It´s the end of the world (as we know it!)

And the residents of the southernmost city in the world, where I´m currently residing, never let you forget it either. Ushuaia proudly boasts that this is indeed the end of the world. It´s the last permanently inhabited town before you hit the Antarctic. Presumably there´s a northernmost town too, possibly it exploits its location just as much as Ushuaia does, maybe it needs to just as much as this place does. This little town has little else that could draw as many tourists to it as it does. From the huge roadsign as you enter the city to the dozens of gift shops bursting with naff souvenirs, Ushuaians have wisely exploited their location. From here it´s a mere hop, skip and a jump in travel terms (745 miles to be exact) to the Antarctic. It´s where the majority of tours to the worlds coldest continent begin (I´m saving that for another time as it´s hideously expensive). Given that proximity it´s surprising how mild it is here - 15C yesterday. I haven´t even needed to unpack my thermals.

So to backtrack a week or so. After leaving the Fitzroy mountain range we moved onto the much prettier town of El Calafate five hours away to stand and witness one of the worlds few advancing glaciers - the Perito Moreno glacier. Most of them are now receding due to global warming (hence rising sea levels), this one has maintained its size and also moves 2m a day, quite a distance. Billed as both a visual and auditory spectacle this glacier didn´t disappoint. Unfortunately the pictures don´t do it justice. You´ll just have to trust me when I say the glacier in the picture is over 55m high (and that´s just what you can see above sea level) and the section in this picture is over 2km wide. At it´s widest it is 5km. On approaching the glacier we were all taken aback by what sounded like a low rumble of thunder. It was just another chunk of the glacier crashing into the water. A normal occurance every 10-15 minutes or so. Sometimes it´s not visible, the fissure occuring deep inside the glacier, sometimes if we were lucky it was on the outside and a large chunk would drop with a crash, fizzing and sending shockwaves through the water surrounding it. Very cool.

Leaving glaciers behind we headed to the next spectacular area of Patagonia. This part of the world seems to have been particularly blessed with spectacularity (a new word I like to think). We crossed the border once again to Torres del Paine national park in Chile, an absolutely beautiful place known for its challenging trekking - most of which I was unfortunately unable to do. I had totally buggered up both my knees on our previous 12 hour walk and have been suffering very painfully ever since. So while almost all the group went off on a two day trek through parts of the park, I had to swallow my annoyance at my own bodys limitations and take it easy. I decided it wasn´t worth risking doing permanent damage to my knees (the severe shooting pains would have made it miserable anyway) and wanted to save myself for day three when I was hoping to join them for what was described as the "must do" 8 hour hike in Torres del Paine. It´s strange, but just as an 11 hour bus journey in this part of the world no longer phases me, yet 4 hours up the M1 always felt like a complete slog, now when someone suggests walking for 8 hours my reply is "cool, sounds good". Just six months ago the mere thought of such exertion would have made me feel faint. Still, I´ve met a few other travellers who´ve said this continent has done exactly the same to them, so it´s not just me. No need to worry though, I´m a long way off being a fitness freak yet.

Still, I and a few others managed to sedately explore the areas round our campsite, you couldn´t ask for a more picturesque location and thankfully we were blessed with beautiful weather. Day 3 arrived and I was still suffering, but the pain be damned, I´d have gone stir crazy sitting around another day in a place where all there really is to do is walk. I managed the 8 hours, painfully, and slower than most of the group (something that never sits well with my personality). But I could comfort myself that I had at least managed to see a bit more of this lovely place.

From Torres del Paine we then drove for two days solid to arrive here in Ushuaia. I had previously thought I would come back to England having lost weight (my numerous bouts of food poisoning being the main cause of that), but given the amount of rubbish I´m eating on our drive days I think I could actually come back bigger. Some of the girls here are a VERY bad influence. I´ve never known anyone talk about and eat so many cakes, chocolate bars and crisps as Leanne and Gemma do!

So having reached the southernmost city in the world the only thing to do rather than buy shit nacks (as Marielle, my former co-volunteer in Ecuador, excellently describes them) is explore the area. I may have been a tad harsh about Ushuaia. The town is pretty ugly but you can see the end of the Andes mountain range from here, there is Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) national park for those who want to walk more (not me - my knees couldn´t cope) and the very famous Beagle Channel. Now I could bore you with the history of the Beagle (the boat which took Darwin to the Galapagos) and whose captain also discovered this channel but I´m sure you have much better things to do with your time. Suffice to say "This Thing of Darkness" by Harry Thomson is the best historical novel I have ever read - bookworms reading this must buy it. And I have now sailed along this channel, something I had really wanted to do. I´ve spent the rest of my time here enduring the painfully slow and frustrating process of trying to upload photos and write emails on the web while crossing my fingers that the computer wouldn´t crash for the fourth time. Still I suppose I shouldn´t really complain. After all, I am at the end of the world....

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