Ushuaia – Buenos Aires

We thought we celebrated our arrival in Ushuaia pretty well. However the next day Boca Juniors won the Argentinian Football league and the town showed us how to celebrate properly. The party, the drum bands and the car horns went on to the early hours.

We rode out of Ushuaia the next day in some light drizzle which soon cleared as we re-traced our steps across Tierra Del Fuego. After an overnight stop we crossed back to Chile, boarded the ferry to cross the Straits of Magellan, crossed back to Argentina on the other side and headed for Rio Gallegos. This was our final land border crossing of the trip and the 9th time we had cross between Chile and Argentina.

In Rio Gallegos a number of us visited the British Club. In its centenary year the club still has strong British membership with over twenty of the original founding families still members. The over-stuffed deep buttoned leather arm chairs, the snooker table and the club members such as Colin Jamieson give the feel like you are back in Britain. However in Argentinian style the restaurant doesn’t open until 8pm and serves great Biefe de Chorizo steak.

From here we have a few days heading north on Ruta 3 which is the main all tarmac route to and from Tierra Del Fuego. A stop off in Viedma presents us an chance to visit the Horizons Unlimited South America meeting which is on. It is a small gathering with mainly locals but some English, Scottish and German travellers as well. The travellers are mainly heading south to be in Ushuaia for Christmas. At our hotel we also meet some more travellers heading south. A huge group of Dutch registered Volvo’s are outside. It is a two month endurance event and they are just on day 4 out of Buenos Aires. Some of the cars are recognisable as quite recent models and some are proper classics. Many are stickered up from their previous event to Beijing in 2008. They are all full of enthusiasm for the road ahead. However when they mention that many of the vehicles have fuel tanks of only 35 litres we are shocked. With their fuel economy and the lack of fuel in some parts of Patagonia we think they are going to run into some big problems!

We also get caught up in another Argentinian celebration as they are re-investing President Cristina Kirchner for another term. Again the street party runs and runs. Latin Americans from Mexico to Ushuaia certainly know how to celebrate and party.

And so here we are in Sierra De Le Ventana Park with just one days riding left to take us to Buenos Aires and our final hotel. We have 300 miles to run to Avenida 9 De Julio, according to some the widest road in the world.

We will let you know when we are all in.