January 6, 2008 - Punta Arenas, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina

January 6, 2008 - Punta Arenas, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina
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I had a decent breakfast today. The coffee was a bit weird smelling as though someone has mixed coffee with some chocolate powder. The biggest advantage of this place is its proximity to the bus station. All I had to do is wheel my bag for 30 metres and I was in the Bus station. As I have mentioned before, there is no central Bus station and buses depart from their company offices. The hotel is a nice place with all rooms opening to a central courtyard like room, but has quite poor soundproofing. So while there is no traffic noise, even the tiniest of noises from the hallway can come into each of the rooms loud and clear! Unless you can tolerate noise, this is not a good place to stay.

The bus to Ushuaia was fully booked and departed at 9 AM sharp. It was filled with a large Dutch contingent, few Germans, a lone Chilean and an Indian!

After we crossed the city of Punta Arenas, I started reading Bruce Chatwin. I completed 2 chapters before I dozed. I skipped the ham sandwich provided by the bus company. The dull grey skies and the equally boring landscape were not providing much by way of entertainment. I dozed again.

After 2 1/2 hours since leaving Punta Arenas, we stopped for a ferry crossing. We were crossing the Straits of Magellan. Quite exciting. The bus and the passengers were to board the ferry and cross the Magellan straits before continuing our drive to Ushuaia from the other side. I bought some chocolate, chips and water at an overpriced coffee shop near the crossing. I received a Phone call from a friend while crossing the Magellan Straits. I mentioned how cool it was for both of us - my friend calling someone on the straits of Magellan and me receiving a call on the straits of Magellan! I took a few pictures during the crossing which took 20 minutes. Upon boarding the bus on the other side, we were provided entertainment in the form of the movie ´National Treasure´!

The road was a good concrete road and the landscape was magnificently desolate. The sun was out and we passed dried grazing pastures and saw few sheep. Our smooth ride was not to last forever! 15 minutes later we veered onto a dirt road. Although there were grey clouds, the landscape was still magnificent as we encountered rolling green hills filled with very woolly sheep. Despite being a dirt road it was a beautiful winding road that weaved through this fantastic landscape. I listened to the Irish group PLANXTY on my IPOD. Good stuff.

We stopped for Lunch at a place called La Frontera on the Chilean town of San Sebastian. These folks could not even make a simple toast with butter for me! I had an Orange juice for lunch! From here it was about 30 minutes to the Argentine town of Saint Sebastian. Immigration Checks on both sides were a breeze. The Chileans did not even check us on their computers!

We had done about 7 hours so far and had 4 more hours of driving ahead of us. The clock had advanced an hour due to the Argentinean daylight savings time. It was 4:45 PM now and we may not reach Ushuaia until 9 PM. Hopefully I would be able to have dinner upon arrival and plan for a trip or two for tomorrow. We started back on a paved road again.

We reached Rio Grande an hour after leaving San Sebastian. We had an inexplicable 20-minute delay here. The weather had gone back to being dull and grey and I dozed off. I woke up around 8 PM and realized that we had passed the small town of TOLHUIN. We drove past Lago FAGNANO and the magnificent PASEO GARIBALDI (Garibaldi Pass - that takes us down the mountains). Black mountains all around with snow capped peaks. 30-minutes after crossing Paseo Garibaldi we reached a signs that said ¨Fin del Mundo", "Bienvenido Ushuaia".

Ushuaia is a fairly decent sized town. Punta Arenas is still much bigger. My Hotel (Cesar Hostel) was 2 blocks from the bus stop. As the sidewalk was good, I rolled my duffel bag and reached the hotel. I requested a quiet room and got one in the back of the hotel.

I had run out of money on my mobile Phone. I purchased some credit for ARP 20 ($7). It was still bright. I walked around the waterfront (2 blocks from my hotel). There is no mad wind here (a la Puerto Natales or Punta Arenas) and the temperature is as moderate as El Calafate. I had dinner at an Italian restaurant by the waterfront. It was so so. I wrote my diary and went to bed.