mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

As soon as we entered Chile, we made our first stop at the Pali Aike National Park. Said park has lots of inactive volcanoes, as well as impressive formations with fanciful names such as “The Devil’s Adobe”. There are also caves with a lot of information on the daily lives of the indigenous people who used to live there back in the day. My beloved guanacos were a cornerstone in the indigenous’ lives! We stayed at Pali Aike for a night and then continued our journey towards Punta Arenas, in order to find the tyres that we so urgently needed for the van!

The guanacos that welcomed us to the Pali Aike National Park!

Whilst driving next to the Strait of Magellan, not far from Punta Arenas, we stopped at the abandoned San Gregorio Farm. Said farm was established in 1876 and it is historically significant since it was the first farm as such in the region. Dozens of thousands of sheep were reared here, due to the increased demand for wool at the time. The sight of Punta Arenas reminded us that we hadn’t seen a large city in months; it is, in fact, the largest city at the Strait of Magellan. After a long search around the city’s huge duty free zone, we finally located the tyres that we were after, so we geared up Don Rufus, the way he deserves. We visited a couple of museums, where we learned a lot of interesting information on the indigenous populations of the region, before and after the arrival of the Europeans. The most impressive of all was their ability to survive in such an inhospitable environment. Although it was summer, when we were there, it was very cold and extremely windy! We were told by locals that it snows in winter, but it is less windy at least.

The abandoned San Gregorio Farm, during the era when the demand for wool was high, housed up to 122,000 sheep!

After three days at Punta Arenas, we decided to go on an excursion to the southernmost point that can be reached by road on continental America! Whilst driving next to the Strait of Magellan, we passed by a dog cemetery and other interesting spots, until we reached our destination. We parked at the end of the road and set off for a short hike to the San Isidro Lighthouse, which is continental America’s southernmost large lighthouse. The weather was not ideal, but at such latitudes one cannot ask for much. The landscape, however, made up for it to the max! We camped on the Strait of Magellan and on the following morning we saw a humpback whale not far from us! It was so quiet that we could even hear it!

Camping at the Strait of Magellan, on the southernmost road of continental America!

After visiting continental America’s southernmost point, it was time for insular America… We loaded the vehicles and ourselves on a ferryboat (built in Greece!) at Punta Arenas and two hours later we were setting foot at the uninteresting town of Porvenir in Tierra del Fuego. The atmosphere at the island was special and one really felt like they were at the edge of the world! Tierra del Fuego is shared between Chile and Argentina and we had just started exploring the Chilean part.

Exploring Tierra del Fuego!

Our first stop was Laguna de los Cisnes, in order to see the stromatolites, which were created by microorganisms, mainly cyanobacteria, which were allegedly the first organisms to appear on Earth! There are only 14 places on the planet, where one can see stromatolites as such, so it was a good opportunity to find out what they look like. Next on the list was a colony of king penguins. We couldn’t come as close to them as we did with the Magellanic penguins that we had visited some time earlier. It was the first time, however, that we got to see them and we learned a lot about the way they live; Elias also took some very nice photos of them!

King penguins are a rare sight, but we came across them at a remote corner of Tierra del Fuego!

On the following day, we crossed the border at the nearly-abandoned Bellavista Pass, which may have been the easiest border crossing we did until now! Thus, we were back in Argentina. Until now everything was completely deserted. The Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego was livelier, though. We spent two nights at Lake Yehuin, which impressed us with its beauty and tranquillity, since there was no wind, a very rare phenomenon in Patagonia! The winds in Tierra del Fuego are so strong that the trees in many parts are always bent!

Lake Yehuin enchanted us with its beauty and tranquility, since it was calm, a rare phenomenon in Patagonia!

We were by now on the homestretch for Ushuaia, our main destination in Tierra del Fuego. That is an important milestone for travellers, since it’s the southernmost city in the world! At Ushuaia we had arranged to meet with the Temperidis family of the “The World Offroad 2” expedition, whom Elias had first met in Asia years earlier. Akis and Vula had been traveling in an Iveco truck with their daughter, Anastasia, over the last six years. When we met with them, they were very close to completing their long journey. We spent a week together, during which we engaged in interesting activities and visited several places at the southern part of Tierra del Fuego.

The big meeting with the team of “The World Offroad 2” expedition!

Ushuaia is a fairly interesting city. Its centre is cute, albeit a little touristy, while it is reminiscent of a European winter resort. Vessels that take tourists to Antarctica depart from Ushuaia; hence its port is quite busy. An important part of the city is its old prison, which was larger than I expected and has now been turned into a museum. In the past, Argentina would send both criminals and dissidents to Ushuaia, the way Great Britain had done with Australia. After exploring the city all together, we headed to a nice wild camping spot with a river and horses, 20 km (12 miles) away from Ushuaia. We stayed there two days and explored the surrounding area. I went hiking with a pack of husky dogs that pull sledges during winter and had an amazing time! Elias and Akis hiked to the Esmeralda Lake, which they really enjoyed!

The beautiful Lake Esmeralda, where Akis and Elias hiked!

It was time to head to the end of the southernmost road in the world! Whilst driving next to the Beagle Channel this time, we were heading east. It was sunny and the landscapes were gorgeous! The end of the world’s southernmost road was nothing special in appearance. It was, however, an important milestone for all of us, which filled us with a sense of fulfilment. We then spent two nights camping next to beautiful rivers, cooking, playing board games and discussing for hours about all those things that determine our strange lives… Upon returning we saw a dead whale that was washed ashore. We also visited the Harberton Farm, which was the first farm at Tierra del Fuego. It was set up by an English family. Despite spending unforgettable moments, it was time to say our goodbyes. This is the fate of travellers after all… Each goes off on their way. Akis, Vula and Anastasia would spend a few more days at Ushuaia, while we had to begin our journey to the north.

Exploring together the world’s southernmost road!

Once back to the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego, we spent a night at the municipal camping of the small (and weird) town of Cerro Sombrero, which Akis and Vula had mentioned. The camping had brand new facilities of high standards and, surprisingly, it was completely free of charge! On the following day and amidst gale-force winds, we embarked on a boat at Bahía Azul, in order to cross the Strait of Magellan and return to continental America. Seamen in these lands are true heroes and despite the extreme weather conditions, they were able to sail us across safely. We tipped our sombreros to them!

Tierra del Fuego generously offers such magical places for camping!

This is our documentary about our adventures in Tierra del Fuego (with English subtitles):

mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

Once back to Argentina from Chile, we set off towards the East. A few hours before, we were at the Pacific Ocean and two days later at the Atlantic Ocean! We covered over 1,000 km (621 miles) in order to visit the Valdés Peninsula, which is home to many marine mammals! There were also two Welsh colonies on our way, so we stopped to see them. Both Dolavon and Gaiman have a lot of Welsh elements to them, which one can realise, if they’ve been to Wales.

The Welsh colony of Gaiman with its red dragon, which is the emblem of Wales.

We then spent a night at the secluded Punta Ninfas. There may not have been any people around, but there were countless female sea elephants (their men were absent at that time of the year). We got quite close to them and we spent plenty of time observing them! Prior to entering the Valdés Peninsula National Park, we made a stop at Puerto Madryn, a rather touristy town, on the beach. It was holiday season, so it was very busy and the beach was packed with bathers. There was nothing particularly memorable about the city or its beach. The Valdés Peninsula National Park was very close to it, though, and it was calling for us!

We spent a long time observing the female sea elephants, which we met at the secluded Punta Ninfas.

The Valdés Peninsula is huge and surrounded by vast, private farms. We explored it by motorbike, as there is no tarmac in sight, so there was no reason to trouble the van. We stopped at three different spots. We first visited the penguins, then the sea lions and sea elephants and finally the Puerto Pirámides village. One could get quite close to the penguins, so we spent a bit of time observing them. They are so much fun! On the next spot, we saw the female sea elephants with their cubs and the sea lions with their whole harems. Although we were quite far from the happenings on the beach, we were delighted by the sight! Thankfully, we got to see sea lions from really up close later on on our trip. We finally visited the picturesque village of Puerto Pirámides, which is a tourist resort and rather pretty. It reminded me a little of Cabo Polonio in Uruguay. We also got to see lots of guanacos on the way!

A sea lion with its harem, at the Valdés Peninsula National Park.

We were on our way towards the Andes again, heading to Los Antiguos, which is famous for its fruits and vegetables. Back in the day, it used to be a destination for the elderly of the Tehuelche tribe. The cherries we bought (it is considered the cherry capital), were probably the tastiest I have ever tried! We next visited the lakes Lago Posadas and Lago Pueyrredón, which share a border, but are of different colours! The landscapes were dreamy and there was not a single soul around… There was plenty of relentless wind, though!

Despite the gale-force wind, Elias opted to reach Lago Posadas on his motorbike, through an off-road route (RP 41), which he was well impressed by!

We continued our journey to the South and to the Argentina’s most famous sites, whilst driving through vast steppes. Just before arriving at the town of El Chaltén, we saw the iconic Mount Fitz Roy, with its pointed peaks, welcoming us. It was a magical sight, as we had seen it numerous times in photos and videos, but surely from up close it was very special. We spent several days in El Chaltén, as this area is a hiking heaven. We chose to do a three-day hike, during which we visited Mouth Fitz Roy, the Grand Glacier, several lakes, one of which also had icebergs (!), a waterfall, as well as Mount Torre. The hiking trails were well organised, with free camping spots. There were, however, far too many people. Upon our return to the town after such a trek, we ate amazing meats… I shall never forget the skirt steak in particular!

Beholding Mount Fitz Roy (3,405 m / 11,171 ft), during our tree-day hike!

After a few hours of driving southwards, we arrived at another popular, tourist destination in the Argentinian Patagonia, called El Calafate. This town is famous for the Perito Moreno Glacier, which you may have seen in photographs. The town centre is cute, it’s lively, there are shops and very tasty ice-creams! We spent Elias’ birthday there and we went to an outdoor festival, which was a lot of fun! Around 80 km (50 miles) away, lays the national park which houses the glacier. We spent a wonderful night at the Roca Lake in said park, in order to head to the glacier early on the following day. There was another 4×4 there, for the same reason, and the girl from the 4×4 got to see a puma! It is a very rare sight and I was quite jealous!

We spend a wonderful evening at the shores of Roca Lake, while a puma also appeared. Sadly though, we didn’t see it.

The Perito Moreno Glacier is an impressive sight and one cannot get enough of it! Neither of us had seen anything like it before and we spent hours gazing at it. As we found out, it is as big as the city of Buenos Aires, meaning that it’s really huge! We were lucky enough to see several icebergs breaking off from the glacier; they made a deafening sound whilst falling into the lake. It looked as if it was in slow motion! After spending hours admiring it, we returned to El Calafate and met up with a group of Greeks who were on a photographic expedition in Argentina and Chile. It was a very nice and full day!

The impressive Perito Moreno Glacier, contrary to others, does not shrink, but in fact advances up to two metres per day!

We dedicated a few days to this area and continued southwards; we were getting ever so close to Tierra del Fuego! Just a breath away from it, lays the Loyola Beach, where in 1911 a sailing vessel, the Marjory Glen, was grounded, following a fire in its hold. The shipwreck can be visited and had been used for military exercises by the Argentinian air-force, so it’s full of holes! The sight is impressive, but also eerie, just like the landscape around it.

The Patagonian seas are full of shipwrecks, since gale-force winds are common in these areas. Marjory Glen is one of those countless shipwrecks; it was grounded on this South Atlantic beach in 1911.

A few hours away from the Marjory Glen shipwreck lays Cabo Virgenes, which is home to a huge Magellanic penguin colony! In order to arrive there, we passed through oil fields and farms, while this is where the iconic road Ruta 40 begins. We had literally scoured it during the previous months! The penguin colony was very interesting and there was a lot of action, while we got to learn a lot of things about their way of life. I had dressed up as a penguin, in the hope of making friends, but I couldn’t fool them…

The huge colony of Magellanic penguins, just opposite of Tierra del Fuego, was very interesting!

Everything had been going surprisingly well for quite some time, so upon our return from Cabo Virgenes, one of our tires got badly torn from the stones. This called for an urgent tire change. We entered Chile again, in order to find a solution, but also in order to explore a part of it, which was very interesting, prior to getting to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost point of our journey! We were gazing at the Strait of Magellan and Tierra del Fuego opposite for quite some time, with a sense of accomplishment for having succeeded in reaching the edge of the Earth…

This is the sixth episode of our documentary about our adventures in Argentina (with English subtitles):

mad nomad: Since there were requests for Angeliki to write a little something about our adventures, she penned the following article. Enjoy!

Time was passing by and we were approaching the end of the three-month stay we were entitled to in Argentina. Thus, it was time to enter Chile for a few days, in order to renew our stay in Argentina. In theory, we could return to Argentina on the same day. We opted, however, to stay in Chile for a bit and to explore a part of it and its rivers in particular.

Since our first steps in Chile, at the town of Futaleufú, we felt as though we were in the Latin American Switzerland!

We entered Chile from the Futaleufú Pass. Although the two countries share thousands of kilometres of borders, the differences between them were evident from the very beginning. Argentina is plagued by a decades’ long financial crisis, while Chile has one of the highest standards of living in Latin America. This became apparent from the first houses that we saw, once we crossed the border. The architecture was somewhat different to that of Argentina, using wood as the main material, as well as an unusual style, which looks as if the walls are covered in wooden scales. Later on, we learned that this style originates from the island of Chiloé that we visited a few months later. The first town after the border is also called Futaleufú and is famous for its namesake river, which attracts kayak and rafting enthusiasts from all around the world. Said river is Class V, so we just marvelled at it and moved on to Río Yelcho that is more suited to our kayaking experience.

Río Futaleufú, although spectacular, is a Class V, so we just marvelled at it and found a calmer river for our kayak.

Another important difference between Chile and Argentina is the weather. Since Chile is on the windward side of the Andes, where the humidity coming from the ocean is discharged, the climate, as a result, is much rainier. We set off on a two-day route, covering around 50 km (31 miles) on our kayak on Río Yelcho. On our journey we saw glaciers, waterfalls, animals, farms, holiday homes and we were rowing along with the annoying tábanos (evil, large horseflies that bite hard)!

After two days on our kayak on Río Yelcho, we made it to the Pacific Ocean, which Elias saw for the first time!

On the second day of our journey, it was, unfortunately, raining, but we reached the Pacific Ocean for the first time on our trip! We also saw penguins next to our kayak! The route ended at the town of Chaitén and from there we headed back to the east, so that Elias could go on a longer journey on the kayak. The landscapes were magical, with lush vegetation and the impressive, massive leaves of the giant rhubarb plants!

The leaves of the giant rhubarb plants are by far the largest leaves we have ever seen!

The route that Elias would go on started from the town of Palena and went all the way to the Pacific Ocean, a total of 200 km (124 miles) this time round! I would rest and camp in several places along his route, which we estimated would take five days. I cooked different foods for him to take and we parted ways. We had an appointment on the third day at a bridge, so that I could film him, but unfortunately he didn’t show up, neither could I communicate with him via VHF.

Elias sailed on Río Palena by himself, as the journey would take several days and there are many rapids in this river.

I went to La Junta, the closest town, in order to purchase a Chilean SIM card for my phone and so, in the end, we managed to communicate! The wind was getting stronger and he couldn’t continue his course. After several misadventures, we managed to meet and I picked him up with the van. We spent another night in Chile and, on the following day, we headed to the border with Argentina. We did like Chile and look forward to exploring it further!

Camping on the shores of Río Palena, in a typical Patagonian landscape!

This is the first episode of our documentary about our adventures in Chile (with English subtitles):