How we managed to hitchhike to the end of the world

03/09/2023, 11:25pm. – I am completely overwhelmed and can barely speak or do anything. Almost 15 hours of hitchhiking are behind us. Or as they say in Spanish „hacer dedo“. We’ve been up since five o’clock. We stood in the wind all day, waved and stuck our thumbs out, made lots of small talk in Spanish, crossed the border into Chile and back into Argentina, finally arrived in Tierra del Fuego and most importantly: we experienced so much kindness and helpfulness today, I can hardly put it into words. All I can think of is „why is everyone so nice to us?“. To quote Marie: „we always experience so much friendliness and hospitality that you think more is not possible. And then someone comes and tops it off again.“ And that definitely happened again today. In 6 vehicles we covered the 640km from El Calafate to Rio Grande today. All have more or less contributed to the fact that we have almost reached our final destination „the end of the world“. But the one who touched me the most was Lucas – a truck driver who took us the last part from the Chilean border to Rio Grande and after unloading his load even to Marcos‘ front door, who spontaneously offered his help on Couchsurfing and where we are allowed to spend the night. These two definitely deserved the title „Heroes of the Day“. (To reassure my parents at this point: we were not in danger at any point, with their kindness these two just made our trip much easier and more comfortable :)).

But to go back to the beginning, how did we actually get here?

We never planned to hitchhike. We actually wanted to continue our journey through Argentina with the Peninsula Valdes on the east coast and that by bus. The south of Patagonia is too expensive, especially on the bus. But as it sometimes happens, you talk to people, hear their stories and then you just buy a tent so that you won’t end up without shelter and prepare yourself mentally and morally to stand by the road in the middle of nowhere and wait. We get last tips from Alexis, who we met in Zapala and who has meanwhile become a very good friend. He’s also on his way to Ushuaia, the last city, the end of the world, and has been hitchhiking since his hometown Mendoza.

On 02/13 we left Bariloche. Since we haven’t felt like hitchhiking yet, we took the bus to El Bolsón in the evening.The next day we deal with the pain of separation, enjoy good coffee and cake and lots of sleep. Two nights later we continue – we hitchhike for the second time (the first time was actually in Bariloche when we hitchhiked back to town from Colonia Suiza). This time the distance is a little longer because we want to get to Esquel. What we don’t know at this point – we will be staying in the area for two weeks as we decide to wait for Alexis to finish volunteering in Los Coihues and then travel to Ushuaia together.

Hitchhiking from El Bolsón to Esquel is great. We only need four cars and we only got stuck in Epuyen for about 2 hours. We spend the first nights with Natanael, another couchsurfer, and his dog Wendy.

Then we test our tent at the Laguna la Zeta, very worth seeing by the way, and have to realize that we probably won’t make it to Ushuaia with „Cedric tent“. It’s just too small and doesn’t have a rain cover or lines to fix it when it’s windy, which is definitely super handy in windy Patagonia…

So we decide to buy a new tent and test it in Futaleufú, Chile, where we hitchhike to, of course. For a short time we were afraid of being stranded in the middle of nowhere because the road to the border is gravel and leads through a mountain pass, but we are lucky and get to Futaleufú easily. At the border we first have to eat our avocado because the Chileans are very strict with their border controls. We are picked up by Leo. He is a car mechanic and has a small garage in his yard and has been living in Futaleufú with his family for quite a while. He is so nice and offers us to sleep in his garden, which of course we gratefully accept.

We enjoy the beautiful nature and also hike to the Futaleufú River, where we enjoy the traditional tereré (the cold version of drinking mate) and marvel at the turquoise color of the river. After two nights we make our way back to Argentina. We still want to go to Gualjaina before we meet Alexis again and the food prices in Chile are just too expensive for us xD.

It’s raining, which makes hitchhiking a bit more difficult, but we still make it and the guards at the border even recognize us. Unfortunately, unlike two days before, it seems that there are only four cars at the border that want to drive in our direction. We wait at a bridge in the wind and after only 40 minutes of waiting we are actually taken back to Esquel.

Our next destination was Gualjaina. Gualjaina is a very small place in the middle of nowhere from where you could drive to Piedra Parada if you had a car. We only heard about the place from another couchsurfer at Natanael’s and thought we had to go there. So we go to the other end of Esquel, where a couple picks us up and takes us to the cross to Gualjaina. There we wait about 1.5 hours in which 7 cars drive past us. All full. We are lucky on the 8th, we are taken to the campsite that we found online. When we arrive it’s kinda smaller than we thought and we seem to be the only guests. We had imagined it somehow differently…

But Anna and Jorge, the owners of the campsite, are really nice and super excited to welcome their first Germans. They opened their campsite at the beginning of the season about two months ago and are excited to show us how Jorge built all the buildings himself and is currently in the process of building small cabins for rent. They invite us to mate and tortas fritas and we have great conversations. Luckily for us, the campsite fills up after all – a German family and a couple from Cordoba with a dog have also found their way here. What we didn’t know before we came to Gualjaina: this place is damn small, doesn’t really have anything to offer and the Piedra Parada is 60 km away and therefore not accessible without a car. In addition, almost no one seems to want to go there. So we almost gave up when we had the idea of ​​asking the Cordoba couple if they could take us to Piedra Parada the next day – and sure enough, they took us. So we drive even further into nowhere, where a rock stands free in the middle of the Argentine steppe. Definitely totally interesting to see. But I think the Vulture Gorge nearby is much nicer. The rocks there are breathtakingly high and the barren landscape just somehow beautiful. A great place for climbing that we will have to return to at some point in our lives, and not just because we promised Anna and Jorge to visit their campsite again ;). In any case, we are totally grateful to have been there. After a great day anyway, this time we are actually the only ones on the campsite. Jorge makes us delicious meat from his sheep and for dessert there is homemade sour cherry liqueur, which we drink while we play a newly learned game with his granddaughter. Once again it is unbelievable how nice the people are and how great it is when you speak the local language at least a bit. What I also take from both of them is with how little you can be super happy. They have a simple kitchen without running water and share the bathroom with their camping guests. But they live in the middle of nature and are totally open-minded and nice people.After two nights, Jorge drives us in his tractor to the „outskirts of town“ – aka the entrance to the gravel road to nowhere until you’ll reach the Ruta 40 at some point. We wait and wait and wait… Few cars pass us and we jump up whenever one does. And indeed, after another 1.5 hour wait, a couple from Gualjaina takes us with them. Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding and we are not let out at Ruta 40, but at a crossroad in the middle of nowhere (yes, there is one there too). It’s terribly windy and the dust is flying all over the place. Luckily, after only three minutes of waiting, a family immediately takes us back to Esquel.

On 02/27 it’s finally time. After two weeks in Esquel (we really can’t stand it anymore) Alexis arrives and we continue south on the 28th.Getting up early in the morning, back to the end of town and then to the Ruta 40. We separate to hitchhike. Marie and I stand in front, Alexis a few meters behind us. With three, it’s just not really possible to find someone who can take you with them. After just a few minutes, a truck driver took Marie and me to Rio Mayo, 400 km away. It will be a 5-6 hour drive through a lot of nothing. And with saying nothing I mean nothing. Of course I’ve heard that the Ruta 40 consists of a lot of nothing and wind, but I didn’t expect it to be so much nothing. We drive for 5 hours through the Argentinean steppe. Hardly any trees, if at all, and after every curve or small hill you expect a change in the landscape, but everything looks the same. Here and there you can see guanacos (the lamas here), sheep, ostrich-like but smaller birds and sometimes an armadillo or a fox. Otherwise only brown steppe with bushes and a lot of wind. Our driver is super nice, we drink mate together (wouldn’t be Argentina without it xD) and talk about this and that. In the evening we arrive in Rio Mayo and have already made quite a bit of the way.

We spend the night in a hostel and travel on to Perito Moreno the next day, this time it’s only about a 2-hour drive, which Marie and I spend with a Chilean truck driver. He tells us that he almost died from pneumonia he got due to the strong and cold winds in southern Patagonia and asks us if we are prepared for them. An important tip we learn from him: always cover our mouth and nose when we have to wait in the cold wind.

In Perito Moreno we camp at Raul’s campsite. We arrive and he invites us to lunch first. In the evening we are of course invited back and quickly realize how difficult it is to „escape“ his hospitality. He is definitely very sweet and friendly but at the same time very overwhelming. We still have fun and try to hitchhike to the UNESCO World Heritage Site cuevas de las Manos the next day. In these caves, again in the middle of nowhere, people left their handprints about 9000 years ago. Definitely super exciting and even cooler because we actually manage to hitchhike. Not very easy really as we are now in a part of the Ruta 40 which is not very busy and which another German we met in Epuyen told us it was impossible for him to hitchhike. We try anyway and after 30 minutes we find a car that takes all three of us to the beginning of the national park. There we separate again and Marie and I drive with a truck to the cross. There we wait again for a while and play cards. After less than an hour, a van belonging to a French couple apears, which actually takes us on their bed over the bumpy road to the caves and then even back to Perito Moreno. But the funny thing is – we arrive at the same time as Alexis and can do the tour together. Truly an incredible coincidence! And we finally get our long-deserved stamp from Argentina in our passport – the one from the World Heritage Site, of course!

We allow ourselves a day to relax and plan and then try our luck again. We get up really early to not miss any cars. After only three minutes, a truck picks up Marie and me again and takes us 350 km further two towns away from Perito Moreno – yes, the distances here are enormous, but I can definitely understand why nobody wants to live here…

At the crossroads where we are let out, we meet three guys from Buenos Aires who tell us that they have been trying to get out of there for the third day and have now decided against the Ruta 40.

We still want to try our luck and wait in the wind, which is really strong here. And we’re lucky. After only one hour, a pastor from Buenos Aires, who is on his way to his hiking holiday, picks us up.

Now it also explains why hardly anyone drives this part of the Ruta 40… More than 70 km of unpaved road await us, on which one or the other stone has certainly left a scratch on the one-year-old car.

But we make it to Tres Lagos, a very, very, very, very small place in the middle of nowhere in Argentina, and Alexis arrives shortly after us.

After a restful night we try to move on the next day. We want to go to El Calafate, from where you can reach the famous Perito Moreno Glacier. Three cars pass us, all full. We are waiting together with a little puppy who finds us very interesting. After 20 minutes, Marie and I are picked up by a French family in their van, who are on a 6 month road trip through South America. We talk about the cultural differences, traveling as a family, how they school their children and marvel at the landscape, which is now crossed by a turquoise river. Finally a different landscape. After 2 hours we arrive in El Calafate. El Calafate is quite a touristic place as everyone wants to see the famous glacier. Nonetheless, we really like it here. We spend the days at Guillermo’s and have to wait a day for Alexis as he wasn’t so lucky and got stuck in Tres Lagos. But he makes it one day after us.

Alexis stays with friends of friends, a German-Argentinian couple who opened a German bakery in El Calafate over 20 years ago and of course we try their bread straight away and really enjoy it. A day after Alexis arrives, Marie and I hitchhike to the glacier, Alexis is taken by his hosts Berni and Bonnie. We stand on the street for a few minutes and fool around. Marie turns around and there is actually a car. A couple that first drove past us but then came back to take us with them.Definitely super nice of them! After an hour’s drive we reach the glacier and of course Alexis arrives a short time later.The glacier is super impressive. From time to time you can hear and see a part of the ice falling into the water. I could stand there for hours and marvel at the mass of ice. It was definitely worth it (even the somewhat expensive entrance fee was worth it).

Berni and Bonnie offer to take us back and invite us to homemade Kartoffelpuffer from another backpacker from Germany who is also staying with them.

After four days in El Calafate we continue our journey. And, as I have already described above, we make it to Tierra del Fuego on the same day!

From here it is easy to get to Ushuaia.

On 03/10 we all make it! We are at the end of the world! It’s an incredible feeling and we’re so thankful for all the people were part of our journey and brought us here. We spent more than 2100 kilometers and a lot of time on the Ruta 40, waiting eleven hours, which is an average of about 30 minutes per waiting. That sounds like a lot, but it was definitely a lot of fun and worth it too!

We are allowed to stay the first two nights at Adriana’s, also a couchsurfer, and we drive with her to a bar in the mountains to celebrate Alexis‘ birthday there.

Saturday on his birthday we do a penguin boat tour. Also definitely worth the money, totally cute and we even saw a whale on the way back!Ushuaia is the first time in two weeks that we are back in a big city, which is kind of funny because I imagined the „end of the world“ to be very different and, above all, smaller. It definitely doesn’t disappoint me though as the scenery is incredibly beautiful and the city has its charm too.

We are now enjoying a few more days here hiking, relaxing and exploring the area before we will probably part on Wednesday as Marie and I have to get back north a little faster.