Breakfast before we leave – eggs and bacon – oh and dulce de leche – which goes well on any type of bread or pastry (yeah, well, diet be damned!). We are out in the car before 9. Today we are heading up North, into the mountains above Ushuaia, on the way toward Rio Grande. As we drive through town, we notice all the expedition ships in port – a variety of the ice breakers and other ships are here. We’ll be there tomorrow – yay!
There is only one main road out of town – Ruta 3 – we head away from the port, through the industrial section of town and out toward Lago de Fagnano. As we approach the outskirts of Ushuaia, there is a police stop. Hmmmm….we stop (they are stopping everyone), we roll down the window, and, no English. Ok – so we try to hand them our rental car agreement, then the passports. That’s not working. Finally another officer comes over and tells us we need our “luz in la dia” – aha! The lights! Once we turn those on – we’re good to go. Phew – that was fun!
We wind our way up into the mountains on Ruta 3 – through gorgeous forests with glimpses of craggy black peaks and mountains topped with snow. We quickly learn what Calzada Reparacion and Calzada Detiorada mean – really bad roads! The freeze/thaw up here does a number on the roads and there are sections that are just gone – no asphalt – only rough hewn gravel and mud. Then there are sections they are working on – literally tearing up the old asphalt to lay new – where we have to drive on what little shoulder is available. Amazing what the weather can do.
We pass a lot of road work – and signs for Salida de Camiones which we figure out is exit/entrance for work vehicles – not exit/entrances for shrimp – which is very similar – camarones! (We ourselves laugh half way up the mountain on that one.)
We pass the little town of Escondido - where I thought there would be at least somewhere to stop for coffee – but turns out to be a little enclave of 15 or so houses, some factory or plant of some type and this incredible grass airstrip that has tires painted red and white and half buried in the grass to indicate the runway. OMG – can not even imagine flying a plane onto that!
The vistas are just mind boggling – the green forests, the black mountain peaks, snow nestled in the crevices with clouds clinging midway up the ragged mountainsides. It is totally breathtaking and worth the drive (even over the potholes and gravel!).
It takes a little less than 2 hours to reach the Lago de Fagnano, a pretty big lake in the middle of the mountains. The town of Tolhuin is situated at the extreme Eastern end of the lake. Talk about a one horse town! Or maybe not even 1 horse! It’s so small and backwater we can’t even find any place we’d be willing to stop for coffee. So – we just turn around and head back to town. What the heck? the views were worth the drive alone – and now we’ll have all afternoon in Ushuaia.
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