To Punta Arenas – Friday 22.12.2023
After we finished our 8-day hike on the O-Circuit yesterday, today we continued south to Punta Arenas. After a quick breakfast at the campsite, we dismantled our tents and headed back to the bus station.
From here we left on a coach at 11am. I use the time on the bus to write a bit on my blog. We also had enough provisions for the bus journey and were able to build up our fat reserves again.
After a few hours of driving we reached the city of Punta Arenas, which is located directly on the Strait of Magellan. The influence of shipping on the city is still visible. At the bus station we wanted to book the onward journey to Ushuaia for tomorrow. Unfortunately the next bus didn’t leave until Sunday and therefore on Christmas Eve. We booked a ticket for the trip and had to stay here another day, which wasn’t actually our plan. From the bus station we walked to a simple hotel. When we got there we made ourselves some coffee and ate a piece of cake.
Back in the room I wanted to save pictures and videos. But somehow I couldn’t find my Gopro. It couldn’t be found in my small travel bag or in my backpack. Apparently it had fallen out of my bag on the bus, which wasn’t exactly reassuring for me. After all, I had saved all of the recordings from the last few weeks there and so far I had only saved a few videos in the cloud. Almost in a panic, we quickly set off to try and find the GoPro again. So, hoping that the bus was still there, we ran through the city back to the bus station. When we got there, Anna asked one of the bus drivers if we could check the bus again. But he only sent us to reception. Anna then explained to the ladies in Spanish that I was looking for something. Then the woman asked pretty quickly if I was looking for a GoPro, then showed me my device and handed it back to me. It was a real relief to me that I had found them again and that my many photos were not lost. So we happily walked back to the hotel. There I then use the good internet to upload all of the video material from the last few weeks to the cloud in order to at least back up the recordings until today.
After this little moment of shock, which luckily ended well, we set off to find something good to eat. Since we had been eating almost exclusively rice and tuna for the last few days on the hike, we went to a good burger restaurant today to have something decent to eat. With the large burgers, which really tasted excellent, we drank a delicious beer from the region. Especially after the last few days, the meal tasted particularly good and we enjoyed it very much.
After the delicious meal, we made our way to the banks of the Strait of Magellan and took a look at it with our own eyes. In addition to the many boats in the water, there were also some statues and murals that highlighted the importance of this trade route for the people of the city.
As we walked along the beach, the sun was slowly setting further back, which illuminated the water beautifully. After our little evening walk, we walked back to the hotel and then went to sleep.
Not much to see – Saturday 23.12.2023
Since the bus to continue on to Ushuaia only left here on Sunday, we had another day in the city today. Unfortunately there wasn’t too much to see here. Most tourists take a boat trip to Magdalena Island to look at the penguins there. But we decided to take a tour to the penguins further south near Ushuaia and so there wasn’t too much to see in the city for us. Our search for great hikes wasn’t particularly promising either.
After breakfast we booked a hotel in Ushuaia for the Christmas holidays and then set off on a short hike that would take us up a hill a little outside of the city. Anna had identified a viewing point there from where we might have a nice view of the city and the sea.
The route took us through the city streets for a long time. At the beginning we saw a few beautiful murals.
Otherwise it was a rather unpleasant climb further up along the busy road. We bought something to eat in a supermarket.
Then we continued walking uphill. It also went along the road here and somehow I didn’t particularly enjoy running around here. Further up we came to a nature reserve and finally we went briefly through the forest before we arrived at a park entrance after a few meters. Here they asked us €6 to continue walking to the viewing platform in the forest. Since that was too much for us for just a few meters, we turned around disappointed and made our way back to the city.
We took a break at a small parking lot, from where we had a beautiful view of the sea. Here we made coffee and marveled at the many boats in the sea. There was also a large cruise ship docked in front of the city, which, funnily enough, kept turning in the water.
After the short break, we walked through the streets of the city back to the hotel. In the evening we went shopping in a supermarket and then had something to eat in a great restaurant. Today we had steak and fries. When we finished eating, we went back to the hotel to sleep.
Christmas Eve – Sunday 24.12.2023
We got up early, packed everything up and walked back to the bus station to continue our journey to Ushuaia. To get to the southernmost city in Argentina, we had a few hours of bus ride ahead of us. First we went through pastureland for some time. After a few hours we reached the sea, where we were supposed to take a ferry. Unfortunately, the wind didn’t really let up for a long time and so we waited by the water for a little over 2 hours before the ferry finally came to take us to the other side.
From there it went pretty quickly to the border between Chile and Argentina. After crossing the border, we were back in Argentina after almost 2 weeks in Chile. From here we continued to Rio Grande. Here we left the large coach and had to change to smaller shuttle buses. They then drove us another 2.5 hours south to Ushuaia. Because we had to wait almost 2.5 hours for the ferry, we only reached the city shortly before 9 p.m. After all, we were picked up by the owners of the hotel by car and taken to our room. As they told us, it would be difficult to find something to eat this evening. They only told us about a small snack bar that might still offer something today. So we quickly put our things in the room and then walked to the snack bar mentioned. There wasn’t much choice there anymore, but at least we were able to grab a few empanadas and a piece of cheese and sausage cake. After eating we made our way back to our accommodation. There we sat down in the common room and ate our slightly different Christmas dinner with a beautiful view of the city. The food was different than what we were used to at home, but it still tasted really good.
At a stop during the bus ride, Anna had bought a pack of cookies and so a bit of a Christmas spirit arose when we ate them. After dinner it was almost midnight and we went to our room to sleep.
The end of the world – Monday 25.12.2023
We had planned a short hike through the Parque Nactional Tierra del Fuego for Boxing Day. After a good breakfast at the accommodation, we set off with light luggage. First we walked down to town and bought a bus ticket to the national park. After a short drive we got there.
Immediately after we got out, we had a little highlight on our tour. In front of us was the southernmost post office in the world. Unfortunately it was closed today and so we couldn’t send postcards to friends and relatives.
Since the post office was located on a small beach, we didn’t let ourselves be deterred from taking a little swim in the sea, despite the freezing temperatures. We quickly put on our bathing suits and while the other tourists stared at us strangely, we ran into the waves of the ice-cold sea. Even though the swim didn’t last particularly long given the wintry temperatures, we could always say that we had gone swimming where the expeditions to Antarctica usually started, which was a great feeling.
After the cold bath, we quickly dried ourselves off and dressed warmly. Then we took a few more pictures of the post office and then continued our hike.
The path alternated again and again between forest and smaller passages along the water. Both the small beaches and the many trees in the forest were very nice to look at. I was particularly fascinated by the dense jungle. Because of all the dead wood, the forest was very alive and we could hear and see birds everywhere.
Further back we left the forest again. Here we met the Ruta-3 road.
We followed this for the last few kilometers before it ended abruptly and we found ourselves at the actual end of the road, which also marked the official end of the Panamericana. As the sign told us, we would only have to follow the road for 11,000 miles to get from here to Alaska.
Instead of starting the long journey north, we continue our hike further south on the footpath. The path then took us another few kilometers through the beautiful landscape at the end of the world. We soon reached a final bay, where the footpath ended. So we arrived at the lowest end of Argentina. Further south there is only a nature reserve, which you are not allowed to enter.
After I took one last look from a viewpoint, we walked back to the street to take the bus into the city.
When we got back to the city, we bought a few frozen burgers in one of the few supermarkets that were open today and prepared them in the common room of the accommodation. We also took a bottle of wine and orange juice with us. I quickly created a simple mulled wine, which we then drank with our burgers. Both tasted really good today and especially with the mulled wine we had some Christmas spirit on Christmas Day again.
Afterwards we ended the day with a good glass of wine.
Too much wind – Thuesday 26.12.2023
We had actually planned a boat trip to Penguin Island for today to see the penguins up close. Due to the strong gusts of wind, our tour, like the tours of the last few days, was unfortunately canceled. As an alternative, we decided to take a short hike to a glacier above the city. After breakfast we set off from our accommodation.
First we walked through the city for a few minutes, where we were able to marvel at murals with images of the indigenous people of the area.
Further up we moved into the forest, where we followed the path for some time before we came out to a ski area and from there we continued along the ski slope towards the mountains.
After a while we finally left the ski slope and continued uphill along smaller paths. Since I had caught something in the last few days, running was somewhat difficult for me today and so I slowed Anna down a bit today. When she suggested that we might take part in another summit, I wasn’t particularly motivated to do so, which meant that Anna also noticed that I wasn’t completely fit, as I would otherwise always want to take part in all the summits. So we only walked to the intended viewpoint below the glacier, which to us looked more like a snowfield and not a real glacier. At least from here we had a nice view down into the valley and could see both the city and the sea.
We made ourselves comfortable in a place that was somewhat sheltered from the wind and made ourselves some coffee and ate some bread with cheese and sausage. I use the sun for a little nap.
Unfortunately the wind changed a bit later and so after a while it became too cold for us to sit in the wind. So we started the descent back into the city. We walked down a different path than up and there were actually no other tourists here, which made hiking on the steep slope much more fun.
Back in town we walked back to the hotel. Here we planned the next few days, whereby I mainly looked at tours and Anna unfortunately already had to plan her trip home. In the evening we went to eat at a small pizzeria. Today we treated ourselves to a more unusual pizza, which, in addition to tomato sauce and cheese, was also topped with fries and a fried egg. The delicious pizza was very filling due to the ingredients and when we finished eating, we were both really full and then went back to the hotel to sleep.
Anna is flying home – Wednesday 27.12.2023
Today Anna had to take her flight back to Buenos Aires, where she will stay for a few more days before returning home to Germany. Since their plane didn’t leave until midday, we made our way to the airport on foot after breakfast. We walked through the city again down to the harbor and then followed the water towards Flughagen.
Since the Christmas sleigh that we found halfway didn’t want to take off, we had to walk further to the airport.
At the last junction by the sea we said goodbye to each other and Anna continued walking the last few meters without me.
While she marched further and further into the distance, I went alone again to look for accommodation for the night. I booked myself into a simple hotel nearby. I actually wanted to use the rest of the day there to plan the next tours. But since the internet was really bad and it was getting on my nerves, I used the remaining hours of the day to just relax. I took a long nap to cure my slight cold from the last few days. I read in the evening and went to bed early.
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