What do they say about, a picture is worth.....
"A single glance at the landscape was sufficient to show me how widely different it was from anything I had ever beheld," Darwin noted in his diary as his ship, HMS Beagle, approached Tierra del Fuego. .
Fri. Jan. 30
Up early, I hit the road once again. This day’s ride would take me all the way south and onto the island of Tierra Del Fuego, no relief from the winds though. This part of Argentina is called La Pampa, and it is nothing but flat as far as the eye can see in any direction but for the occasional hill. Nothing and I mean nothing to slow the howling winds that come across that waste land. I though to myself, this must be where wind is made, then parceled out to the rest of the world. They have way too much of it here! As I continued south, I saw something I had only seen on television. Wild Guanacos! Flocks of them along the road side just grazing and being Guanacos. They are a relative of the Llama and the Camel, and can clear a four or five foot fence with no effort at all. They can be a real hazard though because they come right up onto the road and you never know what direction they will run when you approach. You don’t want to hit one of these, especially on a bike!
Shortly after passing thru Rio Gallegos, I came to the Argentina-Chile border again. The Argentina part of the customs process was an education. This was the most disorganized border crossing I have encountered yet. As you entered the building, it was just one big room with a line that snaked thru the hall. It was up to you to find the end of the line, not an easy task! First you had to go to Imigracion and then to Aduana. After about two and a half hours of waiting in line, I noticed a commotion behind me. I looked back and could see a person arguing with someone behind a large X-Ray machine, the type you put your luggage thru at the airport. Suddenly the entire room broke out in a protest, all chanting and clapping hands. At this point two uniformed officers came out and approached the counter where you where processed. They ordered the officers behind the counter to stop what they where doing. Oh Great!! I’ve been in line now for nearly three hours and I have only four people ahead of me, and they shut the whole thing down! I asked one of the people who had been in the discussion in the back of the room, what is going on? He explained that it was taking way too long to get thru the process (Steve Wonder could have seen that!) and to make things worse, some of the people doing the processing had gone to lunch. Now I wished I had joined in on the protest! Any way, it soon subsided and in about ten minutes I was up at the counter. The officer took one of my documents, stamped it and said, Aduana, that means Customs. I said, that’s it? To which he replied, Si, Aduana. I stood in line for three hours for a process that took no more that two minutes, total! Welcome to Argentina!
As I left the wonderful Argentina Customs behind and drove south toward Tierra Del Fuego, I had a Ferry crossing to make to cross the Straights of Magellan. They are not kidding when they say the weather in the Straights of Magellan is rough. The wind was whipping and the waves where big. The Ferry was getting tossed around quite a bit on the crossing, and at one point I was a little concerned about the large trucks near my motorcycle, but we reached Tierra Del Fuego without incident. After leaving the Ferry I expected to see more paved road, wrong! From the Ferry landing, all the way to the Argentina border it was all dirt and the day was getting short, although it was nine o’clock at night the sun was still quite high in the sky. Must be because I am so far south. I had to use my reserve gasoline at this point, but I was told by more than one person, that I could find gas in San Sebastian. By the time I reached San Sebastian I was pretty low, and as I entered the town, I looked for a gas station. What gas station, the officer at the border asked? There’s no gas here in San Sebastian. If you want gas you have to go to San Sebastian 12 kilometers farther east. Oh! Great! And I’m on fumes! Everyone failed to mention that there are TWO San Sebastian’s, one on the Chilean side and one on the Argentina side. That would have been a real handy piece of information to have, right there! Any way, I made it just as the guy was locking up the gas station for the night, but I managed to get fuel. I asked the gas station attendant, where I could find a place to stay and he pointed to the place right next to the station so I went over there to see if there was anything available. Nope! So I had to drive another 80 kilometers to Rio Grande. I found a nice place right in the city.
Up early, I hit the road once again. This day’s ride would take me all the way south and onto the island of Tierra Del Fuego, no relief from the winds though. This part of Argentina is called La Pampa, and it is nothing but flat as far as the eye can see in any direction but for the occasional hill. Nothing and I mean nothing to slow the howling winds that come across that waste land. I though to myself, this must be where wind is made, then parceled out to the rest of the world. They have way too much of it here! As I continued south, I saw something I had only seen on television. Wild Guanacos! Flocks of them along the road side just grazing and being Guanacos. They are a relative of the Llama and the Camel, and can clear a four or five foot fence with no effort at all. They can be a real hazard though because they come right up onto the road and you never know what direction they will run when you approach. You don’t want to hit one of these, especially on a bike!
Shortly after passing thru Rio Gallegos, I came to the Argentina-Chile border again. The Argentina part of the customs process was an education. This was the most disorganized border crossing I have encountered yet. As you entered the building, it was just one big room with a line that snaked thru the hall. It was up to you to find the end of the line, not an easy task! First you had to go to Imigracion and then to Aduana. After about two and a half hours of waiting in line, I noticed a commotion behind me. I looked back and could see a person arguing with someone behind a large X-Ray machine, the type you put your luggage thru at the airport. Suddenly the entire room broke out in a protest, all chanting and clapping hands. At this point two uniformed officers came out and approached the counter where you where processed. They ordered the officers behind the counter to stop what they where doing. Oh Great!! I’ve been in line now for nearly three hours and I have only four people ahead of me, and they shut the whole thing down! I asked one of the people who had been in the discussion in the back of the room, what is going on? He explained that it was taking way too long to get thru the process (Steve Wonder could have seen that!) and to make things worse, some of the people doing the processing had gone to lunch. Now I wished I had joined in on the protest! Any way, it soon subsided and in about ten minutes I was up at the counter. The officer took one of my documents, stamped it and said, Aduana, that means Customs. I said, that’s it? To which he replied, Si, Aduana. I stood in line for three hours for a process that took no more that two minutes, total! Welcome to Argentina!
As I left the wonderful Argentina Customs behind and drove south toward Tierra Del Fuego, I had a Ferry crossing to make to cross the Straights of Magellan. They are not kidding when they say the weather in the Straights of Magellan is rough. The wind was whipping and the waves where big. The Ferry was getting tossed around quite a bit on the crossing, and at one point I was a little concerned about the large trucks near my motorcycle, but we reached Tierra Del Fuego without incident. After leaving the Ferry I expected to see more paved road, wrong! From the Ferry landing, all the way to the Argentina border it was all dirt and the day was getting short, although it was nine o’clock at night the sun was still quite high in the sky. Must be because I am so far south. I had to use my reserve gasoline at this point, but I was told by more than one person, that I could find gas in San Sebastian. By the time I reached San Sebastian I was pretty low, and as I entered the town, I looked for a gas station. What gas station, the officer at the border asked? There’s no gas here in San Sebastian. If you want gas you have to go to San Sebastian 12 kilometers farther east. Oh! Great! And I’m on fumes! Everyone failed to mention that there are TWO San Sebastian’s, one on the Chilean side and one on the Argentina side. That would have been a real handy piece of information to have, right there! Any way, I made it just as the guy was locking up the gas station for the night, but I managed to get fuel. I asked the gas station attendant, where I could find a place to stay and he pointed to the place right next to the station so I went over there to see if there was anything available. Nope! So I had to drive another 80 kilometers to Rio Grande. I found a nice place right in the city.
2 comments:
CONGRATS BOB !!!! Feels great I bet....now, slow down and enjoy the ride North. can't wait to see those pictures!!!
Hi Eric, funny you should mention "slow down" I stopped at a police check point near Puerto Natales, Chile and the officers checked all my documents and then sent me on my way. As I was just about to pull away, the BOSS came out and wanted to know how I made it from Ushuaia to Puerto Natales in such "good time". Oooops!! He let me go :-) but the message was loud and clear!
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