Wednesday, February 21, 2024

YOLO north from Ushuaia thru Chile Jan 2024

 Before we left Ushuaia, we drove as far out on the coast road as you can go along the north shore of the Beagle Channel.  We camped along the road in a grassy area near an estuary.

We came to a homemade fence of rope with sweatshirts hung on it.  It's a public road, so there can't be locked fences across it.
We put the fence back the way we found it after passing through.  Further along, we spotted some huge mushrooms along the road.  Didn't have my guide, so didn't try to eat them.
This is as far as you can go.  A military post here watches the entrance to the Beagle Channel.  You can see the Drake Passage from here.  I'm pointing to one of our stickers that we left on the sign.
Our van spooked a group of horses but they didn't have anywhere to escape off the road so just ran down the road in front of us until an opening appeared.  Animals often run loose here in Argentina.  Cattle guards across the road seem to keep them on their land.
A typical bridge in southern Argentina.  Wood planks laid across and then a couple planks laid parallel to the sides for tires to roll across on.  Noisy to cross as the old planks rattle and clank.
These gorgeous lupines were along the road next to a creek.
All shades of pink, blue and purple.
What a pretty scene along the road.
We went back to our beaver pond location for a night.  The water flow is greatly reduced in the creek and the overflow from the dam.  No sign of the beavers either.
At an overlook, we spotted this fox lazing in the sun next to the wall of the parking lot.
Didn't seem much perturbed by our presence and gobbled up some meat gristle and scraps from the previous night's dinner.
Back in Tolhuin, we again stopped into La Union bakery and chocolate shop.  These bakers are cutting and shaping hundreds of little goodies from layers of dough.
He's dipping rounds of dough in chocolate.
Jason reading in the van.
Miles and miles of unused beach at Cabo Domingo.
This pink grass makes entire areas look pink as we drive by.
In Rio Grande, we again stopped into this restaurant for lunch.  We split a huge sandwich and fries this time.
Low tide creates some interesting designs in the sand.
These orange blobby things were all over the beach at Cabo Domingo where the kelp had been washed ashore.
A group of egg sacks grouped together look like tentacles. They also washed ashore with the kelp.
This rock reminded me of a profile of MotherTeresa.
Layer upon layer of sand formed the cliff at the cape.
That's Jason at the base of the cliff.
Some of the layers are harder than others, creating shelves of rock that Jason sits on.
This tiny starfish had a rock glued to its top.
The sunset from the beach at the Cabo Domingo, taken from the van window.
We climbed the hill to the cape the next morning.  That tiny black dot at the edge of the water is a big Unimog; our van is a bit to the left up behind a small dune.
Jason leaning into the wind on the top of the cape at Cabo Domingo.  We trekked to the lighthouse structure in the distance.  Scary strong winds up here.
A sheep farmer herding his flock down the road.
We got a flat tire driving down a rock/dirt road in the rain.  Jason is suiting up to change the tire.  He looks like a spaceman.
He had to lay in the muddy road to get the tire changed.
Jason is driving our van onto the ferry to cross the Magellan Strait to Punta Arenas, Chile.  The angle of the ramp is too steep not to drag the bumper so he is angling to try to minimize the dragging.  Passengers lined up to board the ferry are in his way.
Jason in a cutout of a Mapuche tribal outfit in Punta Arenas.  We bought some stickers in the shop behind him.
This cute little gear head stood at the entry to a shop in town.
French Colonial architecture is prevalent in Punta Arenas.
We found a shop to rebalance our tire after the flat.  This pot belly stove in the shop is made from old wheels welded together.  Creative.
This antique oil changing contraption was on a shelf in the office.
We stopped at the ghost town of San Gregorio at an abandoned sheep shearing/export company.  There were still piles of sheepskins in the buildings.
Some of the abandoned buildings of San Gregorio.
Bales of wool still stood in one of the warehouses.
Pelts still hung on a wooden fence up the hill, too.
Across the road, a wrecked ship sits on the shore.  It was once used to take loads of sheepskins and wool to other markets.  It's been ravaged by weather over the years and you could see that it pulled the pilings right out of the ocean bed.
Jason stepping through the kelp that has washed ashore on this stony beach at San Gregorio.
The anchor chain still hangs from the bow of the rusty shipwreck.
Guanacos on the side of the road are a common sight here.


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