17/3 Plane lands 3am. Coffee, hang about, read a bit, then cab to bus terminal at dawn. Very tired, first bus is to Ushuaia. Flirt and haggle the fare down 10% and i'm sold. But sleep was optimistic. The bus driver / grumpy examiner came round to hand out some paperwork to keep us busy. The route conveniently passes through Chile for about 10 minutes, which of course means 2 hours of bureaucratic stops. We got off at least 5 times, and on one occasion the bus even drove off without me. Were it not for the friendly farmer sitting nearby my seat i may still be in no-mans land. A kindly return for my having filled in his paperwork (i dont think he could read or write)
Arrive Ushuaia. Stay at "Freestyle" hostel. St. Patrick's Day, the local Irish pub is rocking.
18/3 hike my first glacier. Mind the gaps. This was a beautiful walk, and i especially enjoyed getting slightly lost on the way down. I say 'slightly' coz in a glacial valley with two steep sides there's only so much deviation you can do.
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19/3 Penguin tour. A local agent has a monopoly on this small predator-free island, but its still worth it.. spent a while making funny noises at these cute fluffy and very surreal animals...ooo. Apparently they are a completely monogamous species, returning each year to the same nest spot and romancing with the same partner. I'd like to meet whoever studied this.
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20/3 Some national park. What can i say? Ain't it pretty.
Solo travel is flexible, you can go alone, or socialise and go day-tripping with some fellow travellers you just met in a hostel. I tend to do more of the former, but nice to have the option.
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21/3 Wander about town wondering what to do. Take pppicture of a picture of someone taking a picture of pppenguins. Perhaps we miss regular beauty in our lives so we take pictures to live in the more beautiful past.
I'm determined not to leave town by bus or plane, I have an intense urge to get off the backpacker trail. I wander into the local marina, chat to some strangers, meet a Frenchman with yacht who is heading to Cape Horn in a couple of days, and decide to join. I worry i've paid too much, but skipper doesn't budge much, and insists his cooking is excellent. Anyway it's not every day you get to sail to Cape Horn, so i'm in.
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22/3 Prepare to sail south. Spend night on the boat for an early start the next day. That evening there are fireworks celebrating - i cant remember what - probably Ushuaia's anniversary or something. And there are a bunch of tallships lit up, one from each latin-american country. They were open to visitors during the day, so i took a stroll around the Mexican boat. Chatty sailor, part of the Mexican navy, explains how they have sailed down the east coast of south america stopping in Rio etc.. what a great job.
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23/3 Early start to set sail south via the Beagle canal. Pursued by the Mexican navy.
Check-in to Chile at Puerto Williams, and continue onto Puerto Toro - the southernmost population in the world (there are people living further south but only on short postings for work, mostly military)
Pick up some live crabs from the fishermen at port.
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24/3 Get up early, get weather forecast.. storm forecast for 3pm. Skipper says its too risky to head further today as we need calm weather to anchor in Wollaston Islands. 10 minutes later skipper changes his mind, says if we peg it quickly we can get there before the storm. Pray and set sail.
No wind. Motor on. Watch for ominous clouds in the distance. Time ticks.
Pray some more. Wind picks up, we belt it to Wollaston Island. I enjoy being helmsman - the waves are pretty big, we're almost surfing over them. The winds settle as we approach the islands, which is handy as we need to anchor. The bay remains muy tranquillo until some Polish pirates arrive and kidnaps us, forcing poisonous liquids down our throats and singing at us. A storm erupts outside so our captors hold us until dawn.
25/3 Released at dawn.
Our boat is storm-damaged. The headsail had not been securely tied, since we had abandonned ship swiftly when the Polish Pirates arrived. So we spend some hours sewing the sail.
Down below our fresh-crab lunch is being prepared..
We spend the whole day at bay, to lick our wounds and anyway the forecast for the following day is better for attempting to land at Cape Horn.
26/3 Up early for the final stretch to Cape Horn..
It's a beautiful calm day and the dolphins are out on show..
And there it is, the southernmost tip of South America..
There's no mooring on the Cape, so skipper loiters with the boat while crew row the dingy ashore the final few metres..
We were here.. the visitors book... !
Tick that box, and head round the Cape completely heading back up north.
27/3 Lennox Island. We are slightly losing it by this point, so we go for a short hike on an island and dress up as sea-monsters.
I develop an interest in stones. There is still occasional gold prospecting on this island, and the Chilean navy maintains a small port.
28/3 Puerto Toro, again. This is the southernmost town in the world (did i say this already?), it has 25 permanent residents, plus a few fisherman on 3 to 6 months stays. We stop for lunch with one of the residents, skipper's friend. A very sweet family, they cooked the most amazing 3-course meal, and spoke enthusiastically about their recent and first holiday abroad.. to Ushuaia. I wonder what it must be like to live in a village of 25 people for 40 years without ever leaving. I don't think they argue much.
Sea-weathered fisherman's dog
29/3 Return to civilisation..well sort-of.. Puerto Williams. I disembark in this sleepy town, the capital of Navarino Island. Sleep for a couple of days. Wow, warm comfy beds and hot showers have never felt so good.
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