Patagonia, Day 13 - Cerro Sombrero to the End of the World, almost.

Today was a mix of dirt and tarmac, taking us all the way to the Argentine border. The landscape has been very flat since we landed, so the ride was not particularly exciting. Tierra del Fuego is an island about the size of Belgium, shared between Chile and Argentina, rather like Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Argentine side is on the East and is mostly flat, except in the south. You cannot reach it by land, except by passing though Chile.

At Chilean immigration and customs we were misdirected by a bossy coach driver, who we thought was an official, and ended up stuck behind his coach load of tourists. But once clear of that, we moved swiftly onto the Argentine entry procedure, which didn't take too long.

Duff managed to get a small leak in his radiator, which left a small puddle wherever he parked. Doesn't seem to have caused the bike any problems yet. Radweld should sort it - if we can find any.

The Argentine side of Tierra del Fuego seems to be more developed than the Chilean side and the first big town we meet is Rio Grande, complete with prison. It seems relative affluent with neat houses and fancy cars, but somehow we end up in a more modest part of town for lunch. Still, the empanadas were nice.

On to Ushuaia via Ruta 3 and just before the road starts to pass through the mountains., we stop for a coffee in a cafe in Tolhuin. It seems to be a famous place as there are photos of Argentine celebrities pictured there, adorning the walls. The coffee is ok and there's free wifi; but only upstairs. After that there follows another magical stream of bends and curves to throw the bikes into, interspersed with some fine views of the lakes and valleys they snake around. One unusual aspect about Ruta 3 are the regular police checkpoints we have to pass through. We slow for these and are usually waved through, but at one, Hugo is given a warning about speeding. He claims it's a general warning for all bikers, but we only have his word on that.

View from Ruta 3, heading into Ushuaia

Then it's down into Ushuaia. The entry to the town is between two 15m high towers emblazoned with the town's name. With the mountain backdrop, it's another nice photo op. It was our longest ride today at 430km.

We made it to Ushuaia!

Ushuaia is a port town, that is immediately obvious. First impressions are that it is a busy little town. There seem to be many small cars with big exhausts and noisy stereos. We're here for two nights so a fuller description tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the End of the World. For sure this time.

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Sent from the dusty road using my rusty BlackBerry