Our Pan Amercian trip second leg: Río Grande to Punta Arenas

We could simply describe this second leg with one word as you might already imagine if you have been following us on Instagram: WIND. But, of course, we want to tell you more than that 😊.

You might feel that some parts of this documentary are similar to Instagram and that is true - for those who do not use Instagram we also want to tell our stories about our travels and we have more space to add extra information here - the information is still similar so if you have read all or posts on Instagram you might know some parts already.

We left Río Grande on Tuesday, October 3rd with a good batch of food supply and with the knowledge that the next weeks will be very windy in Tierra del Fuego. It's spring here and the spring winds are known to be very strong. So staying in Río Grande and waiting for better conditions wasn't really an option. 

Our plan was to cycle from Río Grande to Porvenir (via San Sebastián) in about five days (that would have been about 50 km/day) and to take the ferry to Punta Arenas. 

Our planned and cycled route

Since we weren't sure about the actual progress due to the strong winds, we packed more food than necessary - here you can see our selection:

Food shopping for about 5 days

There is not so much fresh fruit and veggies as you can't carry them over the border to Chile. We usually choose pasta as it doesn't take too long to cook. We add pesto or pasta sauce and one component such as canned tuna, beans, salami, dried tomatoes or mushrooms. For breakfast and lunch we eat bread with some kid of spread or cheese and, if possible, porridge with nuts and dried fruits. We have limited dishes so those seem to be good options. We always share the same pot to eat out of and we only carry one Tupperware mainly for storage of leftovers. Francesco loves his occasional chocolate snack and Chrissi loves Pannettone and gummy candies as much as juice and tea. 

Lunch break under rough windy conditions

On the first cycling day we wanted to cover as much as possible of the 80 kilometers between Río Grande and San Sebastián. It started very well with 'cyclable' winds in the morning but turned out to be very exhausting after midday: The winds started to pick up and are usually sidewinds and sometimes headwinds. We always tried to ride in each others slipstream but it was almost impossible as the winds pushed us from the sides. Making short breaks was very important as these maneuvers are very weakening. 

Information about the state of the route: windy!

Francesco fighting the gusts of wind

The temperatures were fine with 8-12 degrees but with the cold winds we needed to keep the breaks short. With the good progress we had done that morning we had covered 50 km at 17:00, but the winds were getting stronger and stronger, making every additional kilometer very difficult. Our original goal of making it to San Sebastián, where there's a YPF petrol station and a police checkpoint, was clearly not possible anymore as it was still 30 kilometers away. In the distance we saw several buildings with red roofs - "Estancia La Sara". That estancia is one of the biggest and oldest, having been acquired by Sara Braun in the 19th century as Tierra del Fuego was "colonized". Check her bio on Wikipedia, it has some very ugly parts.😕 We were allowed to set our tent in the administration garden and slept there.

The administration building at Estancia la Sara

We had running water from a hose but no toilet. It still seemed like Eden to us as the garden was composed very well with bushes and trees. We hadn't seen trees in a long time as most of the landscape was very barren. The garden also offered so much needed wind protection and we had a good night's sleep there before heading on to the YPF Petrol station on the Argentinian side of San Sebastián the next morning. 

One short break to celebrate another 5 km!

Those 30 kilometers took us the entire day and were - again - very exhausting. We tried to motivate ourselves with smaller goals of 5 km - after each portion we celebrated the 'success'. What sounds crazy under normal circumstances was necessary to us in these stormy winds 😀. We reached the YPF petrol station in the evening and decided to stay there as the distance between both borders - the Argentinian and the Chilean - was still about 13 kilometers, still accompanied by strong winds. San Sebastián consisted on this side of a handful of houses, the YPF, the Gendarmería checkpoint and the hostería operated by the ACA, the Argentinean Automobile Club. We pitched our tent next to the hostería, had a warm meal inside and were able to recharge our devices in the hostería. 

Camping next to the hostería at the border

The next morning, our third cycling day since Rio Grande, we got up early and headed to the Argentinian border checkpoint as soon as it had opened at 8 am. It was quick and simple. After the checkpoint it's about 13 kilometers until the Chilean border control; in between there's a badly maintained road and a whole bunch of wildlife: we saw flamingoes, foxes, guanacos - you can see some pictures on Instagram: wildlife. 

Flamingos!

The winds were cold and stronger than we thought, but still rideable. On the way we met our first (!) fellow cyclist, Austin from Alaska! He was finishing his trip after months of travels. Check out his journey at @weshallcontinuewithstyle

Austin! What a legend 😊

After little over an hour we reached the Chilean checkpoint, in a place also called San Sebastián, just like on the Argentinian side. We went though an interesting process to enter the country: there were three counters representing three different institutions: the PDI (police in charge of border control and migration, among other things), who checked our papers; then customs, who asked about and documented our belongings in a form, including the bike, bike bags, camping equipment, etc.; and finally the SAG, who are in charge of controlling/avoiding the introduction of unprocessed animal and plant products, such as meat, fruit, seeds etc. It all sounds very complicated (and it is), but luckily they were all very kind and pragmatic and we left the checkpoint just a few minutes later.

We reached Chile!

When we left the building the wind hit us in the face again: it was picking up. Chrissi was coming down with a cold for days already and the next stretch would be very exposed to the winds so we decided to sit down for a coffee in the Hostería La Frontera right after the border and reevaluate our plans: 

• we could either cycle the remaining 150 kilometers to Porvenir in small portions which meant that we would have to stock up on food and deal with stormy winds up to 95km/h 
• or we could wait at the hostería for a couple of days and then continue on a day with less winds to also give Chrissi's cold (which later turned out to be a bronchitis) a rest. 

We decided to go for a break and had a wonderful couple of days there with the owners don Claudio and Sra. Ximena, with Sebastián and with Otto, a Dachshund. 

Francesco, don Claudio, Sra. Ximena, Chrissi, Sebastián

We had long chats till late in the evening, learning a lot about the history of the area, the people and life in Tierra del Fuego. We celebrated Chrissi's birthday with Pisco Sour, we went on a walk to a nearby rock formation on a hill used by the Onas as a strategic lookout and Francesco helped out with a bit of renovation work on one of the sheds in the back. 

Strategic lookout

Having a good time!

Ancient shelter from the winds - with a lot of sheep poop

They also provided Chrissi with medicine and let us wash our clothes, which we hadn't done since Ushuaia. We are very grateful for the good conversations, laughs and support. Two days turned to three, four and five! Neither the winds nor Chrissi's illness were dying down, so we stayed put.

A little 'thank you' to our hosts: Francesco sketched the hostería!

On the fifth day,  Chrissi started feeling better and the winds for Tuesday the 10th of October were forecasted to be mild in the morning and early afternoon, so we decided to leave the hostería and cycle onwards. It was sunny and the wind was strong, but mellower than the days before. We had a double breakfast with eggs and toast and, after saying goodbye to our hosts for the past few days, we headed west towards Bahía Inútil (Useless Bay). That bay was called useless by Captain Phillip Parker King in 1827 because it did not provide shelter nor anchorage. 

The winds had turned and were now blowing from the west instead of northwest. Since we were heading west, it meant we had mostly headwinds with only slight sidewinds. We managed to keep around 10 km/h and thus made some progress in the morning. At around 14:00 the winds picked up again and we could only cycle between 5-7 km/h. 

Rough times on the bike

Frustration 

In these two pictures you can see the very challenging side of cycle touring. It is important to us to show you these parts as well. In Instagram there is not always enough space to talk about situations or things that happen in more detail or out of different perspectives: Of course cycling is not always just fun and sometimes we cannot communicate for hours in these strong and loud winds. It is extremely exhausting to cycle against these gusts of wind and it requires a lot of concentration as well as body strength to not tip over with the entire loaded bike or simply get pushed off the road. It is a mental challenge as well as the conditions are harsh and sometimes not at all what you are used to. Sometimes one must motivate oneself with small things: nice memories of beloved people, good situations or their favorite food. But once done, the challenge was always worth it - though it is very important to listen to the 'gut feeling' and personal intuition. The own body usually knows how much to handle and when to better stop and take a break. 

Talking of breaks: A really nice feature of the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego are the shelters (refugios) for travelers. Every 20 km or so there is a small hut with, theoretically, a toilet, a room with a bench and a stove, and a sleeping area in a nook, accessible via a ladder. They were built a couple of years ago as protection from the wind and bad weather. Unfortunately, though, they are in terrible condition, vandalized and stripped of anything of value. All the shelters are missing the stove and most windows are broken, the toilet ravaged, and generally in bad condition. It's very sad to see. Otherwise they are really nicely designed and look like a well-thought-out tiny house. Ezequiel Gignone, another cyclist, made a video about a relatively new refugio, so if you are interested you can check out (mostly the beginning of) his video: refugios (youtube). Here you can see a selection of our pictures of these refugios now in 2023: 

heartbreaking destruction

such a shame

not usable any more

We tried to cycle from shelter to shelter, where we would stop to have a snack and at least get a bit of protection from the wind. In the last one before leaving the main road and taking the gravel road to Porvenir, we had a longer break and cooked dinner. 
We then set off along the dirt road. The temperature was cold (5°C) and the wind didn't cease. The first few kilometers were in very bad condition; the road surface consisted mostly of loose stones. 

A really nice thing about this secondary road to Porvenir is that there is barely any traffic and the surroundings are teeming with wildlife, especially Guanacos in relatively large herds.
As the sun was setting we reached our goal for the day: the shelter "beside the pines". We could see the pines about 3 km before we got there, an unusual sight in such a barren landscape. The trees are completely wind blown and grow sideways, quite a sight!
The shelter is, unfortunately, completely destroyed so we decided to simply use it as a wind shelter for our tent which we pitched right next to it. 

During the night the wind picked up again, bending our tent to a worrying level and keeping us awake with the loud howling. 

stormy night!

In the morning the strong winds continued, which really made it difficult to pack the tent. As we were getting ready to go, a big truck stopped beside us. A man got off and offered us a bag of stuff to eat, and quickly jumped back in the truck and drive away. Inside the bag we found sandwiches, tea, coffee and sugar. What a nice person! That must surely have been his lunch for the day. They are working in road construction in the area; there are loads of trucks and pickups related to the roadworks on the way to Porvenir.

We set off with the cold wind blowing in our faces and barely made any progress, cycling at around 6 km/h and doing many breaks in between. The landscape was pretty flat and barren, as it has been for a while. We kept seeing the construction trucks and red pickups, who offered a few seconds of shelter from the constant wind.
We were running out of water, so we stopped at the first stream we found, which was flowing out of an estancia. There were lots of animals around, so we decided to filter the water. We'd use it to cook out pasta that night, so hopefully that would kill any bacteria and viruses if there were any.
In the distance we could see a snow-clad mountain range. We knew we had to get there, because the rivers and streams flowing to the bay created gorges and hills - in our minds we were hoping for some wind protection and quicker progress. Thanks @sebapickett for the tip!

After 21 strenuous kilometers we finally reached the mountain range (Cordón Baquedano). At a crossroads we found two shelters, an old one and the fancy new (but destroyed) one. It was already about 3 pm and we knew we had to cycle at least 50 km in order to stand any chance of catching the ferry the next day to cross the Strait of Magellan and reach the continent. We looked at each other and knew we had to cycle till sunset.
The winds continued strong, but the hills offered some intermittent protection and we could up the pace to around 8-9 km/h.

Cycling next to the ocean at Bahía Inutíl

Lovely landscapes with some wind protection!

The views also changed from this point: apart from the mountains, we saw a bit of green grass in the fields, cows, many streams and huge building complexes in the estancias.
In the evening, as we were slowly cranking our way up a hill, one of the red construction pickups stopped in front of us. Two women got off and offered us a @sahnenuss_chile bar of chocolate! They had seen us battle the wind several times the past two days as they drove back and forth and wanted to help us out. Thanks to @consuhrt and @paumonroy_arqueoloca! ❤️

Consuelo and Paulina, our heroines of that day! 

We continued the ups and downs and, shortly before 8 pm, we reached our 50 km goal. We were at the top of a hill, so we decided to keep our eyes open for a spot to pitch our tent.
As we rolled down the hill, we saw a couple of fisherman shacks against some rocks in a cove. They seemed protected from the wind and had some grass in front of them. "That's it!" we yelled and left the road for the beach.
They were empty and locked, and we assumed that no one would arrive so late at night to the huts. We pitched our tent in front of one of them, after which the wind started to die down (we could even fly the drone again, albeit only till about 15 meters of altitude ). We then cooked some pasta, enjoyed the sunset, ate some of the Sahne Nuss chocolate and went to sleep.

first row camping spot

We set our alarm to 5:30 am: we still had 33 km to go and had a ferry to catch. If the winds continued as they had been the past few days, we'd miss the 2 o'clock ferry and would have to wait a day in Porvenir.

Our alarm started ringing at 5:30 am. When we turned it off we heard...nothing! No wind howling, no tent flapping, only a gentle breeze, the first time in many days. We quickly had breakfast, packed our stuff and headed up the hill at around 7:00. We had to get to the ferry port in Porvenir (33 km away) by 13:00. Sounds like more than enough time for the distance, but with the winds of the past few days it would be a tight race.

A very relieved Chrissi - you can tell!

In spite of the steep slopes, we were moving fairly fast thanks to the absence of wind. It did blow stronger every now and then, but it was mostly just a breeze.
We cycled up and down the hills and cliffs along the coast, with beautiful views of the coves and the snow-capped Andes on the other side of the Strait of Magellan.

The last kilometers!

In what felt like no time at all, we reached a newly paved road that allowed us to ride even faster to our destination, arriving to Porvenir at around 10:00, with three hours to spare. We bought some snacks, the ferry tickets and headed to the port, another 5 km away from the city center.
The crossing took about two hours, with nice views of the Strait and mountains. The ferry is well equipped, with a cafeteria, comfortable seats and an outside deck.
And that's how our stint in the island of Tierra del Fuego ends: after two weeks battling the wind, on our last day it died down and we headed to the continent. We will continue from the city of Punta Arenas northwards to Puerto Natales, after which we will cross into Argentina again.

Chrissi getting on the ship to Punta Arenas