Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego (delayed posting)

What an unforgettable experience Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego have treated us to! We have driven down through 2,500km of mostly flat, non-descript land, that has often been written about in less than favourable terms over the last three hundred years. And it has to be said, we agree with much of those descriptions. BUT unlike most, its featureless monotony has not disheartened us; it has amazed us! And has served to highlight a deep sense of privilege to be here at all. And even better, in our ‘own’ vehicle, so we are free to explore whatever and wherever we want. 

Lots of Nothingness on the East Patagonian highway, Ruta 3

Nothingness sometimes broken with the presence of a lot of sheep, a legacy from the Welsh settlers of the 1870’s

Nothingness sometimes decorated with scrubland    

It would be unfair to suspend Patagonia’s description on such a dull, uninteresting note, for although 90% of it is bland, there are the inevitable treasures on the coast that lifted our spirits and dropped our jaws in awe. Such as the unexpected sandy desert…

Reminiscent fun from the Sahara, minus friends Robert, Nicky, Big Max & Xander

Huge sandy cliffs, precariously unstable

The South Atlantic Ocean does not immediately conjure images of much less than cold swells of hostile waters, but the up-close, coastal experience is so very different. We spent a day exploring the Valdes peninsula and being treated to the exciting appearance of a 7-orca pod. Known on this exact beach for their sudden beaching, in order to snatch unsuspecting seals, the orcas swam perilously close to the shoreline. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it is not calving season, so the orcas were not interested in coming ashore. It nonetheless felt like an incredible privilege to see so many so close…

In some parts down the loooooong road of Patagonia, there are animals. Most common, is the guanaco, a smaller cousin to the llama, covered in gorgeously warm and fluffy fur. We’ve also spotted the odd desert fox, pangolin, hare and nandu, an emu-like bird.

         Not every animal we saw was alive, such as this skeletal evidence of a whale

Then suddenly, after days of Flat, we not only reached the end of mainland continental South America, but we also spied mountains in the distance on the far shores of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. Big, snowy, majestic mountains! Our hearts raced with the novelty and promise of exciting snowy adventures to come!

Not only  were there now mountains in Tierra del Fuego, but cars too! And communities. How weird?!

In order to reach La Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, we took a ferry on which to cross the famed Magellan Strait

Our goal was to visit Ushuaia, the southernmost Argentinian town and the second southernmost town on Earth – the furthest town being Puerto Williams, which is across the bay and belongs to Chile. Sadly, we couldn’t make it there, but Ushuaia made up for it with all the amazing treats it had to offer…

A great moment of truth and appreciation for Max!

We took a boat trip into the Beagle Channel, on which sits Ushuaia’s port, where we saw the regular South Atlantic residents and landmark (southernmost, of course) lighthouse

This is the lighthouse that was written about in Jules Verne’s classic The Lighthouse at the End of the World

And finally, what the boys had been waiting so impatiently for, was a Day in SNOW! We hiked one of the mountains that surrounds the back of Ushuaia, heading steadily upward through beautiful mature forest, until, at the end of the tree line, we hit real snow. Deep snow. A frozen lake. And best of all, slopes covered with the magical white stuff. The reason for making such a big deal of snow, you must understand, is because our African-raised kids have barely seen snow before, least of all played in it to the extent we did in Ushuaia. It was a day of manifesting their dreams!

Indeed, reaching Ushuaia in itself was a manifestation of all our dreams!