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Published: November 4th 2014
Guess where I am? Ushuaia in Argentina. Literally at the arse of the world. And it feels like it as well. But it is a wonderful feeling to be here and experience life at this remote place. But let’s start where I finished off with my last blog entry……..
The last night I was in Punta Arenas the guys and gals I have met there organised a sort of fare well party for me and a welcome party for a Mexican guy that moved into the house. In the typical Chilean way the people did arrive about 10 pm and dinner was prepared and cooked to finally we ate at around 12.30 am. Good that Sebastian and I had an early snack around 8 pm so we didn’t feel so hungry. But it was a fun time and I really enjoyed my time with these guys.
The next day my ferry didn’t leave to 5 pm so I just did some last minute shopping and got ready for the 30 hour trip. One never knows what to expect so it is better to be prepared with plenty of snacks and water.
At 4 pm I made my way
to the harbour and boarded the ferry. It was actually very nice and I was lucky that I scored a place on the window and the seat beside me was empty, so plenty of room to stretch out. The ship also left on time which surprised – bonus. The first couple of hours were rather rough with strong winds and rain and I was already dreading that the trip would be like this all the way. But after a while it all calmed down and it was a pleasant ride.
And what a great trip it was. The ferry went through the most amazing landscape one can just imagine. The Andes in this part of the world are spectacular and traveling through this part of the world is something that one has to experience. Word cannot describe how beautiful it is.
On the trip I started talking to some of my fellow travellers and soon we were talking about how to get from Port Williams to Ushuaia. Port Williams is in Chile and Ushuaia is in Argentina. While the two towns are only about 20 km apart there is the slight problem that they are not connected by
land and can only be reached by either catching a plane, helicopter or a water vessel. We all knew through the internet and guide books that it could be rather difficult to get to Ushuaia.
One of the interesting parts of travelling is that you meet the most amazing people and this wasn’t any different on this leg of my trip. There was Matthew the Dutch guy who liked to hike everywhere. He was on the road for a couple of months and did some amazing hikes around Chile. All on his own and I have to admire that. Then there were two Swiss girls Camille and Anita, 18 years young and not a care in the world. They were cool as cucumbers and never ever showed that they were concerned how to get to Ushuaia. And they had to catch a plane on Monday, so time was running out for them…. Ah well the innocents of youth.
Another pretty cool person I met was Caroline. It turned out that she is a writer and researcher for the Lonely Planet, the travel guide that pretty much every traveller carries with them to get information and guidance of all
the different places. I have used the Lonely Planet pretty much on every trip I ever did and kind of take it for granted. So finally meeting somebody who putting all the information together and helping us backpackers to travel the world was a rather nice experience. So if you read these line Caroline in the name of all us travellers I thank you. I know you get paid for it but …
And there was Domenic from Munich. He only had 2 ½ weeks on this trip but he also is a seasoned backpacker that travelled much of this world. Him and I we pretty much teamed up for this leg of the journey.
So we spend from Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning on the ship and I was pleasantly surprised how comfortable it was. They supplied us with blankets and breakfast, lunch and dinner was served in the canteen. The steward told us when there were glaziers coming up and we even were treated to a tour around the ship. The only annoying thing was a couple of women that snored during the night. And man did they snore……
We arrived in port Williams at
2.30 am and while most people left, some of us stayed on the ferry until the morning.
Domenic and I took off at 7 am to arrange the transport from Port Williams to Ushuaia ad I can tell you it wasn’t easy. We must have walked through the town at least 5 times from one end to the other to talk to people and get info. The options were either a plane that had to be arranged 48 hours before and would have set us back about $180 each, a ferry that left on Monday but nobody was sure if it would leave or not or a zodiac that left about 15 km from Port Williams and again nobody knew when it would leave. And then we were told that it is also possible to go the yacht club and ask around if somebody is sailing to Ushuaia.
And that is where we finally found our solution. First a French couple, that just had arrived the previous day to sail down to the Antarctica, offered us a lift but they had to cancel as their boat wasn’t ready. But they gave us a phone number of a guy
in Ushuaia that had brought them to Port Williams. So the Swiss girls phoned him up and it was arranged to meet him the next morning at 9.30 am at the yacht club for the trip.
So having arranged trip, and we all felt much better and calmer, we checked into a hostel and were discussing what to do next. You see port Williams is not really that big and had the feel of a frontier town. Well, we were at the most southern city in the world and it felt like it. But it was a pretty town surrounded by the Andes. What a place.
The place we were staying at is called El Padrino and is run by a woman called Cecilla. And what a character she is. Bubbly and full of life and advice. If there is something she doesn’t know she will find out. And since it was Saturday she asks us if we want to come to her place outside Port Williams for a traditional BBQ. Of course we said yes as this is an excellent opportunity to see a bit of the area. So while passing time until Cecilla was leaving Domenic
and I were walking around town and we bumped into Caroline, who stayed at another hotel. We told her about the BBQ and since she knew Cecilla she decided to rearrange her plans and tag along.
At the arranged time we all assembled at the hostel and Cecilla showed up with her car, already full with people. So the gringos, all 5 of them were, were piled into the back of the wagon including food, pots, pans and other stuff. And off we went on a very bumpy ride. And I mean bumpy…….
After arriving at her place that overlooked the water and the Andes we were soon collecting wood for the fire while Cecilla prepared fresh crabs, just bought fresh from the fisherman, chicken and all sorts of salads. Soon the fire was going and as Domenic and I are German we were asked to BBQ the sausages. Well I can say that we fucked them up pretty bad; burned the hell out of them and I think the people only ate them to be polite. Sorry.
So here we were on a Saturday afternoon at this spectacular spot, having arranged the trip to Ushuaia and
just nothing to do than to relax, enjoy the view and chat away. And when the sun went down we were treated to some warm wine with spices. Absolutely perfect day. And from the ride home I don’t think any of us can remember a thing……….
The next day we showed up at the yacht club at the arranged time and there was out sailing boat. After some time spend at customs to get all the exit stamps we had to wait for the skipper to do some other stuff. So at about 11.30 we were ready to sail and we hit s slight hurdle; the skipper wanted to be paid and not just in any currency but US dollars or Euros. My Australian dollar was worth jack shit and my Chilean pesos not worth the paper is was printed on. And the Swiss girls didn’t had any money at all so Domenic to the rescue…. He had just enough dollars and Euros to pay for all of us. Now that was lucky for us otherwise I don’t know what we would have done.
So off we went and for the next 5 hours we made our way
to Ushuaia. It was a rather calm day but very cold so we were happy to arrive save and well in town. After a quick stop at the Argentinian customs to get all the formalities over we checked into our hostel. The hostel is OK and I am staying in the dorm for the first time on this trip. The people staying at the place are fun and I met some interesting characters like the pommy that finished his Alaska to Ushuaia trip after 17 month on the road or the German guy that just peddles around the world because he can. The only annoying thing are the Israelis staying at the place; they just stick to themselves and are loud and obnoxious….. Just saying…….
Anyway I am now waiting for the 6
th of November to get onto my next adventure; travelling to the Antarctica for 13 days. And that will mean that I have set foot on all 7 continents. If you would have told me that last year I wouldn’t have believed it…
OK, that’s it. A rather long blog post but a lot has happened in that time. I hope you enjoyed reading it and
maybe inspired you to come to this part of the world. It is an absolutely amazing place and worth the time and money.
Stay save and until next time. And remember, if you have a dream and you do nothing to make it reality it will always stay a dream…… So just do it
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bill hahn
non-member comment
Sounds like you are having a real adventure. Look forward to hearing about Antarctica leg of trip. Enjoy :)