The Patagonia Steppe

---

The sky was clear when we left Calafate. We were driving East however, and fast, so it was highly likely we would meet up again with the storm which we had watched go over us earlier that morning. We did. It was cold. We rose up to meet it, climbing onto the high Patagonia plateau. The temperature dropped to 45 degrees F ( 6 degrees C). The fog came down. We plunged on into the mist, all lights blazing, not knowing quite what would come next. After an hour or two of misery, we watched the clouds lift and drift off to the East. We motored on South to Esperanza (Hope), not even considering a wet gravel short cut down Route 40 to the Chilean Border. Been there. Not doing that. The Westerly winds were good to us then, and we cut back across the country and into Chile without a problem.

On the Chile side of the border we found a great restaurant, and were stuffing ourselves with a thick vegetable soup when Ron looks up and yells out "Rene!". It was the Swiss/Austrian motorcycle gang, minus Angela, their leader. They seemed to have survived Calafate, and were headed on down to Punta Arenas.

We turned North, and drove up to an Estancia Cerro Guido, now a very nice hotel just outside the Torres del Payne National Park. From the hotel restaurant we could look West to see the mountains against the horizon. To the East were the Patagonian flatlands, extending out to infinity.

---

Photos

The gas station we should have visited
... and did not. As a result we had to redistribute our gasoline, and use up our reserves, to get to a station the next day.

At Estancia Cerro de Guido
with an old fashioned horse drawn chuck wagon in the foreground.

Comments

[Harry]

Can't decide?
I have decided that you can't get away from the Andes. Every time you get to Argentina, it's back to Chile. Thanks for sharing the adventure.

[Liz Blake]

Thank you
Hi Jimmy..thank you so much for sharing your journey with us...its been fantastic to read all about your journey and of course im able to associate with some of the places you’ve been to and love your enthusiasm for Patagonia...hope you’ve enjoyed KAN ..cant believe I missed you by a couple of days..safe journey home...oh I cant find any more blogs after The Patagonia Steppe..am I missing a link..xxx

[Jim Coates]

thanks Liz. no, you haven’t missed anything. Still working on the last couple of posts. Everyone in Killi Kaike very well.