4-15-10 Punta Arenas, Chile

We made it down to Punta Arenas which is the bottom of the mainland, though still north of the island of Tierra del Fuego, our next stop. In town we found my friend, Arnold, pretty easily. His red Hummer truck with an American flag decal across the back window was a dead giveaway in the driveway; it’s the only one I’ve seen since leaving the States.  Arnold and I became buddies while working at a silver mine in Chihuahua, Mexico. We were both on nightshift for a while where he looked after the heavy civil work while I looked after the earthwork.



Arnold's parents are from Portugal and Holland. His dad worked in the oil and gas industry, moving around to various projects throughout the world. When Arnold was young they did a 5 year stint in Punta Arenas then moved to Houston for a bit then back to Punta Arenas. Basically, Punta Arenas became his home by default. At the moment Arnold is working in northern Chile building a port. He works 8 days then comes home for his 6 day descanso.


Not long after getting to his place he took us out to a Chinese restaurant. He opened the door and walked in, still smoking his Marlboro which isn’t allowed and headed back to the kitchen where he gave a few orders to the cooks then helped himself to an armful of beers from a cooler which he passed out to us. The food showed up almost instantly and was excellent, the first Chinese food I’ve had since Colorado. We had a good feast and no bill ever showed up as Arnold’s family owns the restaurant.



We spent three nights at Arnold’s place, the most we’ve stayed in any one place since Colombia and with good reason. He’s a generous and entertaining host and also had good wifi and even maid who did our laundry. The maid also set out breakfast ingredients for us each morning so we could cook our own American breakfast.



Arnold had some pepper trees growing in a greenhouse that he’d smuggled into Chile from Thailand. The peppers were just right, meaning hot, unlike the local ‘aji’ peppers which are tame. Upon leaving he gave me a few peppers wrapped in paper that I still have in the pocket of my motorcycle jacket...”In case it gets cold down there in Ushuaia.”



Arnold ushered us out of town for half an hour to make sure we would made it out safely. Once out on the open highway he pulled over and we said our goodbyes while the wind howled across the plains.



We rode for an hour or so, making it to Punta Delgada where we boarded a ferry along with several other cars and some semi trucks. The ferry was about half as wide as it was long and seemed to be fairly flat-bottomed, making it really stable in the water. We didn’t strap the bikes down as there wasn’t any rocking to the boat. Inside the little waiting room we watched some Guns N’ Roses music videos and ate hot dogs during the 20 minute voyage over to Tierra del Fuego.



Needless to say, we were excited to hit the island, as we were only two days away from hitting the bottom of the world. Mark launched his bike off the ferry as I pulled a wheelie riding up the ramp, almost there!