The good thing about expecting harsh, ugly weather is that when you have sort-of bad weather, it’s totally manageable. Since Ushuaia, we slept on snow our first night, battled a few days of strong winds, and only had a little bit of rain and sleet. Our greatest difficulty has been avoiding an accident with Argentina’s crazy drivers, who pass each other going unbeleivable speeds directly in front of “no passing” signs. Since spring hasn’t quite yet sprung here (and we’re without snowshoes and skis to cross the mountains), we’re weaving our way through Tierra del Fuego along La Ruta 3 which is a 1.5-lane paved highway (with a nice dirt shoulder and sometimes an accompanying trail).
We arrived in Tolhuin (population 5,000) yesterday ready for warm beds, showers, laundry, a day of rest, and a full meal. Although we’ve filled ourselves with delicious pastries from the well-known Panaderia La Union, we’ve yet to eat a well-rounded meal due to yesterday’s random town holiday which subsequently shut down restaurants off-schedule today.
We head off to Rio Grande tomorrow. We hope to find a better internet connection where we can spend more time to catch up with loved ones and upload more pictures to the blog (there’s so much more that we wanted to share).
Some of our not-so-favorite moments (still working out some kinks): -Didn’t leave Ushuaia until 1pm (wanted to leave at 9am) because we found out the afternoon before that the post office only sends packages to the U.S.A. from Tierra del Fuego from 9am-12pm every morning… and then the line took forever -The sign indicating that Ushuaia is the “fin del mundo” is being repainted so was not available for a commencement photo -Denatured alcohol comes in many formulas. The one we purchased (without testing on our stove) doesn’t burn hot enough to boil water so we’ve had a raw food diet -Stores are open when they want to be. And usually not from 3-6pm. -Internet cafes (i.e. this one) can experience lapses in service for the better part of the day -Steripen is not sensitive in cold weather, it is VERY sensitive in cold weather -I, without sleep one night, could hear Sarah’s stomach growling in her sleep -Sore legs and achy feet