April 8, 2010.  Today was a big day for us.  After 633 days on the road and 25,112 miles (40,734 km) of driving in Central and South America, we were finally arriving in Ushuaia (population 100,000), considered to be the “southernmost city in the world.”  Making the day even better was that we were driving into Ushuaia on the same day that two of our friends, Mike and Carla, were in town.  Mike and Carla are two of my friends from college.  They are on an around-the-world trip, and just happened to be in Ushuaia at the same time as us.  We were really looking forward to seeing and catching up with them.  By the way, they have a terrific travel blog located here:  Mike and Carla’s round-the-world trip.

First off, just a little background on Ushuaia and its “Fin del Mundo” or “End of the World” status.   Technically, it really is the southermost “city” in the world.  However, there is at least one town (Puerto Williams, Chile, population 2,000) and several villages that are actually further south than Ushuaia.  Cabo del Horno (Cape Horn), the geographically southernmost point in South America, is another 147 km south.  However, getting to any of these further far-flung destinations all involve paying a hefty price to a boat or tour company (hundreds to thousands of dollars) to take you disproportionately further south.  Ana and I, not wanting to chase titles or blow our budget just to get to the next “furthest south” point, decided that Ushuaia, at least for us, would be the “Fin de este viaje” or furthest south on this trip that we would go.

So, excited to finally be arriving at the reportedly beautiful city of Ushuaia, we awoke to a clear blue sky after spending the night on the shores of Lago Fagnano, near the town of Tolhuin.  Tolhuin is located 103 km northeast of Ushuaia, on the main highway heading into town.  We camped for free this night at a pull-off by the lake.  When we awoke we were greeted by a beautiful crisp and windless day.  The lake water was very still, and you could see the rocks on the bottom as well as reflections of the mountains leading into Ushuaia.

We hit the road and were soon enjoying the fall colors on the nearby trees.  The leaves were hitting their stride and giving us a colorful show of red, yellow and orange.  We stopped a few times to take pictures, and talked with some Argentina tourists as well as a motorcyclist from Moldovia on an around-the-world ride.  The motorcyclist was now heading north, traveling fast, and was planning to be in Seattle, USA in two months.  We realize that different people travel for different reasons.  However, two months to drive through South and Central America seemed like a ridiculously fast pace.  We thought he’d spend all of his time staring at pavement and probably miss out on most of the culture and probably much of the scenery as well.  Still, it’s going to be one great ride!

The road into Ushuaia passes by scenic Lago Escondido, and then climbs steadily until it crosses Paso Garibaldi.  We stopped to take pictures at the top of the pass, enjoying the views of the lake and the full splendor of a fall day in Tierra del Fuego.  From there, it was an easy 50 km descent past ski resorts, wide valleys, and a few beaver ponds until we reached our destination of Ushuaia.  We definitely felt a little emotional pulling into town.  Thinking of how far we’d come to get to this point, and all the experiences along the way, it felt REALLY, REALLY GOOD driving into town.

Making the arrival even better was that upon entering town, we happened across two bicyclist friends, Shauna and Julian.  They were in front of a big Ushuaia sign drinking Argentinian Quilmes beers and taking photos.  Shauna and Julian are National Park Rangers in Banff, Alberta who spend their Canadian winters bicycling in various parts of the world.  They just completed a monstrous 6 month bicycle ride from Lima, Peru to Ushuaia that makes our drive in Mango feel like a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood.  They are both great people with infectuously good-natured laughs.  We celebrated a Quilmes with them while taking each other’s pictures in front of the big sign.

After promising to meet again in a few days, we left Julian and Shauna  behind and headed into town.  Ushuaia, other than being the “Fin del Mundo”, is also a really beautiful city and nice tourist destination in its own right.  It sits overlooking the Beagle Chanel with an impressive view of Isla Navarino on the other side.  The city is also backdropped by beautiful mountains.  This time of the year seemed especially scenic, as the fall foliage above town was changing colors, really putting on a show for us.

We rolled into town and shortly thereafter met up with Mike and Carla.  It is nice to successfully end a long trip like this with your spouse, but it’s even better when you can also meet a few good friends.  Mike and Carla are on a yearlong around-the-world trip and just happened to be in Ushuaia at the same time as us.  For me, it was especially meaningful ending our trip with Mike and Carla there because of our shared history together.  The three of us attended college together at the Air Force Academy in Colorado. Mike and I also flew C-130s at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, and later were deployed together in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We went from one side of the globe to the other.  From difficult and strenuous situations where we didn’t always have much control over our destinies, to relaxing at the “Fin del Mundo” and feeling at peace with where we were in life.  It felt really good meeting up with old friends and realizing how great life can be if you can struggle through some of the more challenging times.  This has been a great trip; full of adventures, surprises, a few hardships, but definitely an experience we wouldn’t trade for the world.

Please check out Mike and Carla’s terrific blog:  They have been traveling for the better part of a year, and write about most of their experiences.  They have some great insights and thoughts about their trip.  Check it out at:

http://www.travelpod.com/members/carlaandmike

To see more trip photos, click any of the galleries below:

Arrival in Ushuaia

Driving to Ushuaia

Lago Fagnano near Tolhuin

Since we’ve arrived in Patagonia, we’ve seen literally thousands of sheep.  We pass them driving all the time, grazing in their pastures behind an endless fence that marks off each estancia (ranch).  We’ve passed gauchos (cowboys) on horseback followed by their herd of sheep or cattle herding dogs.  It seems that each gaucho has at least 3 or 4 dogs with him at all times and that’s not to say there aren’t more back at the ranch.  While driving past these estancias, we’ve often wondered about the life of these sheep, how sheep farming works, what the paint spots on the sheep indicate, and how these huge estancias work.

We were fortunate to go to an estancia with an Argentinean friend of ours, Adrian, from Rio Grande.   We met Adrian and his family on Ruta 40 in the small, windy outpost town of Bajo Caracoles.  We were enjoying a beer in the only bar/restaurant/grocery store/bus stop in town along with a few other passing travelers, mostly folks looking for a break from the bone jarring Ruta 40.  It felt a little like an old western movie: us in a saloon drinking beer, when in through the swinging door enters Adrian with his family.  Tame night though, Adrian and his family were just looking for a few sandwiches for dinner.  While they waited for their food to come out, we chatted and hit it off.  They were kind enough to invite us to their house when and if we pass through their town, Rio Grande.  And so it was to be, several months later, we were at Adrian’s house.  Unfortunately, Maria-Elena and kids, Andy and Candelaria were in Cordoba as they are in the process of moving, so it was only Adrian at the house.  We had a very nice time with Adrian and really appreciated his hospitality.  It was also great staying in his warm, comfortable home for a couple days. 

For additional photos with Adrian at his house, including cooking some delicious empanadas, click here: Cooking Empanadas with Adrian.

That is how we ended up with Adrian at Estancia Maria Behety touring the sheep barn.  Estancia Maria Behety was the second estancia to be established in Tierra del Fuego.  First of all, the barn was immense and completely deserted.  I imagine more than a thousand sheep fit in that barn easily.  It had holding pens, then a hallway where the sheep were sheared and on the other side a slide down which the sheep were sent down to another holding area when they were done.  In the central area was a press where the wool is condensed into packaging for shipping.  I think the wool processing, cleaning and treatment is done somewhere else.  We were able to see the sheared wool off the animals and also piles and piles of sheep skins drying out.  This was a little uncomfortable, as many of the skins still had hoofs and legs attached.  A few also had the face of the sheep still attached.

Adrian explained for us the specifics of sheep selection and breeding.  In these areas sheep are used for one of two things, meat or wool.  Depending on the length of the curl in their fleece, young sheep are selected for either wool production or meat.  In reality, my understanding is that they all end up as meat eventually.  The ones selected for meat are usually taken under one year old for lamb meat.  Also at a young age, depending on certain characteristics that are genetically positive some males are selected for reproduction while the others become muttons.  Muttons are castrated males.  This is accomplished by tying a string around the balls, which simply dry out and fall off.  Super isn’t it.  The paint on the sheep we saw out in the fields is applied for identification of which sheep have “coupled”.  The males wear the color on their underside and when they mount a female, the paint marks her fleece.  The other information I remember is that sheep are sheared twice each year.  The first shave is on the face and back side, so the sheep can eat and be relatively clean when they go potty.  The second time, they shave the whole sheep.

So there you have it, that’s pretty much the information I learned on our tour.  Thanks to Adrian for showing us around and explaining everything.  My Spanish understanding is still somewhat limited, so I probably didn’t pick up all the details in the explanations.  Seeing the barn and especially the carcasses definitely made us feel sorry for the sheep.  We might get a nice hat or sweeter from their short, ardous life, but they get shaved a few times and then chopped up in the end.  Doesn’t seem fair.  We feel grateful to have seen firsthand an unsterilized view of where wool actually comes from.

To see all photos inside the sheep-sheering barn, click here: Inside a sheep estancia.