a fine plan after travelling all day. So the panniers can stay packed and I can have a hot shower for the first time since Buenos Aires. Tomorrow views over the Beagle channel, and maybe, just maybe a chance for a bike ride.

Hopefully get some pictures up tomorrow - can´t post from here....

Bored, bored, bored

Saturday 29th to Tuesday 4th
Not much to report really. This place is the pits. The Mavenas museum was closed for renovation, and the only other museum is a strange conbination of dinosaur bones and modern art. Odd. Bike turned up yeasterday which was a surprise and a relief and I managed to get a bus out of here to Ushuaia for Wednesday which is just great news. Buses last week were booked up for a week and I don´t think I could handle another 7 days here.

Nice people on the site though and my Spanish is improving as the locals insist on keeping me company as I´m on my own. Quite sweet, but a bit like hard work when you just want to chill. The other travellers passing through here have been great as well and I´ve had some good company.

Still - bored, bored, bored

To Rio Gallegos

Thursday 27th

Arrived at the bus terminal in good time to get the bike boxed up and sent on ahead, then had a mild panic when my bus was 20 minutes late arriving. I just assumed I had heard the stand number wrong and the bus had already left. Must get used to South American timings.

This is the view from the side of the bus 1 hour later......

........And this is the view 36 hours later

The road is like a knife arrowing off to a distant horizon never changing in 1600 miles and you just go off in to some sort of twilight zone to pass the time.

Friday 28th

Finally arrived in Rio Gallegos to a familiar story.

No Bike again! It made it as far as Comodoro Rivadavia (about half way) and apparently it's too big to get any further until Monday. This is not great news as Rio Gallegos is not exactly bouncing. A bit like Grimsby with the fun removed. The main attraction - a museum explaining why the Falklands do in fact rightfully belong to Argentina is mercifully closed for renovation. Merciful as I'm not sure how welcome a Brit would be anyway. So I'm just kicking my heels here till the bike turns up when I can get an onward ticket to Ushuaia. Unfortunately these tend to be fully booked up for a couple of days and I don't want to book ahead in case the bike doesn't make it. Could be here a few days. Bugger....

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Day of the Dead

Tuesday 25th

You can´t spend time in BA and not visit the dead. The cemetery at Recoleta just blew me away. It´s where the jet set went to be planted and it´s almost a mini-city contained inside it´s own walls with an expensive game of up one upmanship in terms of ornate splendor. They´re pretty well packed in mind you - you don´t want to wind up with the wrong neighbour here for all eternity. Guess that´s why they keep the riff raff out - it´s more your presidents, generals and influential aristocracy including Eva Peron.

Wednesday 26th

Bought a ticket to the South today - at least I think I did. The whole conversation was in Spanish (obviously) and I got a piece of paper with a seat number on it in return for a wad of crumpled notes, so I´m going somewhere. You can´t go direct to Ushuaia from BA, so you need to go via Rio Gallegos; a 36 hour journey, with a further 12 to Tierro del Fuego. Wasn´t expecting to destroy my backside until I got on the bike, but at least there is food and drink on this one. I was offered an earlier bus with no food - for 1 and a 1/2 days?? Sounds like a scene from the film "Alive" to me. No I went for the food option.

Spent the afternoon in Palermo, another upmarket district just outside the microcentre complete with stunning parks and a Japanese garden with the most overfed Coy Carp I´ve ever seen. Picture a wounded German U boat trying to surface.