Riding to EL FIN DEL MUNDO between 21 January - 10 February 2018.
Day-19 (09 February 2018) : Rio Grande>>>Punta Arenas (416 km)
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| Last Day of our Patagonia Trip:- from Rio Grande to Punta Arenas |
We were heading San Sabastian where there is the exit border of Argentina. When we came to San Sabastian we stopped at the small fuel station and I spent all my Argentinian Dollars by filling up my tank. Then we moved to the Argentinian border office and finished the procedures. At 10:00, we continued on the gravel road and after 14 kms we arrived at the Chilean border office. We finished the procedures there and after 45 minutes we were again at the café (=Hosteria La Frontera) where we had stopped 3 days ago.
We drank coffee and I bought some snacks and then we left altogether in the direction to Cerro Sombrero. We followed the route as indicated on the map above. Gravel roads were of good quality. The weather was nice and the sky was blue. When we arrived at the fuel station of Cerro Sombrero it was 12:45 and we had waited for the end of lunch break. We finished all or work at the fuel station in 45 minutes. It is always like this with the group.
Everything takes long time. Long and long !
There was strong wind between Cerro Sombrero and Bahia Azul. The ferry took us from Tierra del Fuego to the mainland, Punta Delgada. On the other side we stopped again at the same restaurant and ordered our food and cokes. The lady is very smart and fast with the orders. She takes first all the orders and give them to the kitchen and then she starts to collect the money from those who have already ordered and waiting at the queue. While paying the bill in advance the food is prepared in lots in the kitchen. Almost in two-three minutes after finishing the payment ceremony we could get our food.
As soon as we finished our meal,we informed Christian about our departure and he said that we have to wait for the rest of the group at the big COPEC fuel station at the entrance of the city Punta Arenas. Then we departed at 15:00 with Sadik in advance. Since Sadik was still suffering from his neck problem it is always better for us to go first but slow.
We followed the Route 255. We passed Ea. San Gregorio and all those places we had done 3-4 days ago. There was also a stormy weather on the way which we have experienced in 4-5 km zone. We had got some shower and it was also cold.
After Gdor. Philipi we took the road to South in the direction Punta Arenas. The quality of the roads are fantastic and under severe wind we reached to the COPEC fuel station at 16:45.
We waited for our guys and I started to pack my rain gear during the waiting time.
I drank a coffee which I bought in this modern Copec station. We filled up also our tanks. We had to give our bikes with full tanks. After almost 45 minutes our guys came to the fuel station. Then we all moved to the garage/service company where we have left our bikes.
Our big suitcases were also there which we had left 20 days ago in Osorno and these were shipped by Edelweiss to Punta Arenas. We packed all our stuff into our suitcases and then taxis took us to our Hotel Diego de Almagro.
So we had finished 20 days motorcycle tour in Patagonia and we were now at our hotel for the last night of the tour. Punta Arenas is a big city compared with others which we had seen during our Tour. Punta Arenas is at the foot of the Andes on the western side of the Magellan Strait. This city was founded in 1848 for military purpose. Because of the short cut
for the ships through the Magellan Strait the city had gained a lot of fame and position on commercial way. As the best and largest port for thousand of miles, Punta Arenas still attracts ships from South Atlantic fishery.
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View over the sea from the window of Hotel Diego del Almagro |
