The day after my long time on a bus to and back Perito Moreno, I had a full day of travel to get to Ushuaia--the world´s furthest south city; consisting of 2 buses, a boat, and a minibus. I slept for most of the trip, so everytime I was awoken to spanish instructions as to what I had to do next or where I had to go, I was very confused and disoriented. Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago at the south of the continent that is shared by Chile and Argentina. To enter the island, you must take a boat that in Chilean territory, but once on Isla Grande, we crossed the border into the Argentine side, which Ushuaia is on. The crossing this time was a lot easier--we didn´t even have to get off the bus...the guy on the bus just took all our passports and papers (which was a bit sketchy), brought them all into the office and then came back with them all checked and stamped.
My first day there I ended up just walking around the city and exploring. The hostal I had stayed at was full for the following night, so I had to find a new one, and I found out about hikes I could do in the Parque nacional Tierra del Fuego. I also booked a tour to hike the Valle Andorra upto a glacier and then we would put on crampons and hike on the glacier!! I was so stoked! I also saw the memorial for the Islas Maldivas. And discovered that fresh fruit and veggies don´t exist that far south, and that the shitty stuff that's available is overpriced. Also, that Ushuaia is a super touristy city, full of people doing excursions to Antarctica, and doesn´t have too much character or a culture of its own.
I had decided to go hiking in the national park on my second day, but it was pouring! I went anyways, because I figured it would probably mean less people would be there, and I had already planned my day around going. I met this British girl and Porteño from the hostel at breakfast who were also going to the park, and we were happy to find we were the only ones on the bus transfer to the park. They did a hike around the shoreline, while I decided to hike up to Cerro Guanaco. It had been written about as really steep and challenging, but without a 20 kilo pack on my back, it didn´t seem difficult at all. I only ended up going up to the first mirador, as it was still pretty cloudy and the view wasn´t great. The park was nice, but it wasn't magical like Torres. I think if you lived in the area it would be a beautiful place to go on the weekends, but I didn´t need to go all the way to the "end of the world" to see it--we have parks that are nicer than it back home. It´s still pretty amazing how lush it was considering how far south it is and how harsh the climate is. But even though it´s the furthest south city in the world, it´s not as south as Belfast is north...
I went to the visitors centre while I was waiting for the shuttle back into town, and realized that the majority of visitors were out of shape middle-aged European and American tourists who were really happy to take a bus into nature for a bit for novelty of it, but had no interest in actually exploring the park. The three of us headed back into town after our hikes and just chilled out and watched a movie. That night we went to a bar where the Porteño knew some girls that lived there from back home and hung out, but holy fuck one of the girls spoke soooo fast! For the most part I knew what was going on and could participate in the conversation, but then she would open her mouth and it would just be like rbahgdfjahbsaughsdiua. I went home pretty early that night to get ready and have energy for my ice trekking on the glacier the following day!
So I woke up the next morning early, got all my stuff ready, went and had breakfast, only to find out that the company had called the hostal the previous night to advise that not enough people had signed up for the excursion so it was cancelled :( I was so bummed out! Besides how awesomely cool the trek would have been, I also didn't find this out until like 845am, making it kind of hard to plan any other activities for my final day there. I ended up finding out about some half day horseback riding excursions you can do though, so I signed up for that in the afternoon, and for the hostel's Asado in the evening!
The horseback riding was super fun, but sooo windy (welcome to tierra del fuego). We got on some mountains overlooking the city, and then went all the way down to the shore. I don't think anyone else in the group had ever been on a horse before, so our pace at first was really slow--there was one girl who didn{t want to kick her horse everytime it stopped to eat as she didn't want to hurt it, which held us up a lot. I got up ahead to the front though, and once our guide saw that I was comfortable on a horse, he let me gallop up ahead of the group and circle back around a few times which was fun.
The asado was sooo much meat. Like ridiculous amounts of meat. And a tiny bit of bread and lettuce. and then more copious amounts of meat. It was fun though, and an Aussie in my room and a couple french guys ended up hanging out at the asado and then heading upto the chilling out room with a gorgeous view afterwards to have some more drinks. It was definitely a fun final night in the city.
view of the city from my second hostel
My first day there I ended up just walking around the city and exploring. The hostal I had stayed at was full for the following night, so I had to find a new one, and I found out about hikes I could do in the Parque nacional Tierra del Fuego. I also booked a tour to hike the Valle Andorra upto a glacier and then we would put on crampons and hike on the glacier!! I was so stoked! I also saw the memorial for the Islas Maldivas. And discovered that fresh fruit and veggies don´t exist that far south, and that the shitty stuff that's available is overpriced. Also, that Ushuaia is a super touristy city, full of people doing excursions to Antarctica, and doesn´t have too much character or a culture of its own.
view of the park from cerro Guanaco
Overlooking Ushuaia
I went to the visitors centre while I was waiting for the shuttle back into town, and realized that the majority of visitors were out of shape middle-aged European and American tourists who were really happy to take a bus into nature for a bit for novelty of it, but had no interest in actually exploring the park. The three of us headed back into town after our hikes and just chilled out and watched a movie. That night we went to a bar where the Porteño knew some girls that lived there from back home and hung out, but holy fuck one of the girls spoke soooo fast! For the most part I knew what was going on and could participate in the conversation, but then she would open her mouth and it would just be like rbahgdfjahbsaughsdiua. I went home pretty early that night to get ready and have energy for my ice trekking on the glacier the following day!
Ushuaia from the viewpoint we rode to
So I woke up the next morning early, got all my stuff ready, went and had breakfast, only to find out that the company had called the hostal the previous night to advise that not enough people had signed up for the excursion so it was cancelled :( I was so bummed out! Besides how awesomely cool the trek would have been, I also didn't find this out until like 845am, making it kind of hard to plan any other activities for my final day there. I ended up finding out about some half day horseback riding excursions you can do though, so I signed up for that in the afternoon, and for the hostel's Asado in the evening!
The asado was sooo much meat. Like ridiculous amounts of meat. And a tiny bit of bread and lettuce. and then more copious amounts of meat. It was fun though, and an Aussie in my room and a couple french guys ended up hanging out at the asado and then heading upto the chilling out room with a gorgeous view afterwards to have some more drinks. It was definitely a fun final night in the city.
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