Ushuaia – Where endings turn into beginnings

Let me start this tale with honesty: I was wrong. Not completely wrong — but certainly mistaken.

After having discovered Caleta Maria in Chilean Tierra del Fuego, I was no longer motivated to reach Ushuaia. I simply didn’t want to leave Caleta Maria, but due to a lack of food, that became non-negotiable.

Leaving Caleta Maria left me hollow. Is this what it feels like to leave a place that’s become home, even if you didn’t expect it to? I had no attachments to this place, yet all I was longing for was to stay put.

But alas, we had to turn our backs on that magical home. My wheels carried me away, away from Chile, following in Top Gear’s footsteps toward the Argentine border.

Luckily for us, this time the bridge was still standing, so we didn’t have to rely on a truck to get us across the water. As with most Chilean-Argentinian border crossings, this was an easy one.
What wasn’t easy was watching the surroundings drastically change on the Argentinian side. My heart was calling for the mountains that I had left behind, but my wheels kept rolling towards an ever-growing vastness. Rolling hills of emptiness. And, as if to add to my dreariness, rain started pouring down.

Wet and hungry, we reached the paved roads and a little later, the first fuel station. A little shelter to prepare us for the rest of the bleak afternoon.
The weather reflected my feelings, but Ushuaia was calling. Wind blowing us about, rain and the occasional hail pounding on our helmets.

A mere 100 km to go before Tolhuin, our last stop before Ushuaia.

We set up camp, cooked a simple dinner, and braced ourselves. In the morning, I’d be ready to face what I assumed would be my disappointment: Ushuaia, here we come!

Truth be told, I still wasn’t as excited as I thought I should be. But who decides how Ushuaia is supposed to make you feel, anyway?

Reaching the famous Ushuaia signs, I felt a slight sense of having achieved something, but in all honesty, the signs aren’t what they seem to be on the thousands of photos.
There are roadworks, there are plenty of cars, and all the photo posing is done just next to the road.

What these pictures do reflect is a feeling of completion. Ushuaia is a goal many chase all the way from Alaska or Canada.

It’s a name on a map that everybody knows, yet only a few have managed to reach. For some, like us, it marks a beginning, while for others, it marks switching back to another way of life after months or years on the road.

I was wrong. Where Ushuaia for many means achievement, for me it meant peace and time to rest.

The first time this trip, after 4 months of camping in the cold, this place meant a comfy bed, a place to silently watch the world go by from my window.

Ushuaia didn’t disappoint. It was exactly what I needed, right there and then.

It became a place to catch up with friends, bake our own bread and have properly homecooked meals. Antarctica felt close now, just across the islands on the horizon, it seemed to pull at us.

No, Ushuaia didn’t dissapoint. Instead it turned out to be exactly what I needed, I just didn’t see it coming.