Christmas in Ushuaia.

As planned we are all in Ushuaia for Christmas, parked at the extremely friendly La Pista del Andino Camping (S54.812393 W68.350368).

In summer the campsite uses the buildings and facilities of the Andino Ski Club. The site is quite small and there are only a limited number of level pitches. Because many overlanders converge on Ushuaia in December and January it is recommended to book a couple of weeks in advance for Christmas and New Year.

The site has a cozy bar that serves some food, laundry facilities and 220 volt hook-up It is surrounded by a typical Fueguian forest and offers a spectacular view of Ushuaia Bay and the Beagle Channel (out of the rear window of Mog).

Most importantly the site serves Christmas dinner (albeit on the evening of the 24th).

Merry Christmas from everybody on PanAm 2006!

The main activity here, other than eating and drinking, is comparing notes with other overlanders about routes and vehicles.

Below are photographs of most of the overland vehicles parked here. About 70% are from Germany, and often say so in large letters on the front. The most popular chassis manufacturer is Mercedes (about 50%) with Toyota in second place. There are also a couple of Land-Rovers, a DAF truck, a Datsun demountable, a Scam from Italy, a 4x4 Iveco and a 4x4 VW. Most of the "proper" campervans are Hymers (not shown).

Rather surprisingly three of the most interesting trucks were built by one small German manufacture call Füss, with Mr. Füss driving one of them (above, fourth row, right). See www.fuess-mobile.de for more details, but only in German.

The demountable (above, second row right) was built by another German manufacture, Bimobil who also make a very interesting overland campervan the EX 480. See www.bimobil.com for more details.

One vehicle that has attracted a lot of attention (above, second row, centre), also built in Germany, combined a well insulated box built Woelcke mounted on a 4x4 Mercedes 815D chassis. See www.woelcke.de for more details.

Below are a few late arrivals.