The first thing that struck me was the prices in Ushuaia, quite expensive, but because their inflation rose to 141% in November.
This means that the opportunity to withdraw cash was limited. Ushuaia worked reasonably well, but then it was almost impossible. In El Calafate. I had to try five banks and almost ten ATMs before I succeeded. Likewise in El Chalten, completely impossible. I had to wait until Cochrane in Chile.

The prices are more expensive than I expected, but fruit, on the other hand, is very cheap!
– 1 liter of milk is approximately 11 SEK
– 1 kg of cheese 98-100 SEK
– Bread, white, is 25 SEK/kg
– Eggs are approximately 28-30 SEK/kg
– Beer is 14-15 SEK/50 cl, imported is approximately 20-22 SEK
– Beef, standard, is approximately 110 SEK/kg
– Sausages, available in many different varieties, are between 175-200 SEK/kg
– Tobacco is similar to prices in Sweden Alcohol has lower prices
– Local bus trips are approximately 10 SEK, with Chileans being quite loud

I learned from the guide in Puerto Natales that the average net salary in Chile is about €920 or just over 10,000 SEK, and for a waiter, it’s barely half of this, around €510 or 5550 SEK.

The roads outside the main highways, especially the Carretera Austral, are bad, very bad, and mostly gravel roads. I find the traffic to be fairly courteous. Most of the time, I am given the right of way when crossing a road.

Language, on the other hand, is a problem. If you don’t speak Spanish, which applies to me, you have to rely on the translation program on your phone… if you have internet connection, which is not always possible.
The standard is much lower than what we are used to. However, with the help of this and gestures, it works quite well.

Waste sorting is a phenomenon they have barely heard of; here, everything is thrown into the same bin. Almost no sorting, as far as I have noticed.
That’s why you see cans and PET bottles lying everywhere along streets and roads. In shops and larger stores, you see uniformed guards; there are quite a few of them. There may be five or six or more in a supermarket.

The weather is like a typical Swedish summer, warm days and really cold nights. The grass is wet every morning.

The nature is incredibly beautiful, with a lot of water, streams, and rivers, and amazingly beautiful snow-covered mountains. The lupines are growing like crazy down here, hardly an invasive species.
In the south, from Ushuaia upp to El Chalten it’s very flat, lots of head and crosswinds and the settlements are few

Dogs are everywhere, never seen so many. They don’t look starved, but they seem to be homeless in a strange way. They run loose on the streets and chase cars but seem to have some sort of control. Similarly, the drivers also seem to be aware of this.

Many dogs lie outside shops, sleeping or waiting to be petted and/or fed. They rarely go into the stores from what I have observed. Despite this, there are quite a few stores selling dog and cat food, so they are somehow taken care of. However, I feel sorry for them nonetheless.

Many places after Carretera Austral gets its, their income from tourism. Almost regardless of how small the community is, there are campgrounds with and without cabins, hostels, and hotels. There are probably 10 hostels for every hotel. Usually, there are three or four mini-markets, and they sell everything. One can ponder over how expiration dates are on various goods.

Talk to you later
P-G
//The Global Cyclist 1726