At the end of the world! This nine day hitch-hike trip took us to Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego (a place I´ve wanted to see since before I can remember). Fitz Roy can wait until 2002. We didn´t get out of Comodoro that night, found ourselves pitching the tent next to the main highway out of the city, on the grassy lawn of a catering company, and sleeping with earplugs because of the hundreds of trucks and cars driving by all the time. Wonderful resting place, just like campíng on the grass islands of Miklabraut. The next morning noone bothered to stop either so we had to take a BUS (terrible shame) to the next town, something Olivia. There we had to take a taxi to get out of the city... a lot of spending! Got a ride with a nice truck driver who felt pity on us, we must have looked rather miserable after 5 hours of waiting.

Next day we were more or less fed up with hitch-hiking and decided to break it up. We had already decided to go for Ushuaia instead of Fitz Roy, since we were running out of time and everything would be very stressed (and expensive for me, having to fly from there to Ushuaia to catch my boat), and suddenly found ourselves with a lot of time at our hands. Monte Leon National Park was close by and we wanted to get closer, in the hope of getting to see the Magellanic penguins. A lot of luck later we found ourselves at the coast, camping under very nice sandstone cliffs, watching the penguins in their rookery through the binoculars. Penguins, iiiii, I was jumping with happiness!!!

In the perfect weather we had the following day we walked over to the penguins. They are quite small, reach up to your knee more or less. They were quite shy and walked/ran from the coast into the sea when we got close. When in the sea however they felt a bit safer and stayed only a few meters away from land. They are so comic, these little creatures, and so extremely vulnerable. We had them completely in our hands while we were there, they would not move. The parents who were in the sea fishing couldn´t make it back to their chicks, and the parents who were with their chicks couldn´t go to the sea to fish. That´s why we had to take care not to stay too long in any one place but to move. Or not to move; I found myself a comfortable place to lie on my belly and watch them and fell asleep there. Must have slept like a rock because two tourists walked by, only one or two meters away, looking at this strange penguin, and I did not notice them at all. Wow, it was so nice to sleep in a penguin rookery!

On the journey went, with truckers and glue-sellers and history teachers and socialist doctors and other nice people. In spite of all the so-and-so educated conversations taking place during these rides, the only thing I´ve really learned is that you never offer anyone a cookie (because they´ll be polite and say no, thanks) but simply put it in their hand (when they´ll simply take it and eat it). South of Rio Gallegos (an amazingly ugly city) (just like most of the cities we drove through) the wind picked up and at the Argentinian-Chilean border before the Magellan Strait it was blowing so hard that we could barely stand. Very Icelandic in a way, ecpecially with a fresh-looking lavafield in the background. Especially when it started raining.

The ferry over the Magellanic Strait was delayed by 4 hours because of high winds. Perfect. The bloke giving us the ride was nice, but seemed somehow to be quite depressed. His wife left him two years ago, that was about all he told us. Tells you a lot about him, though. He actually was the only one who didn´t ask where we were from. Well, maybe he told us a whole lot more, but he ate all his words on their way out so I didn´t understand anything most of the time. Argentinians speak a bit unclearly... putting it mildly.

Tierra del Fuego is simply amazing. If you don´t like wide open spaces, no trees and the lingering evening that refuses to be turned into night, don´t come here. In the north, it´s just flat, but flat in a variable sort of way. Even a wind-battling tree here and there. Towards the south the rolling hills become steeper until they turn into the rests of the Andes, with an evergreen forest covering the lower slopes. Hairraising roads. Then the Beagle Channel comes into view, and you´ve arrived at the end. Ushuaia.