Southern Patagonia and the Southern Ocean

The Chilean Navimag ferry, Evangelistas, docked in Puerto Montt at 6 am on February 11. Hurriedly we grabbed our bags and ran for the bus station. Road weary, stuffed full of “Cruise” food, and beaten by the weather, we wanted on the first bus back to Temuco. In two weeks of travel around Southern Patagonia and the Southern Ocean we had seen enough of the wind, cold, fog, rain, and the roads – at least 50% in gravel. By 9am we were nestled in our seats, aboard a “directo” – a bus that makes only a few rural stops – headed north on Ruta 5, the main north/south freeway in Chile. As we progressed north the sky gradually cleared and the temperature rose. We scrounged our sunglasses from wherever they were packed long ago. In five hours we would be home to hot, sunny, smoggy Temuco.

As we reflected upon the privilege given to us to visit such an extreme environment, we decided to dedicate this next installment of our blog to the elements: the wind, the ice, the land and the sea. This is not to diminish the generous people we met, the moments we shared with our friends and new acquaintances, or the obstacles encountered and solved as travelers. The environment, the people, and the travel: together they blend as one to provide the texture of our experiences.

Wall art in Ushuaia

The end of the earth- al fin del mundo - is indeed a place of extremes: winds inconceivably strong, glaciers and ice fields so numerous and large that we can not mention them all , and a land dry, brittle, barren except for the impressive mountains and unique animals that have found a way to survive among the elements and with humans.

It is a solitary region, I have already spoken
of this so solitary region,
where the earth is covered with ocean,
and there is no one but some hoofprints
there is no one but the wind, there is no one
but the rain that falls upon the waters of the sea,
no one but the rain that grows upon the sea.
Pablo Neruda, The Southern Ocean