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Published: December 9th 2013
Wednesday 27
th November (Odyssey Day 19)
We left Torres del Paine today after a windy night. It was the only bad weathered night we have had in this area.
We headed back to Puerto Natales and spent 1 ½ hours there while Emma and Simon went grocery shopping & Hannah returned her hired trekking poles. In the end, she was the only one who hired anything for the W trek, everyone else either bought tents or stayed in the pre-set campsites.
Ellie and I went and found a café where we could have another steak sandwich. They are really good here and we weren’t the only ones to find our way there.
From there we headed south again. We are headed for Ushuaia but will need one bushcamp first. We managed to cross the Straight of Magellan on the ferry before needing to find a camp in Tierra del Fuego ("land of fire"). It took a while as the whole area was a gas field and everywhere we tried to find camping areas was littered with gas pipes and therefore, not a good idea for camping…
Tierra del Fuego
Setting up in the windAt one point we drove on a gravel side road for a while until we came across a very small bridge where we had to turn around again. We saw a fox there and wondered why it was hanging around in agitation instead of running off. We found out a moment later when another fox joined him… along with a little fox kit! Very cute though they ducked out of sight very quickly and we left the little family alone.
In the end we just headed further south until we found a field that wasn’t completely fenced off and didn’t have a gate – and was therefore free to camp on… sort of. It was certainly the best we would find, even if the décor was a little different. The area was clearly used for livestock at times and where we stopped was littered with old bones. There were skeletons of animals everywhere. No moving twigs and rocks before setting up the tent, here we had to move vertebrae and mandibles…
It made it a long day today, almost 12 hours of driving, from 0800 to 1930. We were happy to be out of
Tierra del Fuego
All the tents were pitched together behind the truck in an attempt to escape the wind the truck, but setting up the tents was an interesting endeavour.
The camp here was just a little windy. Well okay, it was the windiest I have ever experienced. Dinner took a while because the gas stove didn’t want to stay lit and everyone ate on the truck because it was impossible to do anything outside. And we all stayed on the truck until bedtime too, for the same reason.
The word ‘windy’ seems a like a drastic understatement!
Thursday 28
th November (Odyssey Day 20)
I doubt anyone slept particularly well here. The wind was crazy!! It was strong enough to partially open my tent window which is zippered closed from the outside. This caused wind to come inside the tent and it was like a mini tornado, blowing everything around in the tent in a circular pattern. Then the wind would slip under the tent. The pegs all stayed in thankfully, though the wind lifted the tent as far as it could and I felt like I was on a boat all night, except it was wind under me not water. And if the wind
Tierra del Fuego
Waiting to cross the border was strong enough to levitate me on my mattress, you can imagine what it was like trying to pack up our tents in it!! Most took four people to roll up and we had to peg the cover bags to the ground so they didn’t blow away while doing so.
The wind also made it essential to make an immediate pit stop as soon as we headed off. It was physically impossible for the girls to manage that at camp – not in that wind!! We stopped at a hostel café shortly after leaving the camp and everyone made a mad dash for the toilets. A comical sight actually, as long as you aren’t one of those at the back of the queue…
They warned us that the border would be closed until midday due to workers strikes. We didn’t realise how close the border was until we headed off to check it out. Just 500m down the road. We managed to get stamped out of Chile but the customs officials were indeed on strike until midday. Fortunately we were able to go back and wait at the hostel café until that time. It
Tierra del Fuego
This forest went on for miles... was the truck that needed to go through customs, not us. So we all waited in the warmth for a couple of hours.
This was in fact the easiest border crossing yet, despite the wait. Once the truck came back for us (we waited at the cafe whilst Emma and Simon went back to sort the truck at customs) we pretty much just drove straight through. It was nice and easy even though we had lost a few hours at the border.
We headed off to the end of the world from there. Ushuaia is our southernmost point on this trip, as well as pretty much as far south as you can go in South America and still be in a town. Just to top it off, on the way over the mountains to get there, it started snowing. It was very cold, but an absolutely beautiful sight. The mountains and trees with a fresh layer of snow and we made a stop just to get some photos.
A few people from the group had made arrangements to stay in the town in hostels rather than camping with the rest of
us. So we dropped pretty much half the truck in town as they are staying in a hostel instead of camping with the rest of us. We left Glenn & Donna, Maddie & Lou, Bartley & Trina, Johnny, Mike, Andrew, and Eamon in town in the rain and headed off to the camp.
The campsite is just out of town and it was muddy and wet when we arrived. Finding a dry, even place to erect the tent was interesting. The owners of the camp though are great, and even offered to let us drag our bedding inside the common room if it got too cold during the night. Ann, Kelly, Toby and Hannah all made use of the offer and slept inside.
A proper kitchen to work in and tables to sit at while eating indoors is a luxury we are taking full advantage of here. As well as nice hot showers, free internet and multiple power points to charge our phones, iPods, batteries and computers. I think this is the first time my phone has had power in a couple of weeks… I don’t expect it to last.
Dinner
Tierra del Fuego
Photo stop in the snow is a lot easier to cook in a kitchen, and even easier when considering there is only half a group to feed at the moment.
And the best thing about this camp? It is out of the wind and even though it was snowing when we arrived, it is much warmer than the last camp in the wind.
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