Poor lonesome campers, on a long long way from home.
Yes, the way was long, and some experiences were a pain in the a.. but it was absolutely worth while. Read on if you wanna know more.
In german we say: Scherben bringen Glück. So you could think: after a smashed window, we should be lucky for a while. Let me tell you: it wasn't so. At the Pinguin Colony of Punta Tombo, with half a million pinguins the largest colony of South America, everything was still great. We couldn't stop taking pictures of the pinguines, one cuter than the next.
After this and a full moon night spent in the wild at Cabo Raso, infront of the ocean, the wind picked up and so did the first problems, especially for our french friends. On the ruta 3 bevor Comodoro Rivadavia, the wind blowed with 130 km/h from the side and.. teard their roof away! Pierre hat to hang on to it with all his weight for fourty kilometers until Comodoro. What a wortkout! We couldn't even help because we were half a hour behind and didn't see the whole thing.
While they fixed their roof in Comodoro, we replaced our broken window and noticed that our fridge wasn't working any more. We cleaned all the pipes and left the windy city as fast as we could. Pierre and Youna wanted to do some shopping first. Bad idea. While they were in the supermarket, their camper got robed - on a guarded parking lot! They took everything of value: computer, camera, hard disk with all the saved pictures, iphone, even the goggles for birdwatch and (very bitter) the great bottle of french wine, they had been saving for christmas. Luckily the cat, Baya, was fine. Still in shock, she didn't leave the camper through the open window.
Again, we weren't there to help. Actually, we had problems of our own: our first flat tire, in the middle of the desert, with 2 important tools missing to fix it and no phone connection. Finally, some locals came to help us. But it was Florian who did all the work. This trip is making a real handy man out of him. :-)
Richer in experiences we could haved lived without, we were recompensated for our troubles at the Monumento Natural Bosques Petrificados. Huge petrified trees, 150 million years old! In that time, Patagonia was not desertic but covered in lush rain forests. After volcanic irruptions, the trees were burried under volcanic ash and the minerals moleclules replaced the wood mulecules, making perfect stone copies of the trees. Really impressive.
This was the last time, we could wear a t-shirt. At Puerto San Julian (nice small sleepy place, perfect for a Hitchcock movie like The Birds) the temperature dropped hard and has never gone up since. The wind allways takes you by surprise. It can be calm and without warning it picks up and nearly blows you off your feet.
The landscapes though, are incredible. Some consider them boring, sometimes the flat lands dont change for hours, but the feeling is liberating.
After ugly Rio Gallegos we crossed the Magellan Passage by ferry and found ourselfs in Tierra del Fuego. Here, the landscapes became hillier again and the more we drove to the south, the more it reminded us of Switzerland.
Rio Grande is world famous for its big trouts and fly fishing addicts are flying in from everywhere especially to fish in this mighty river. We thought: why not? Let's try it! Well, I'll tell you why not: because is costs verrrry much (about 600 dollars a day) and you have to release the fish if you are lucky enough to catch one! Crazy fisherman!
Instead, we visited a few working estancias, sheep ranches. Wool baron José Mendéndez reigned over Fireland at the end of the 19th century and two of this huges estancias are still working today. The Estancia Maria Behety, named after his wife owns the world's largest shearing shed. Only 20 men shear 40'000 sheep. They don't need more than 2 or 3 minutes for one! Bad luck for us, it wasn't a shearing day. But the gauchos working there were nice enough to show us arround.
We stayed for one night at the much smaller Estancia Rolito, and shared maté and stories with José and this sister Ana, living there in the fourth generation. They have big problems with wild dogs. They've killed nearly half of their stock. Four years ago, the siblings owned 7000 sheep, now only 4000. And there is nearly nothing you can do against it.
Finally, after 6 weeks on the road and 8800 km since the start in Buenos Aires we reached Ushuaia. The mighty city at the end of the word greated us with the worst wether. Rain, snow and icy wind. And this in summer. Why did we want to come here again?
But it didn't take us long to discover the charm of this city. Once we found the very welcoming Camping La Pista del Andino and were reunited with our french friends we've been missing since Rio Gallegos, the world was becoming a better place.
Together we had a nice 3 hours walk in the National Park Tierra del Fuego (actually 4,5 hours, because Youna had to take a pictures of every tree and mushroom she saw! ;)
Of course, we did also visit the famous prison of Ushuaia. Boy, you didn't want to get a room in this hotel in the begining of the 20th century.
And to celebrate our last evening together, we had an awsome dinner at the fancy restaurant Chez Manu, overlooking Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel.
Why the last evening together? Because we are leaving for the ANTARCTICA today!!! Thank you mom, this is the greatest christmas present ever! So yes, we will be gone on a 10 days cruise getting some Titanic feeling, while Youna and Pierre will be driving north.
Hopefully, we'll meet again, maybe in Peru. Anyway, it was great meeting you guys, we'll miss you.
Ps: actually we're back. In the last minute before posting this blog wifi died on us. So we're back from a incredible cruise and you will soon read all about it.
