Where we going, man?

4 amigos, 1 RV, 50000 kilometres...

[wherewegoingman]

The End of the Road, literally.  Just past Ushuaia the road enters the National Park, and then stops by this iconic signpost.

We have driven from the most northerly possible point in the world, to the most southerly - in 10 months, 26,000 miles, in a shaky old Tioga RV.

Not always an easy journey, but we made it!

What did we learn? I'm sure we all take something different from this journey. That often it's not the place that matters, it's the people you meet. That living in a space smaller than a regular bathroom is not always straightforward. The benefits of patience and compromise (sorry guys!!).

We visited incredible places, met amazing people and saw fantastic things. We ate wonderful food, drank local brews and experienced different cultures.

We did not kill each other.

We did not get murdered at the Mexican border.

Eddy did not break down catastrophically leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere or (even worse) next to a rubbish dump in Peru.

We did not catch zika, malaria, dengue fever, or any of a host of other diseases that people told us to expect. (NB this excludes parasites).

We went through the statistically most likely place in the world to get yourself killed, and stayed in a brewery down the road from there for a couple of nights. 

We did not eat our emergency US Army Rations (chilli and macaroni, yum). Sorry Dan.

Thanks to our readers for taking an interest.

Thanks also to the naysayers for spurring us on,

And finally a big thanks to my fellow travellers. We did it. Love ya! x

*****THE END*****

[wherewegoingman]

Our last morning in Eddy was heralded by a beautiful sunrise. Emotions ran high as we did our final clean and finished packing our belongings, waiting for our purchasers - Germans living in Uruguay -to arrive.

We had arranged a deal with the guys whilst back in Buenos Aires - a fact which relieved some of the pressure for our final month in the country.

With a heavy heart we handed over the keys to what had been our home for the last 10 months. Sniff.

[wherewegoingman]

Just down the road from Ushuaia is the Tierra del Fuego National Park, a beautiful area of mountains and lakes. It also has the worlds most southerly post office. Sorry, friends and family, it is closed at this time of year!

[wherewegoingman]

We celebrated Carol's birthday in the Dublin Pub in Ushuaia. Then in a restaurant for some very nice fish - and then back to the pub.

Dublin Pub became something of a home from home during our stint in the car park, with a great atmosphere and the wonderful Beagle Ales. We love the stout!

Needless to say, this was a late night, and heads were slightly sore the next morning...

[wherewegoingman]

We finally reached our end destination, the world's most southerly city - Ushuaia! We were to stay here for a few days to await Eddy's buyers.

Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and bounded by the Beagle Channel, this wind-swept place is beautiful, if somewhat subdued at this time of year, as it is slightly out of season.

We made a local parking lot our home. Not a bad view, eh? 

[wherewegoingman]

Tierra del Fuego is, for the most part, a pretty barren and bleak place. We had lunch by the sea - in fact almost due West of the Falkland Islands....our last lunch in Eddy before reaching Ushuaia. 

[wherewegoingman]

Crossing the Magellan Straits into Tierra del Fuego.

Getting from Torres del Paine in Chile to Ushuaia - our final destination - involves crossing back into Argentina, heading south, going back into Chile to cross the Magellan Straits via a ferry, then crossing back into Argentina whilst in Tierra del Fuego.

Very easy for a chap to forget which country he is in!

[wherewegoingman]

A quick border crossing through the Andes back to Chile, to the area known as Torres del Paine. Once the fog had lifted, the views were gorgeous.

[wherewegoingman]

Whilst we were in the town of El Calafate, Patagonia, Crystal Palace faced Watford in the semi final of the FA Cup.

Andy, being a life long fan of the Eagles, sourced a suitable hostelry to watch the match, which kicked off at midday in Argentina.

Suffice to say that Palace won the match with a fine performance; that beverages were consumed; and that the post match cigars tasted wonderful. Actually they were terrible cigars but who cares?

[wherewegoingman]

Some of the Patagonian wildlife - red foxes, armadillos and guanacos.

The latter are everywhere - running across the roads, leaping fences, generally frolicking around.

[wherewegoingman]

Probably the highlight of all the natural wonders we have seen on this trip - the Perito Moreno Glacier in south Patagonia.

30km in length, 5km wide at the front, and 80m above the surface of the water of Argentino Lake, it advances by up to 2m a day.

Best of all, as the glacier heats up in the sun, large chunks the size of tower blocks fall off into the lake - a process known as "calving". We were lucky enough to witness two or three calvings. 

[wherewegoingman]

Sadly, our super glue fix did not work, and - with the help of the lovely people at the gas station - we found some expert help.

Driving to a "suburb" of the small town, we were told to park outside the guy's house whilst he dispatched a junior to buy the necessary adhesive. This went very smoothly. However, whilst fixing the windscreen, the chap discovered that part of the nasty banging noises we had been hearing was due to part of the door frame being cracked right through.

Fortunately they are resourceful in these parts and we drove next to a friendly welder who, whilst burning holes in the front seat, carried out a decent repair.

We were back on the road!!!

[wherewegoingman]

Other than its petrified forest, and being our temporary home, Sarmiento's other claim to fame is its Dinosaur Park.

Our high expectations were sadly dashed when we realised that even a 5 year old would struggle to be excited by the plastic monsters on display.

[wherewegoingman]

Lurking at the end of the dirt road was a petrified forest. Yup, those aren't wood logs, they are made of stone. Approximately 65 million years old. Jeez that's old.

[wherewegoingman]

Naturally our instinct upon encountering such damage is to either a) ignore it [not possible in this case] or b) attempt our own fix.

We opted for b) and pulled into a gas station which, as luck would have it, became our home for three nights. Luckily the staff were very nice.

So...super glue was purchased, Carol leaped up onto the bonnet (ably supported by Andy sporting a suitably Benny Hill-like countenance), and said glue was inserted. Ignoring the old maxim of "Use with Care, it Bonds in Seconds", fingers were stuck together.

A couple of hours later, we set off to explore some local sights which, of course, were down a particularly ripio road...

[wherewegoingman]

There's windy, and then there's REALLY windy.

Driving along minding our own business, we saw some signs that seemed to say the road we were on sometimes suffered from high cross winds. Pretty much immediately, Eddy started rocking from side to side, and we wondered whether we would actually be knocked off the road.

The lake in the picture had some pretty significant surf rolling on it. Trucks were taking shelter wherever they could.

So of course Sarah decided to open the window and take a photo....

...at which point, our windscreen popped out and started moving violently up and down. And in and out.

[wherewegoingman]

The best laid plans.....

We drove to Parque Nacional de los Alerces with the intention of hiking. When we dropped in at the visitor centre, we were told in no uncertain terms by the park ranger that the winds were too high and hiking trails were all closed.

Disbelievingly,  we drove into the park anyway and jumped out to test the air. He was right. And it was bloody freezing.

Our day was then enlivened by these two hitchhiking backpackers who were camped in a tent near the lake. We invited them in to warm up and then ended up giving them a lift out of the park. Lovely people.