But that's getting ahead of ourselves. First, what did we get up to at the end of the world?
Unable to find a couchsurf we ended up camping, which was very very cold. So we spent a lot of time in the (generous and warm) communal cooking area mulling cheap* Argentine wine with spices and oranges and chatting to the few remaining other campers. Ushuaia is a final destination for a lot of people. We met a guy who had cycled there from San Paolo, Brazil, and heard tell of someone taking eight years to walk there from Oregon, USA. We also found time to hike up to a nearby glacier
on a beautiful day with stunning views
The next day was rainy and miserable so we hid in a museum about the people who originally inhabited the area. They didn't wear clothes. Seriously. They were either incredibly tough or mental or perhaps both. Sadly thanks to the same old European imperialism we saw up in Alaska and ever since, none of them are around to ask.
When we left Ushuaia drizzly snow was falling. We hitched back to the ferry and down to Punta Arenas, not as far south as Ushuaia but still on mainland South America. There we had a friendly couchsurf and as the weather got colder and wetter we semi-hibernated in his house, chatting about all kinds of things and eating our bodyweight in fresh clams with lime, spices and cheese.
We snuck out for a look at the very beautiful and interesting graveyard, filled with ornate tombs from various mineral or sheep farming booms. The area had a lot of migration and there were many Scottish and Croat surnames on the tombs
But then went back inside. Sadly on monday we had no choice but to get hitching again, and at points, with no wind protection, in the biting cold, it was bitter. It's not worse than say November in Scotland but the problem is the standing around by the side of the road instead of being able to keep warm. But we limped back up to Rio Gallegos successfully and camped there, just about staying warm enough overnight but discovering a layer of ice between the inner and outer tents in the morning. This also heralded our return to Argentina, which was the last border crossing before we are returning home. We're sick of the faff but have developed a Pavlovian happy response to the chunky stamping sound on a passport.
The next two days we hitched determinedly north, passing more fauna such as this strange mara creature that looks kind of like a jackrabbit bred with a bulldog. We faced lashing snowstorms in the pitch dark (thankfully from a vehicle) and got very cosy with the national petrol company and their warm, 24hr stations. In one of these we saw the news that Ushuaia now has a foot of snow. Got out just in time as we could have got stuck there.
Then, after the cheering moment leaving Comodoro mentioned above, we found our way to Puerto Madryn. It is getting a bit warmer. Here, along with the nearby cities of Rawson, Trelew and Gaiman, are Argentina's biggest Welsh immigrants area. Apparently when the Welsh were offered the opportunity to leave their windswept, sheep filled, rainy, cold corner of the world they said they'd like to go somewhere exactly the same please but not next to the English. Fair enough. Ahem, in reality they came for sheep farming.
We're couchsurfing again here and last enjoyed a nice dinner and chat with our hosts and then slept in a real bed without wearing all our clothes. Which was very nice. Now to explore pueblo gales**.
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*70p a LITRE if anyone is interested and not as bad as that would imply in the UK.
**Pueblo= town and Gah-less is spanish for Wales, there will probably be a bit of wind but nothing like further south.
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