Thursday, 4th February, San Sebastian, Chile: one border down…
Surprise surprise, a big day of driving. This time, 2 borders to cross. Chile owns the Magellan Straits, so we have to cross into Chile, catch a small ferry to Tierra del Fuego, drive for a bit then cross back into Argentina. We’re told that the borders aren’t a big deal (but they are – because coachloads of people are travelling this route so the queues are horrendous).
We don’t set off early enough to make it back into Argentina. We bump into a Quebequois motorbiker whose bike has totally died here in Rio Gallegos. He’s stranded. Fixing the bike costs more than its worth so he’s deciding what to do. We sympathise, and pray that our little Russian friend will make it the rest of the way.
The novelty of bikers in this part of the world is low. Admittedly, our 3 wheeled friend is still the centre of much attention, but we really are aware that we are reaching the great biker bottleneck of Ushuaia: petrol station windows are covered in stickers proclaiming, in myriad languages, lengthy 2 wheel adventures; the road is peppered with bikers coming towards us – returning from touching the end of the world back to the real world. As always, the biker code is strong: lights flash, hands wave – acknowledgement of shared realized dreams.
It’s proper cold now. Really really freezing. We’re wearing everything we’ve got. No rain, just cold wind. We make it to the ferry for around 6.30pm, dangerously low on fuel. The ride is short, cold, blustery but beautiful. Spectacular to watch the end of the American landmass slowly disappearing. Two bikers from Utah are kind enough to give us their spare fuel, which gets us to San Sebastian. It’s late but it’s light when we arrive at the border, we’re freezing, the Chilean roads aren’t paved. We decide to camp in the one hotel just before the border in a remote cluster of buildings. It’s warm and wonderful and very very welcome at the end of yet another long and cold day’s driving.
