To the "Fin del Mundo" (Corboba to Punta Arenas via Ushuaia)

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Left Cordoba early in the morning to start epic 40 hour journey south to Tierra del Fuego - an 11 hour coach ride to Buenos Aires, then 3 hour flight to Rio Gallegos (arriving at 2.30am !), and finally another 12 hours by coach crossing 2 borders and the Strait of Magellan down to Ushuaia; bumping along unpaved roads but with fabulous views of the Patagonian wilderness in the late evening light.

Ushuaia (the southern-most city in the world) had a friendly, frontier-town atmosphere. Hiked and caught ski-lift up to the Martel glacier above town (including a snowy traverse) for a fabulous panorama over the Beagle Channel, framed by a well-timed rainbow on the way down. Next day headed across to the Tierra del Fuego national park for a tranquil, forested lakeside walk over landslides and fallen trees to the Chilean border post.

Next stop was bustling Punta Arenas across the border in Chile, reached by another 12 hour bus ride punctuated by an exploding tire and damaged coach ! Visited the well-tended colourful local cemetery in the sunshine with impressive selection of tombs before catching a ferry out to Isla Magdalena, covered with thousands of cute and inquisitive Magellanic Penguins (see photos).

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