Our way south took us further on the legendary Ruta 40 - legendary? It wasn't really clear to us, although it has now become a bit more varied. But why it is a dream for so many travelers (mind you, also by bike!!!) to ride this road is not clear to me to this day. In any case, we first drove to Gobernador Gregores to fill up petrol, water and food again and then continue to Chile. Shortly before the Don Guillermo border crossing there is another small gas station, much more expensive than the others, where we filled up for the last time. Then we went to the border with an unbelievably strong westerly wind.
There, I had to make sure that the documents didn't fly away on the way to the office building. The Argentine border post was quickly dealt with and we continued to the Chilean border post, which is a few km further. Right at the border, the mediocre gravel road suddenly ended and a new perfect concrete road with bright yellow lines began. The Chilean border guards weren't quite as tranquillo as the Argentines. And we also had to show our groceries, because the controls of the Chileans are quite strict. No fruit, no vegetables, no meat, no honey, so just nothing fresh.
In Cerro Castillo, on the border, it was now extremely uncomfortable. Storm and horizontal rain at 5°C. The only supermarket on the way to Torres del Paine actually didn't have anything that we could have used. No fruit, no veggies, just cookies, chips, beer, and canned goods. So we drove on to the Estancia Serrano at Río Serrano directly south of the national park. We found a beautiful pitch on the recommendation of the Vierim4x4 with a theoretically optimal view of the Torres. But it was still stormy, rainy and cold. A night without a pop-up roof and a night's rest on the passenger seat in a lying position.
But the next morning it ripped open more and more and suddenly there was a warning. The Torres del Paine are also imposing granite towers and can certainly compete with Fitz Roy, Cerro Torre and co, but for me the mountains in Chaltén are even more enchanting. After a short breakfast and a little off-road back to the road we went to Puerto Natales, together with Enrique, a gaucho who always works a few days in the national park but lives in Puerto Natales. In Puerto Natales we were finally able to buy fruit again, but the offer here was also moderate - but better than nothing. We spent the night another hour south of Puerto Natales at the Río Rubens, a wonderful place on a natural river at the end of the road and a little further. The night was correspondingly quiet, surrounded by fairytale southern beeches.
The next day, we reached Punta Arenas in the afternoon. We booked a hostel because there were a few things to do and we were hoping to pack less in the morning. The hostel was moderate but perfectly met our needs. The next day we drove (already around 10 a.m. !!!) to the Zona Franca, a free trade zone for which Punta Arenas is known, among other things. This is the only sensible place in southern South America to buy new tires. Our good old BFGoodrichs still had a tread depth of 6 mm, but the next good opportunity for new shoes would have been in Paraguay. Until then we would have avoided every piste to avoid risking a flat tire or would have had to buy new tires somewhere in between for a lot of money. We decided on Maxxis 980 Bravo ATs, firstly because the BFGoodrich was not available in our size and secondly because I found very good reviews of the Maxxis. We were able to have them fitted that afternoon and happened to find a happy buyer at another workshop to whom we wanted to give our old tires for some cash. It really wasn't much, but the primary concern was that they shouldn't be thrown away.
In the evening there was a nasty surprise: Juliane's Fairphone quit the service, or to be more precise, it no longer charged and data could no longer be transferred to the computer via cable. After a few attempts at backing up and restoring data late at night, it was clear that a new cell phone was needed. So the next day back to the Zona Franca and buy a phone. That worked perfectly and relatively quickly. In the hostel we met Anne and Jan, who happened to be from Dresden and who happened to be a physiotherapist, like Juliane. We offered them a ride north with us and an overnight stay at the Río Rubens.
Some will now wonder why we didn't go even further south. Well, we realised relatively quickly that the weather in Patagonia can be very nice but also very bad. And the closer we get to the end of summer, the cooler it gets. No problem for us, but with the kids it's not much fun. Sure, it can snow even in midsummer at 2°C, but the probability is lower and the sun warms up extremely as soon as it is there. So we decided against Tierra del Fuego and for an earlier trip back north. And maybe we'll catch up with the Vierim4x4 somewhere on the Carretera Austral, who knows...
The two days with Anne and Jan were very nice, relaxed and pleasant to talk to someone else and exchange ideas. Since we were in Punta Arenas for the first time in a hostel and otherwise met few travelers, the nightly hostel talk (fortunately) didn't happen. But from time to time it's really nice. In Puerto Natales, we parted ways again, they went to the Torres del Paine and we went north again, to Argentina.
Comments