I depart Natales just before noon to avoid the subfreezing temps of the morning. I’m accompanied by a steady tailwind and blue skies for the short ride to Punta Arenas where I’ll catch a ferry and cross the Strait of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego. Since it’s the off season I check the ferry schedule as soon as I get into town. The next one leaves in the morning so my stay in Pt. Arenas is short. It’s cold and rainy for the short ride to the dock and I get there as the vehicles are filing onto the ferry. I pay my 9K pesos and get the bike tied down for the 4.5 hour crossing.
The road out of Porvenir is in bad shape, days of rain have left a layer of clayish mud on the heavily pot holed and wash boarded flaking asphalt. The holes and washboards are too numerous to avoid at speed so I develop a rhythm of floating the front wheel over the water filled craters and hydroplaning the rear that reduces much of the impact on the bike. After a couple hours of playing chicken with oncoming trucks trying to avoid pot holes I arrive at the TDF border station covered in a thin layer of chocolatey mud. It’s a quick border and I’m back on the road after topping off at the petrol station there. I pick up ruta 3 for the first time and hammer it south. It’s quite cold now and there’s a steady cross wind. I top off again in Rio Grande and note the bike is consuming a lot of fuel. Running 80+mph in these winds is hard on the SE’s already poor fuel economy. The sun is in it’s afternoon descent and I consider calling it quits for the day and getting a room. The moment passes and I’m back on the road tucked and skimming ice patches in the cold Patagonian wind. My mind is distracted from the cold by what appears to be a local enduro race that is running along the ruta 3. Seeing riders, many of them young, out there flogging their bikes through the mud in these temps warms my heart and I’m in Tolhuin in what seems like no time. I intend to stop at the famous La Union bakery but It’s getting dark and a steady rain is falling. It’ll have to wait until my return trip north. I’m escorted by snow capped peaks as I make my way through the Marital Mountains and a small snow storm on Paso Garibaldi before reaching the iconic entrance that greets visitors to Ushuaia.
I spend several days in Ushuaia thawing out and resting up. Though reaching Ushuaia is not a central theme to my travel in Latin America I can’t help but feel some sense of accomplishment. Riding here is not a particularly difficult endeavor but it’s certainly a noteworthy milestone. My cough is still nagging me so I decide to deal with it. A doctor friend of mine from Brasil recommends an antibiotic and after a couple days the cough is gone and I feel more like my usual self. Obrigado novamente, Mario! My friend Stephen shows up after riding down from Buenos Aires and we ride out to the National Park of Tierra del Fuego and the end of Ruta 3 in Bahia Lapataia. It’s cool but sunny and the ride is more ceremonial than anything. More riders I’ve crossed paths with earlier in my trip show up at the hostal and we hang out catching up and exchanging our stories from the road. I’ve been traveling south for the last 18 thousand miles and tomorrow begins my journey north.
VIDEO