The end of the world?


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South America » Argentina » Tierra del Fuego » Ushuaia
January 30th 2008
Published: February 3rd 2008
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Hurtigruta!? Har jeg kommet feil??Hurtigruta!? Har jeg kommet feil??Hurtigruta!? Har jeg kommet feil??

Hurtigruta har faktisk et par baater her nede... Cruise til Antarktis fra Ushuaia

Ushuaia; the end of the world??



A mix of english and norwegian will follow in this entry, so be patient

Have you seen that I have started to use Bold Text, Italic Text, headings and other fancy stuff in the blog entries by the way.... cool!?




Fredag 25. Januar

Etter aa ha levd paa pasta med tomat og avocado i en uke, gikk jeg paa en smell i dag....! I alle fall med tanke paa backpacker budsjettet som blinker hissig roedt naar jeg naermer meg noe som koster unoedvendig mye penger.... Etter aa ha reist siden seks i dag tidlig og en litt for sein kveld i gaar (eller rettere sagt i dag morres..), ble jeg noedt til aa lokalisere naermeste restaurant med respekt for seg selv. Les: digre saftige biffer er tilgjengelig for en respektabel pris. Etter aa ha intatt to! medium stekte pepperbiffer, kan jeg naa senke meg ned i sofaen i tredjeetasje, med en flott utsikt utover bukta og opp i fjellene, og la magen faa anledning til a vise hva den duger til. Men, men... det er ikke den verste smellen aa gaa paa! Og jeg holdt meg under 100-lappen for herligheten, saa det ble ikke totalsprekk : )


The end of the world

It´s statement they are proud of down here... but is actually the end of the world? No, sorry argentinian people, Puerto Williams, a naval settlement in Chile are situated more south! But "everybody" thinks that Ushuaia is the worlds most south-placed city. Probably because of better marketing, and the fact that this is as far south as the highway goes; RN 3 ends at Bahia Lapataia, 3242 km from Buenos Aires. And it probably helps that the main cruiseship-traffic to the Antarctic starts from the port here.
The Antarctic is just a 1000 km from here and it´s loads of departures available. But the prices are stiff! I found a "last minute ticket" for 4200 USD for a 9 days tour. That didn´t fit my budget, so no antarctica for me I´m afraid. It wasn´t a part of my plan anyway so it´s not a big deal. But just think about the feeling coming home and I say that you have been down there! Dreams......


Saturday 26th of january

After beeing around in Ushuaia to check the oportunities for transport to Puerto Williams, I now agree with the people here that this is the end of the world. They charge you 100 USD, one way, for a 2 hour boatride, so they probably don´t want any visitors out there : ) No, I´m just kidding. The reason is probably that the Argentinians don´t want Puerto Williams to "steal" all the tourists, so they charge people that much not to go over. The political relations between Argentina and Chile is not really god either, so that could be another reason....
I booked a bus ticket to Punta Arenas instead. that was only 125 pesos (40 USD) and in the right direction (north) : )
I´m going out trekking tomorrow with a guy from Australia. It´s a 4 day trek in the Argentin Fuegian Andes which is supposed to be really nice. And it´s not a "highway-trek" so I think it is quit a nice wilderness out there.

Ushuaia means: "bay that runs to the west" in the language of the indigenous Yaghan people



Tierra Del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego, "land of fires" is actually an island , and the largest of them in South America. It got its name from distant shoreline campfires, seen by passing ships, that the Yaghan people tended.
It´s an exstension of the Patagonian mainland. The northern half is devoted to sheep grazing and oil production on arid steppeland, but further south the land changes into
Che is everywhere.... also in the end of the worldChe is everywhere.... also in the end of the worldChe is everywhere.... also in the end of the world

It´s a long while since I was in Cuba now, but Che is following me all the way : )
shallow lakes and extensive peat bogs before meeting with what remains of the Andean Cordillera.
The Island is divided between Chile and Argentina, which started to scuffle about the boarders in the mid 1800´s and didn´t resolve their problems before 1984!


The Sierra Valdivieso curcuit, thursday 30th of january

I´m afraid it´s not gonna be any pictuers from this trip... I think I have got a virus on my memory card, so the computer doesn´t want to open it.... I have tried on several computers and asked people around, but I think these pictures are lost : (

I have now been out for 4 days, and done a nice trek in the Argentine Fuegian Andes. I actually didn´t go to the Parque Tierra del Fuego, when I think that main attraction is very touristy!
We took a taxi a bit outside Ushuaia and startet with another trek actually. A day-trip trek to Laguna Esmeralda, and after that we took a shortcut over to the main trek we were planning to do. The Sierra Valdivieso curcuit. This trek was mainly open trekking through clearings and moors, or above the tree line and through a couple of passes and tiny valleys.
The landscape here is actually very similar to the nature I´m used to back home.
One thing I´m not used to is all the beaver activity we could see on this trek. They was making a big mess by damming up almost everything from small tarns to bigger lakes. And of course cutting down a lot of trees around. It didn´t look pretty. To bad I can´t get those pictures on.
Anyway, we had 4 days of excellent weather, and we had three days without seeing other people! A good start of my "trekking-tour" through Patagonia : )

Tomorrow I will put my ass on a bus-seat again and travel north to Punta Arenas in Chile.









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11th February 2008

Reiseglade mennesker!
Jeg hoerte rykter om at du og Espen var paa tur! Jeg skal kikke innom bloggen! Jeg jobber med nye innlegg naa, saa det skal forhaapentligvis ut de naermeste dagene : ) Er helt enig hans og din filosofi: At vi koser oss i Afrika og Amerika og at han holder landet i gang der hjemme : )
11th February 2008

Så, så mine herrer!
Ser at det begynner å bli en dialog her jeg ikke liker:) Å se deres bilder og lese det dere opplever vekker ikke misunnelse fordi jeg unner dere alt godt. Kanskje vekkes litt mer vemod over alt jeg ikke har sett. Dere skriver bra gutter og det er godt å se at du er vel tilbake Magnus fra rundturen. Kanskje vi skal prøve en prat på skype før du reiser videre?? I morgen kveld kanskje??

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