Ushuaia

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I arrived in Ushuaia from El Calafate via LADE flight. During the summer season in Patagonia, it is difficult to find a flight down to Ushuaia from El Calafate, so I was lucky to have found a flight - it was actually less expensive to fly down there, as well as saving me two days on the bus. Touched down in Ushuaia, and as expected, it was cold and rainy even though it was the middle of January (yes, this is their summer season). Rocked up to the Freestyle hostel where I had a reservation. Very nice hostel, great staff, heated floors, and amazing views of the bay from both the common room and my dorm room. After dropping my pack, I went out to Kaupe restuarant for Fuegian Lamb, so amazing! Good start to Ushuaia.

I wound up spending four nights in Ushuaia and packed in a lot. Went on a long hike my first day, went to go see the Museo Fin del Mundo museum, and also spend almost an entire day at Museo Maritimo, which is the old prison that has been converted into a museum, as well as an art gallery. At this museum, I learned that Ushuaia was actually originally established as a penal colony by the Argentinians, modelled after the system the British set up in Australia. Ushuaia was regarded as an isolated and fierce land, and therefore there would be little risk that people would escape. There were actually cases in which prisoners escaped, only to come back a couple of days later, as there was really no place to run! The Fin del Mundo museum was also very interesting, as they had many artifacts from the Yamans (natives in the area), and explained about the interaction between the first explorers and those people. This was particularily interesting to me as I was in the middle of reading a novel called "This Thing of Darkness", a story about Darwin and Fitzroy and their exploration of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, including the story of Jemmy Button. I also got the chance to explore the glacier at Ushuaia, and went on a good hike up that mountain as well.

I actually was planning on spending five nights in Ushuaia, but was having some difficulty finding a flight or bus out of Ushuaia - to bus back to Buenos Aires would take about three days, and all the buses were full. Luckily, I found a last minute flight back up to Buenos Aires at an unbelievable rate, and hopped on that. Only downside was that it arrived in Buenos Aires at 2 am, but it was well worth it to get on a flight and save myself a few days of travel on a bus.

I'm glad that I visited Ushuaia. It was interesting to go somewhere so far out of the way. I was joking with my parents before I went to Ushuaia that I was literally going to "the ends of the earth" . . . . everytime I go on a big backpacking trip, my mother complains that I'm jaunting off to the ends of the earth, so this time I was able to tell her that it was actually true! I hope to one day return to Ushuaia and go on an Antartica cruise, would be an amazing thing to do one day!

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Comments

[spidermiss]

Looking forward to Ushuaia
Great blog! Look forward to going there at the end of the year.....thanks for the recommendations. Happy travels, Dawn