Once we left Pilollil, we continued to Rahue and then turned onto provincial ruta 46. This would be a spectacular ride on a mountain bike, lots of hills and valleys and magnificent views.
The weather suddenly changed from sunny to blizzard conditions as we climbed a mountain and we had to get out and push a Ford EcoSport that was stranded in the snow. After getting our chains on, we continued on for 20 minutes until the weather became beautiful again on the other side.
When we reached the border of Chile/Argentina on Tierre del Fuego, we came up against a problem. If you have a Chilean vehicle, your compulsory insurance is only valid inside Chile, so to go anywhere else you have to purchase additional insurance. When you cross the border, the Argentine officials check to make sure you have complied.
We did not have any and where hoping they would sell some nearby. Nope. Luckily for us, Frank used his cute face and the lovely Chilean border officials allowed him to use their internet to purchase insurance, instead of us having to drive back 500 kms to Punta Arenas. Yay.
After crossing, we contined south until we reached Ushuaia. On the way we were stopped by an official who didn’t want to let us through because we didn’t have a 4wd or studded tyres. He made us produce our chains and actually opened the box and pulled them out.
He told us to be very careful as it was very slippery. How novel. Chile didn’t really care about what you had. They put a sign up and if you didn’t use chains, well, then you had an accident.
The roads to Ushuaia were actually quite good and we didn’t use the chains once.
While we were out to dinner, a waiter who sensed that Spanish was not our first language* and sucessfully guessed that we were tourists. He kindly offered his services as during peak season, he works as a guide. His English was impeccable and he was very knowledgeable so was able to tell us a lot about Punta Arenas and surrounds.
He suggested going to Fuerte Bulnes as it was an interesting historical site, so we did. Once we got to the entrance, the man suggested that we should leave our car behind as it was very snowy. It was only two kilometres to the fort, so we decided to continue on foot.
Four kilometres later, we reached the fort. It was very cold but beautiful and it would be the furthest south we would venture on the South American mainland as it ran out of land just around the corner.
Luckily some lovely ladies gave us a lift back to our car on the way back.
If you want to know more about Patagonia or Punta Arenas, I would highly recommend Claudio Silva, the guide at the restaurant. He can be contacted at xguide@hotmail.cl.
*I suspect our atrocious butchery of his mother tongue may have been a giveaway.
After doing all our washing and buying Negro a 40th birthday present, it was time to head out of Puerto Natales to Punta Arenas. We were a bit worried about the condition of the road so waited until we had a glorious day.
We did still have to stop to put on the chains a couple of times and it was very cold but it was really beautiful. The trucks don’t go slow either!
At least the bus stops have doors out here. I can’t imagine having to wait for a long time on the side of the road in bad weather.
Road between Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales, Chile.
The drive home from Torres del Paine to Puerto Natales was a very white one. There were a couple of times when we had to stop and put the chains on. We saw the cabineros being towed out of the snow by another 4wd. Negro laughingly suggested that we should offer them a tow with little Carlos.
Not that he was much help. He went out of the car with Frank to “help” with the chains but had never driven with chains before so spent the time laughing and telling jokes. I dutifully stayed in the car and recorded the event with the camera.
