Chilean Tierra del Fuego’s main town, Porvenir sits on a sheltered harbor on the east side of the Strait of Magellan. Local settlement dates from the 1880s, when the area experienced a brief gold rush, but stabilized with the establishment of wool estancias around the turn of the century.,/p>

After the wool boom fizzled in the 1920s, it settled into an economic torpor that, appropriately enough, has left it a remarkable assortment of corroding metal-clad Magellanic buildings. The construction of a salmon-processing plant has jump-started the local economy, and it’s a much more presentable place than in the recent past.

Porvenir’s inner harbor is a great place for spotting kelp geese, gulls, cormorants, steamer ducks, and other seabirds, but the lack of public transportation to the Argentine border has marginalized the town’s tourist sector—all buses from the mainland to Argentine Tierra del Fuego take the longer Primera Angostura route, which involves a shorter and more frequent ferry crossing. Small local enterprises have begun to provide access to parts of the archipelago that, up to now, have only been accessible through expensive cruises.

Only 30 nautical miles east of Punta Arenas, Porvenir (pop. 4,734) occupies a protected site at the east end of Bahía Porvenir, an inlet of the Strait of Magellan. Its port, though, is three kilometers west of the town proper.

From Porvenir Ruta 215, a smooth gravel road, leads south and then east along the shore of Bahía Inútil to the Argentine border at San Sebastián, 150 kilometers away; an interesting alternate route leads directly east through the Cordón Baquedano before rejoining Ruta 215 about 55 kilometers to the east. If it’s too late to catch the ferry back to Punta Arenas, another gravel road follows the coast to Puerto Espora, 141 kilometers to the northeast.

Getting There

Porvenir has regular but infrequent connections to the mainland but none to the San Sebastián border crossing into Argentina; those with their own vehicles (including bicyclists) will still find this a shorter route from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia.

Aerovías DAP (Manuel Señoret s/n and Muñoz Gamero, tel. 061/580089) operates air taxi service to Punta Arenas (US$31) at least daily, often more frequently.

Tuesday and Friday at 4 p.m., there’s a municipal bus from the DAP offices on Señoret to Camerón and Timaukel (US$2, 2.5 hours), in the southwestern corner of the island; another goes to Cerro Sombrero (US$4.50, 1.5 hours) at 5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Zavattaro 432.

In the same office as DAP, Transbordadora Broom (Manuel Señoret s/n, tel. 061/580089) sails the car-passenger ferry Melinka to Punta Arenas (2.5 hours) daily except Monday, seas permitting. The ferry leaves from Bahía Chilote, about three kilometers west of town. Adult passengers pay US$7 per person except for the drivers, whose own fare is included in the US$45 charge per vehicle (motorcycles pay US$14). Children cost US$3.50 each.