From Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas and on to Ushuaia.

We are again far behind with the blog. In the first place because we rarely have connection to the internet en route. The other reason is shortage of time. 

We left Puerto Natales at 9 o'clock on the 3rd of December with our “own” bus since we stayed within Chile during the entire journey. The trip took about 4 hours, again through a steppe landscape.

Punta Arenas is situated at the Strait of Magellan and farther to the south than Puerto Natales. Punta A is als the main city of Patagonia with a population of 130.000. This was the area for sheep estancias. Some sheep farmers became very rich and build mansions in Punta Arenas, e.g families Menéndez and Sara Braun. Unfortunately the Braun-Menéndez museum, wich houses the regional museum, was closed so we teamed up with others and headed for the Nao Victoria museum at the Beagle Canal which shows replica's In 1:1 scale of the Beagle ( Darwins ship) and Magellan’s ship, the Victoria, which he commanded in 1520 when he discovered The Strait of Magellan.After the visit we did some shopping for the next day, because there wouldn't be any opportunity to have lunch en route. 

In the evening we found an decent restaurant called La Luna, not far from hotel Plaza where we stayed and had dinner with Eugenie, Wouter and Ingrid.

The next morning, at 8:15, we were very pleased that the normal public bus that should bring us to Ushuaia, picked us up at our hotel. The other passengers were joining at the bus station.

The distance between PA and Ushuaia is 635km. Compared to a straight line, the road makes  a long detour, because there are no other options. The reason for travelling by public transportation on this traject is due to the fact that we are crossing the border to Argentina again. It has apparently to do with paperwork and insurances and that it is more complicated to go by a bus from a private company than by public transportation.  It is o.k. travelling by public transportation , the only problem is that the bus can’t stop where you want it to stop.

The first stop was crossing the Strait of Magellan at Punto Delgado where the strait is only a few kilometres wide. The landscape is still very naked, some sheep and some guanacos are to be seen, that is all. You drive all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, passing by San Sebastián and Rio Grande and then you go inland again. Our last stop was Tolhuin at Lago Fagnano, a lake which is only 98 km long and 140 meters deep. Here was a smart baker, who had opened a big bakery and sold I don’t now how many cakes etc. Everybody makes a stop here. Not so strange since this was the first stop where you could buy something and with only 104 km to go to Ushuaia.

Leaving Tolhuin we came in the mountains again, with beautiful views to Lake Fagnano and passing Paso Garibaldo. From here the road descends and all in a sudden you see the Strait of Magallan and you enter Ushuaia. The place is nicely situated by the strait and surrounded by snow topped mountains. It is 7 degrees and blowing like mad. Nearly summer!

We arrive  at our hotel de Nires 12 hours after we were picked up at our hotel in PA. Fortunately this is a better hotel. Larger rooms, an ok bathroom and a good restaurant which was still open. That is anyway no problem in these countries. People eat very late. After a light meal and a glass of wine it felt very good to go to rest.