The road to the end of the world

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Officially known as the ‘Ruta del Fin del Mundo’, the Road to the End of the World lies in Chile’s southernmost region, Magallanes y de la Antártica Chilena.


This was indeed the path I travelled on my recent, awe-inspiring visit to this narrow but very, very long country. With so much to see I only touched the tip of the iceberg, literally, being only a few kilometers away from floating icebergs near the town of Punta Arenas.

The summer landscape in Patagonia (Torres del Paine) threw new surprises at every turn. The clouds changed shape at the blink of an eye. At one point I looked up to the sky and saw castle-like structures morph into conch shells and then into a stack of perfectly-formed discs. My iphone camera could not do full justice to this cumulus art, but here is a taster.






We admired the ñandú bird and the guanacos that grazed peacefully in the distance, as if they had no care in the world. That was just before we saw a puma run across the road and into the high grasslands, scattering the guanacos like skittles on the ground. Our guide seemed equally astonished. It had been three years since he had seen one dash across these grassy lands.




I have never seen so many beautiful shades of blue in one place. Perhaps we were lucky to get several sunny days. The sky created its own unique colour palette as the wind blew clouds in and out.  The lakes often displayed two distinct shades of blue in the same large pool. The frothy waterfalls sparkled and shimmered.








My favourite view was of the ice-lolly blue glacier. These were melted pieces of the ‘Grey Glacier’ that sits further up the mountains.


One can only imagine how stunning this must look in the winter with a cover of snow. The biting cold is not my friend and so I shall await the experiences of more intrepid travellers. Till then I hope to savour my memories of this unique and remarkable landscape in earth.


                                                                **************

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