I made it....A El Fin Del Mundo

South America » Argentina » Tierra del Fuego » Ushuaia
February 5th 2007

Published: February 15th 2007

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Reedo

There are some advantages to sleeping in Hotel Tatoo in the middle of nowhere

When I woke up this morning this was the first thing I saw out the window of the ford. A very memorable experience for the both of us on our last day together.

Of the end of the world as we call it up north. Ushuaia, but wait Im getting ahead of myself. I left you all at Rio Gallegos which was the end of my travels in Tatoo and a sad time in giving her back to the airport. I actaully was pretty relieved as Im not sure how much more she could take on these gravel roads down here. This journal is a log one with lots of pics but well worth the time to read if you have a moment. Though it only covers around 8 days I cant believe how much happend. So far the best part of the trip for sure just due to how everything jsut kind of fell in place for me to perfection. Before long Im going to turn this traveling thing into a art.

Rio Gallegos

Not much going on in this town. I got down here after that trecherous journey to the north and was very relieved not to have anymore flat tires before I returned the rental car. When I got into town I booked my bus ticket to Rio Grande in Tierra Del Fuego and checked in at the local

The fox are running rampid around here

This was one of 3 foxes I was trying to sneek up on to get better pics. I guess I wasnt actually sneeking because they watched me come. I think the reason they let me get so close is I was the first redheaded gringo they have ever seen and they were pretty curious about it.

fishing shop to get the report. They told be the fishing was way better south so instead of screwing around her for any more time I went and changed my bus ticket, and drove a couple hours out of town to the Rio Gallegos which I would try for one morning of fishing before I headed south. Didnt catch a thing in the morning but had a great sunrise and saw a ton of fox running around and a couple were pretty photogenic. Having only one day in this area I took off to the Penguin reserve 3 hours south. After passing a couple million sheep, 10 fox, 50 Guanacos, and a bunch of Rheas I finally made it to my destination on the most southernly tip of continental argentina. They had a little entry where I had to pay a park fee and then had a walking trail around the whole colony. There were peguinas everywhere and I had my fair share within a couple feet. There pretty cool little critters especially when you get the up close and personal like I had with a couple young ones. After about a hour of checking them out I went up

A bridge over the Chico Gallegos River

I attempted to Fish the Rio Gallegos this morning and didnt catch anything which I got used to in the earlier parts of my trip. The wildlife around here more than made up for it though.

the the light house to get a few pictures and have lunch. I ended up eating with a couple from Califirnia who were visiting relatives in Argentina. The guy we were eating with had a ranch of 90000 acres near Calafate where the glacier was. That is alot of land. I asked him if there was anything to hunt there and unfortunatly the anwer was no. I ended up getting a pretty cheap hotel when I got back to town and a well needed shower and shave. I then returned the car got a taxi to the hotel and hit the hay.

The Bus Ride South.

Got to the Bus station around 830 and caught the bus around 900. We got about 20 miles out of town and then ended up pulling over on the side of the road for a couple hours with no explanation. Finally I asked what was going on and they said they were waiting for a passenger that was running behind. This is a good expample of south american efficiency. Wait two hours for one passenger and make a hundred wait. Good one. It was about a 8 hr trip crossing into Chile

Momma peguin and Happy Feet and his brother

This penguin breeding area was pretty amazing. I was within 10 feet of hundred of these things.

and Back into Argentina and crossing the straights of magellan on a ferry. It was a pretty enjoyable bus ride which finally got me to tierra del fuego the land of fire and the southern island of Argentina. I met some travelers and some argentine on the bus which made the time fly as I heard some good stories and practiced my spanish a bit. The weather was constantly changing during the day from sun to rain to wind to a little snow. It was really crazy at first, but I got use to these changes quickly as thats how it is down here. They joke that you get all four seasons in a day and that is the truth. I got into Rio Grande around 900 and that is where things got interesting.

Rio Grande

A little background. Now Rio Grande is only a tourist destination for one reason. Trout Fishing. It is the best in the world for sea run browns and is highly regulated and highly privatized to more extremes than I have ever seen or heard of. Most guides with lodging for for around 1000 usd a day and I wasnt about to pay

Was I interupting something

There are over 160K penguinos in this area. They are about 100 to 500 yards off shore in this little scrub brush. Not where youd expect them to be breeding and having there young.

that but was destined to fish here. The minute I got off teh bus I asked where the local fishing shop was and it turns out it was only a block away. After struggling with conversation here for about 10 min they sent me to the fly shop in town which had english speakers. A couple blocks down I was dissappointed to find this place closed. Now my only option was to find a hotel and figure things out in the morning. I hitched a cab and told her to take me to the the rental car agancy in town. Well she didnt seem to either understand me or know where one was so she took me to the nicest hotel in town to ask them. Now first the conversation started out as looking for a rental car and ended up into fishing ad beyond. After about 15 min I had everyone in the hotel and some locals all on the phone trying to help me out get a spot to fish in the River. At first they all told me its private and you cant even fish public water, but I just never accepted that as I knew there

No Fear

These babies had no fear of my I had the camera a foot from there face and I think they though I was going to feed them as the one in the front kept opening its mouth

was a way. After about a hour of this I finally got a spot to fish on the river, but then another better offer was thrown on the table. One of the guests at the hotel pipes in and tells me he is going fishing to his friend cabin a hr south of here tommorow and maybe hell talk to his buddy for me and see if I can go. At first I blew this off thinking that they will try and charge me for a guide or something and Id be better off on my own, but the more we talked I realized that they were just inviting me for free. They told me to meet them in teh Lobby at 9 and we would take off to the cabin from there. I have no idea how I fell into this but fate had something to do with it. I ended up meeting a guy working in town from Amsterdam at the hotel at some point during all this and he bought me dinner on the company card as I had soem great crab. Sooooo good. This hotel was by far the nicest I have stayed in yet but

This beard is really starting to itch

This is a shot over the straights of Magellen where the penguins are coming in from the ocean. There were a couple thousand all over this beach.

still only 50 usd a night. After a great night sleep I was ready to see what this next adventure had in store for me.

The Cabin

They didnt end up meeting my until around 945 and we hit the grocery store and then the road. It took about 2 and a half hours to get there most of which was going through 4 wheeler trails back in the sticks until all of the sudden there was the lake and a little ways across the bay I could make out a sole cabin. There is a guy that lives at the cabin year round who soon saw we were there and came over in this make shift fery to pick us up with all the gear. Despite how it looked it actually did the job well. We got in at around 200 and got everything settled in after a couple hours. Jorge told me to get my stuff ready at about 4 and we loaded up the 4 wheeler on the ferry and headed across the lake to the mainland. After about a hour ride we came out to a smaller lake somewhere in the sticks and drove

Near the lighthouse I came upon this sign

Thats a long ways. I drove over 2000 of that and have around 1000 more to go.

the 4 wheeler half way around in on the shore to where I started fishing. It was cold and windy, but I was excited and didnt let t get me down. In 4 hours of fishing from shore I hooked around 12 fish and landed 6. 2 of each speces of trout and all around 3 pounds. A great night of fishing for sure. By the end of it I was pretty chilled and awaiting the cozy cabin and the hot fire. Rossi, who was the guy that intitially hooked this thing up already had 3 good looking pizzas prepared when I got back in along with a sea food soup with a bunch of little octopus in it which was pretty good. We had some good convo a couple beers and of course wine and then I was beat and hit the sac. Didnt feel the need to get up to early in the morning and slept until about 10. Rossi left that day and afterwards we took the boat out fishing on the lake we stayed on. Saw some amazing scenary that day but only caught one fish. He told me that would be the case but that

From the top of the Lighthouse

I was able to climb to the top of the lighthouse over the straights of magellan and get some pretty good shots of the penguin colony and the beach on the Atlantic.

the fish typically are around 10 pounds, but youll only get one a day. One was enough for me as I was ready to get home and sample the brook trout we caught the day before. What a meal that was. We slept the night and left early n the morning for a nice drive back to rio grande.

High hopes for the Rio Grande

Like the rest of my fishing excursions I alway go into them with very high hopes and usually get let down. Well it happend again. In the afternnon I planned on fishing the famed Rio Grade. All I wanted was one big sea trout just one. Mother nature didnt cooperate too good with me though as the wind was like 40 mph and it was pretty tough to cast. That combined with the rver being very big and very flat made it tough to tell the most likely spots the fish would be. I fished hard for 4 hours, took some good pictures, and called it a night. Got a ride back to the hotel with some other fisherman and that was my experience fishing one of the best rivers in the world.

The Lighthouse

This was the lighthouse I went to the top of. I got a pretty good head rush going up the spiral stairs by the way.

Hitchhiking

I was really excited for my first experience hitchhiking. I did have a ticket already, but didnt want to use it. I figured hitchhiking would be much more of an adventure. It took me only a half hour to get my first hitch and I recognized I guy I saw in town hitching already in the truck. The guy that picked us up was hauling materials to his small home depot like business an hour south which got use half the way there. Had some good spanish convo and got some good stories from Marcos who has been traveling for 5 months without a dime. When we got to his business he offered usto stay for lunch and then bought us and his employees a huge asado with all sorts of grilled meats. We had a great lunch shooting the shit and taking turns trying to play the flute that marco used to make money when he needed some. It was a blast. After a about a hour of chilling out we made our way to the highway again to attempt to get hitch number 2. Right away when we got to the road we mat a

Finally some good shots of these things

They always seem to run full boar from the road whenever I pull up. I think animals have a natural instinct to run from me. They must smell the hunter in my blood. Anyways these are Guanacos, a llama like animal that runs wild in teh desert.

couple other guys that have hitched all the way here from BA. When they told us they have been waiting here for 5 hrs already with no takers I was like OHH shit. I signaled to Marcos that we better go further up the road and keep our fingers crossed for some better luck then those guys. And what do you know 10 min later a ride went right past those other guys and pulled over for us. How sweet it is.. Marcos and I fell asleep on the floor on this van that picked us up and before you knew it we had touched down in Ushuaia which is the farthest south city in the world.

Ushuaia

Having only two full days in this town I knew I had to work fast in order to make the most out of the trip. I quickly dropped my stuff at a hostel, went to a bunch of tour agencys and booked a boat in the beagle channed and a dive trip and then headed up on a chair lift to a mountain above the town. This was a really nice trip, but also exhausting as it was the most

Me after a very traumatic experience

Well I dont look cold do I, but only 30 min before in this same bay I was diving in some of the coldest water in the world. Around 40 degrees

work I have done on my whole trip so far. When I got back to the hostel I settled into the bustling dining room where there was about 15 other travlers cooking and having a couple beers. Ended up swapping stories with them for a few hours and got pretty intrigued by a climbers stories about everest and some other mountains he has climbed. I think Everest must be the most daring adventure left in the world as only like 50 or so people make it to the top a year out of like 2000 attempts. Not good odds of success. Maybe after Ive done everything else Ill have to try that one. Theonly problem is takes like 4 months and 100K. Better start playing thelottery more I guess. The next day I took the boat out on the channel which was a relaxing experience on the way out at least. The seas got a little rough going in especially up top where I took a bit of a beating, but got my moneys worth. We saw a bunch of comorants, sea lions, and fur seals. There was a big tour group from Britian on the boat with me that

Hitchhiking Again

These were my friends that picked me up when I had the urge to hitch hike around the national park. I got the grade A tour along with Mate and lunch for free. What a deal.

was on a big tour around argentina. Now I forgot to mention the night before on the way back from the chairlift I did the unthnkable. I finally paid for a fishing guide in argentina. After shooting the shit with the owner of the fly shop for a hour or so I figured what the hell, its only money and figured Id get to know the guy a bit and it would prove valuable on trips in the future.

The Fishing Trip

So Im all pumped up for this guided fishing trip this afternoon and hoping to finally catch a trout over 5 pounds down here. There ended up being 5 of us in the boat. A guide, the cook, and two guys from Europe. We pounds the water hard for 4 hours and only caught 2 fish and I got skunked. This time I wasnt one bit upset about not catching fish. FOr once the actual catching of the fish wasnt important to me. It was a great experience on a georgeous lake with good people and great food. What more can you ask for. I think this is one of the first times in my life

End of the road at the end or the earth

This was the end of route 3 which goes north to south across the whole country. Makes me really appreciate how far I have came.

where I have appreciated the experience more than the outcome. Maybe Im growing up a little out here. To make things worse or better depending how you look at it. The boat didnt start when were ready to go. Luckily the guy had a radio in the boat and was able to reach the highway patrol. After a couple minutes of talking they told him to tighten the battery terminals. Thanks for the tip, we already tried that like a half hour ago. Finally they got ahold of comeone with a smalll boat who came on the lake and brought a new battery. Thing is the boat started with the old one. Weird. After this mishap we headed over to the shore where the cook had a steak on the grill. The meal was great. When we dropped the cook off at shore he took a spinning rod with a big rapala on it. From shore he ended up catching 5 fish. I got a kick out of that one. Theres nothing like a rapala for trout. Thats for sure. So at this point things were running a little late and I was spent. Pulled into the hostel at around

View at the end of the road

This is a shot out into the Beagle Channel in the Tierra Del Fuego National Park.

1 in the morning and the guide told me I get a free trip next time I come down. Im pretty sure he doesnt realize that I will take him up on that.

Diving in Frigid Waters

The next morning had to get up around 830 to meet up with my diving instructor. Obviosly I was hardly prepared and with only 20 or so dives under my belt not really experienced enough to be diving in these frigid conditios, but screw it Ill figure it out. He gave me a nice jump suit for under my dry suit, which was definatly a must. With all this gear on I felt like a frickin astronaut. Now these dry suits do not cover your hands or head and you have to wear wet suit gloves and hood. The when I first went down to check my gear I wasnt sure if I was going to be able to bear the cold. The water on my bare face was the coldest thing I have ever felt hands down. Somhow I ended up holding it together for a 55 minute dive, but by the time I was done my head and face

The Mailman

This is in the national park and is the site of the post office at the end of the world. I got a cool stamp on my passport from the place.

were ready to fall off. Initially I was going to go on two dives, but due to me flying out later that day I could not. I told the instructor fly or no fly theres no way Im going in that water again. He was laughing about that for the next half hour. Must of thought I was a big puss or something. During the dive we saw tons of shell fish, star fish, 4 types of crabs and swam through a bunch of kelp. I would really prefer diving in the carribean over here, but Im glad I went.

Hacer Dedos in the National Park

We did the dive in the national park so it was only logical to continue expolration of this area and I figured what better way than to hitch hike. This time it was a little slower than before and took over a hour before I caught a ride, but it ended up being the perfect situation. A couple locals from Ushuaia were showing there friend from Buenos Aires around the park and the tour had just started. There offered me lunch and of course mate and were great company for the few

Beagle Channel

A shot of the Beagle Channed on route 3 going north out of Ushuaia.

hours we checked out all the sites. They even checked out the park reed style. You just drive through to every spot and take short hikes to see what you need to see and move along. Quick, efficient, and you still manage to see everything. Well mostly everything. After the 3 hour or so tour they dropped my off at the hostel, I got my gear and headed to the airport for my flight back to the big city of Buenos Aires.

So far so Good

Its really amazing how much more fun traveling is when you get off the beaten path a bit. Whether it is going fishing with locals, meeting local girls, or hitch hiking. Thats were the tru experience lies and what so many people miss. I probably would of too if I wouldnt of been so stubborn about fishing all these areas reguardless if I had a guide or not. What a trips its been thus far. Nothing short of amazing. This week ahead should be pretty chill as I just want to check out some stuff I missed in BA and get everything ready for the rest of my trip. Im sure something