To The End Of The World

The Chileans are pretty upset their government is raising the price of natural gas by a few cents a liter and have decided to complain about it by rioting in the streets. They’ve blockaded all the ferries to Tierra Del Fuego, closed roads, are burning tires in the street and are generally causing trouble and unrest. Nobody knows how long this might last and I have to wonder if I’ll be able to drive the last 500km after coming more than 50,000kms. Huh.

hiking mountain 640x480

Hiking with my park ranger friends

For a diversion I checkout Bosque Petrificado, a national monument of petrified trees and quickly befriend the park rangers who invite me to stick around for a few days, talking, laughing, cooking great food and generally hanging out.
When word comes through the ferries to Tierra Del Fuego are operating as normal, I’m eager and ready to move on.

Over the course of a very long day I drive south from Rio Gallegos to the Chilean border where I line up for a couple of hours to check myself and the Jeep out of Argentina, then into Chile. A short drive further finds me at the ferry terminal where I chat to a couple of bikers before the 30min, $USD30 ferry ride across to the island of Tierra Del Fuego. The 135km of mediocre gravel road to the border of San Sabastián is a slush-fest thanks to the constant rain and driving wind. Again, some lining up and waiting sees me exit Chile, then 10km further I’m stamped back into Argentina. Each border is painless and free, requiring only my passport and the original registration for the Jeep.

tierra del fuego 640x480

Welcome to Tierra Del Fuego!!!

After a re-supply stop in the big city of Rio Grande I make my way down to Tolhuin, a beautiful little town renowned for it’s excellent bakery and beautiful, lake-side “Hain” campground.

camping tepee 640x480

Camping inside a tepee at Camping Hain, Tolhuin

Only 100km to Ushuaia, the end of the line.

almost there 640x480

So close now…

-Dan

12 Responses

  1. Brian from New Jersey says:

    You’re journey has been incredible. I can’t believe you’re this close to the end of it. What are you’re plans now?

  2. Chris Novak says:

    Congrats! I reminds me of how much fun I had getting to the end of the road- just got back from USA to Argentina trip last year.

  3. Klāvs says:

    Sveiks(it means hello in latvian)!
    I have been following your journey since I read post about Magic Bus. Amazing experience! I have plans for hitchhiking somewhere(most likely South or Western Europe) in near future, and these kind of articles are what inspires me.
    Good luck and don’t loose your adventurous spirit –
    Klāvs from Latvia

  4. Tyler Miller says:

    Congrats Dan, I’ve been following you since Alaska. I can’t believe your almost there. It must be bittersweet to be so close to the end of your amazing journey, though a few months in Patagonia sounds spectacular. The most important thing is to just get out and live life wherever you are it’s an adventure. Break free from the cycle of consumerism and meaningless consumption and really live, you’re an inspiration man, thanks for everything.

    • Dan says:

      Right on Tyler – it’s all about getting out there and really living, something we seem to have lost track of lately.
      All the best!

  5. James says:

    long journey my friend! congratulations

  1. January 29, 2011

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by tobygetsch, Dan Grec. Dan Grec said: The Road Chose Me: To The End Of The World http://theroadchoseme.com/to-the-end-of-the-world […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>