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Published: March 11th 2007
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We had decided as a snap decision when we were staying in La Paz to book a trip down to the Southern most city in the world, Ushuaia. Little did we know (or perhaps we are just stupid) how cold it would be down there. It actually wasn't that cold by European or Candanian standards because it is summer at the moment but we were shocked when we walked off the plane to find it snowing outside. Our one pair of trackies each and thin jumpers just weren't going to cut it in 2 degrees so luckily we had bought those daggy beanies in Peru! The snow was actually a bit of a freak blip in Ushuaia and the weather was fairly pleasant from then on (about 10 degrees).
The town itself is really gorgeous with the Beagle Channel, which connects to the ocean, on one side and the snow capped Andes towering over the other side.
On our first full day in Ushuaia we did a four wheel driving trip over the Andes to a lake nearby. Bryce was in heaven as the car heaved over the most impossible muddy tracks. We were a little concerned when half
way through, the driver decided to get out of the car while it was still moving and put it in auto pilot but it was all just for show. The highlight of the day was actually lunch in a little hut looking over the lake. It was a looonnngg lunch with as much wine and food as we could eat. Bryce had a steak sandwich for an entree and then another huge steak for main plus heaps of salad and nibbles to start with and a never ending supply of vino. Needless to say we didn't eat dinner that night!
We decided to get active on the second day so we did tour through the national park, Tierre del Fuego. We started off by trekking for about 3 and a half hours. The walk was not hard, the challenging part was not getting our only warm clothes covered in mud! After the walk we had another great lunch for the second day in a row, again with plently of wine. After lunch we went canoeing on the lake where Bryce complained the whole time that Georgie was not paddling hard enough. With pictureque mountains framing the lake, who wants
to paddle when there is so much to look at!
We had dinner that night at a resturant overlooking looking the Beagle Canal, again the views were spectular and the wine was even better (notice a reoccuring theme????)
On our final day in Ushuaia we trekked up to the top of the mountians behind Ushuaia to go in search of the Martial Glacier. After walking for what seemed like hours at a gradient of 45 degrees, we realised that we were looking at the glacier. It wasn't impressive at all and we were quite disappointed because it was covered in snow. The positive side though was that the view from the top looking down on the city was really amazing and with the sun shining, we were almost warm!
We spent that night either on aeroplanes or in airports waiting for aeroplanes in an attempt to get to Mendoza. We arrived at about 9am and settled comfortably into our 4 star hotel. After sleeping in youth hostels with shared bathrooms, terrible pillows and crappy stale breakfasts, we found ourselves in heaven with big fluffy pillows, dressing gowns, a never ending supply of toiletries and a free chocolate
before we went to bed each night!
On Saturday (Georgie's Birthday), after a satisfying gourmet buffet breakfast, we started our private guided winery tour of 4 of Mendoza's best wineries. Mendoza is most famous for its Malbec but it also has an excellent diverse range of reds and whites and we had a fair go at sampling a lot of them! The highlight of the day was lunch which was a 4 course delicious meal with at least one different type of wine per dish. As we sipped on our Malbec feeling quite sophisticated, we were treated to a beautiful view of the vines with the Andes as a backdrop. After our final winery we were feeling quite proficient (and just a little bit tipsy) in all things to do with wine having learnt a great deal about the wine making process and how to tell a good drop from 'bulk plonk' (it's all in the first sniff and sip!).
For dinner we ate at the best seafood resturant in town and then had a surprise when the hotel delivered a complimentary chocolate mud cake to our room! It was a fantastic way to spend a 24th birthday!
Today is our last day in Mendoza and our second last day in South America. Tomorrow we hop on an 8 hour bus to Santiago and then catch our flight home in the evening.
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ana and tim
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congrats on your b'day giorgie, you seemed to have had a good one. we are so glad you've enjoyed the trip. maybe we just feel like proud parents showing off their baby!!!!! south america really is agreat place. hope we can catch up when you're home. enjoy the flight back home!!!!