Day 59: Boxing day, boxes and borders (373 kms)

This was the day we made it to Tierra del Fuego! Chile and Argentina share the island so we entered and then left Chile over the course of the afternoon. Leaving the town of Rio Gallegos the wind was picking up, after a day or so of relative calm. The windiest city in the world keeps the flag makers in the money.

Despite being in Chile for less than three hours, there were no shortcuts at the border. There is some integration between Chilean and Argentine borders, but it seems only to extend to shared accommodations for the officials.

After a brief ferry across the Straight of Magellan we arrived on TdF. The road turned to dirt and ran for the 110kms to the border. This would be, counting the return trip, the last dirt of the trip. It was a costly stretch for me; my newly purchased luggage box broke loose and disintegrated in impact
With the road. Some Germans in overland campers were close by and saw the incident. One kindly offered me rachet straps, but I had my own. The other muttered loudly enough for Peter to hear that I should learn a lesson for not buying German-made equipment; sadly Hepco-Becker is a German outfit, and one that will never see another penny of my cash.