(Steve posting) Erin mentioned yesterday that we decided to rent a car to go for a drive today. Let me explain what really happened. We were at the tour company looking for information about boat trips on the Beagle Straight. The guy at the touring company suggested a tour on a catamaran similar to the one we took in El Calafate. The highlight would be a stop at a penguin reserve. We mentioned that we really enjoyed the penguin reserve at Punto Tombo, at which time he told us that in all honesty, having seen Punto Tombo we would be bored with the local penguinera which is home to much fewer birds and where one can only look from the boat. He then asked if we were interested in driving at which point, Erin's ears perked up. He showed us a map of the area and when we saw that one could actually drive further East and South to the very end of Argentina Rt. 1 (the Panamerican highway, Rt. 3, ends in Ushuaia) Erin decided that we needed to drive to the actual end of the road.
The travel guy suggested a local rental company and called to check on availability for us... no problem at all. He wouldn't accept any payment for his assistance even though he had spent nearly 30 minutes chatting with us about different options. He gave us directions to the rental place... maybe all of 12 blocks away. We decided to walk there to fill out the paperwork for the car before taking a taxi out to the Tren Del Fin Del Mundo (the train at the end of the world).
Leonardo at the rental place seemed genuinely excited about the roads in the area and told us about things to see along the way, including restaurants, a place that raises Siberian Huskies for sled dogs, and a town about 110 km North, Tolhuin, that doesn't offer much but does sit at the end of a large lake and features a well-reknowned 24 hour bakery. Rt. 1, the real end of the road, is reached after a 30 mile drive North on the Panamerican Highway. The Panamerican is actually a very nice paved road. Rt. 1 is all dirt and is used primarily to reach some outlying Estancias (sheep ranches), including Estancia Harborton, the first such settlement in Tierra Del Fuego started by some English missionaries and still owned by the sixth generation of the family. It features tours, a restaurant, and a museum.
So we filled out the paperwork with Leonardo and made arrangements to pick up the car that evening at 8, so we could get an early start in the morning.
We didn't get a particularly early start today as we decided that we all needed some rest. We did hit the road about 9. It rained last night but today we awoke to beautiful blue skies. It was colder and windier, but still nice at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. We decided to take the drive on Rt. 1 first as the weather was nice but the forecast called for rain later in the day. Our timing was perfect. The road was actually a joy... smoother and better maintained than the gravel mess out to Punto Tombo. The scenery was just spectacular as we were high into the Andes then down into valleys and back out to the Beagle Straight. We got to the Estancia and were the only ones there save for a van full of tourists who were taking a boat out of the Estancia to see the penguin reserve (this is the closest point on land from which one can visit the reserve). We just decided to enjoy the scenery and take some photos. We wandered into a little tea room which is placed in the original house from the early 1800s. The women working in the cafe went nuts for Paco and gave him a free cookie and cold milk (a real treat as fresh milk has actually been difficult to find as Paco won't touch the UHT stuff) as Erin and I enjoyed some tea and delicious homemade cake.
Paco has discovered the joy of photography and has taken ownership of one of our older digital cameras that we brought with us. He was walking around taking pictures of everything in the place... flowers, cups, tablecloths, you name it.
From Estancia Harborton, you are on a small protected bay looking out onto the mouth of the Beagle Straights and out into open ocean. Behind you are towering snow-covered peaks of the South Eastern most end of the Andes. With the sun out, it was truly a mind-blowing sight.
After spending some time, we decided that Paco could use a nap in the car, where he sleeps like a log, so we hit the dirt back out to Rt. 3 and North to Tolhuin, our other goal for the day. After getting back to Rt. 3, the highway climbs up and over the Andes. There is a scenic overlook at the summit where we could see for hundreds of miles. Tolhuin was shockingly ugly and run down given it's location at the end of a beautiful alpine lake. The bakery seemed to share the role of town center and meeting place and appears to be somewhat famous as the walls were covered with photos of Argentine celebrities who have visited over the years. We found a little restaurant for lunch as well. I think Erin was nervous about eating there since it looked like the roof hadn't been patched since 1975 and the place looked as run down as the rest of the town, but the empanadas were decent.
Afterwards, we saw a small park with swings and some equipment a few blocks away and Paco really needed some time to run around. The park was dedicated to the veterans of the war over the Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands) back in 1982. It looked like the last coat of paint on the playground equipemnt was put on shortly after the war, but Paco had fun and the place suddenly became overrun with kids from the local school which had just let out. It was starting to get colder and the rain was coming in, so we got back on the road toward Ushuaia with the goal of stopping to see the sled dog place on the way back. It rained the whole way back over the pass and was drizzling as we went to check out the dogs.
We went to the little gift shop to check it out and the owner insisted on giving Paco a free piece of candy... this seems to be the tradition for him, after the lady on the train yesterday, the girls at the Estacia earlier today, and other places, Argentinians just love to give little kids free treats!
As we got back to Ushuaia the clouds broke and it was sunny when we arrived at the hotel. This is really the only rain we've seen in 3 weeks in Argentina. We have a suitcase filled with clothes for cold weather and rain and we haven't needed it once.
So, there it is, We wanted to drive to the end of the world and we made it about as far as it's possible to go. And it was pretty easy. There were people out on Land Rovers and we made the drive in a rented VW Gol (a tiny little model not sold outside of Latin America, I think).
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