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Published: February 17th 2007
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Ross:
This place is pretty cool, the “city” nestles at the foot of the mountains in a natural bay of the Beagle Channel. It's quite picturesque.
We got settled into our hostel, Alba's house, this place was great a bit quiet but cosy and kind of homely, super comfy beds and probably the best included breakfast we've had scince arriving in Argentina (Argentine's don't really seem to go in for the breakfast thing, couple of medialunes that aren't quite as good as croissants; just not buttery enough). Alba and her son spend ages with you giving you plenty of ideas for stuff to do and are wonderfully helpful.
Apparently we'd brought some good weather with us from El Calafate as the sun was out and Alba told us it had been raining solid for the last 2 weeks. As the weather was nice we headed up to Ushuaia's “glacier” (there's a lot of these dubious claims going around down here). It was little more than a big snow field on the top of a mountain. Still a nice ride on a ski lift, a stroll through some woods, superb views out over the Beagle Channel and a snow ball fight
made the trip worth while. Although Claire will probably be inclined to disagree as during an atempt at getting an action shot of me throwing snow balls (in all honesty) I accidently smacked her square in the forehead which she was none to happy about. I found incredibly funny which made Claire angrier which made it funnier still. No amount amount of protesting innocence was going to convince Claire it wasn't deliberate.
Had a wonderful sea food dinner in a reteruant called Volver, the king crab soup's fantastic, also they have a massive king crab as a pet in a tank which is a bit sick as everyone in the place is munching on its brethren.
Next day it was off on an another catamerran (thankfully this time considrably smaller and less crowded) for a tour of the Beagle Channel. Saw some sealions, got close to a penguin colony and saw lots of cormarents - an altogether relaxing day. Next day was Claires birthday and we'd decided to go canoeing and trekking in the national park. Luckily we were the only 2 people on the trip and got a personal guide to ourselves for the day. We started with
tiny glacier 3
this is the 'glacier' in the background. looks a bit dinky to me but then we've been spoiled for glaciers.. a short canoe trip from Logo Roca , down a river to were it emptied in to the Beagle Channel. This was pretty sedate after the whitewater rafting but you got some nice senery and it was very relaxing. Then a couple of photo ops at some signs telling you you're at the end of the world and it was off on a hike for a couple of hours through the forest of native beech. Seen some cool stuff along the way; best of all was a patch of ground that was like a water bed you could stand on it and set it wobbling but no water would come up through the earth which was solid and a big purple spider on the beach (there's not any record of any spiders in the national park). Our guide seemed to enjoy this trek as much as we did as we kept finding new things she'd never seen before. The trek ended at the worlds southernmost post office, I hadn't brought my passport but Claire got a really cool stamp that takes up a whole page of her passport. I had to settle for a stamp from the post office back
in Ushuaia. Fair enough its not quite as good but mine didn't cost me 3 Pesos.
We rounded off Claires birthday with a meal at Kaupe. This restaurants a gem which most people might miss as its a fair walk up hill out of town but its well worth it. We went for the tasting menu: me the taste of the sea and Claire the taste of the earth. 4 courses of truly sublime food accompanied by very good free flowing wine (this is probably the first time I've drunk wine with a meal and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but then even the cheap wine here tastes good, thats not to say this wine was cheap though).
Tomorrow it's back to BA again which is probably just as well as the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worst, it'll be good to get back to some heat and get working on the tan again.
Claire:
Ushuaia - the end of the world! or so they say. theoretically this is the southernmost city in the world (unless you count the chilean naval town puerto williams, which of course argentines dont) but the climate was still pretty
tiny glacier 5
this is the throw that whacked me in the forehead. ross is evil. mild. the city itself wwas a strange mix of industrial, shabby and upmarket buildings, with big new hotels and fancy tourist restaurants alongside corregated iron warehouses and tacky souvenier shops.
our boat tour of the beagle channel was quite nice, very relaxed compared to our glacier boat tour in el calafate and with about a quarter of the number of people on a slightly smaller boat. they really didnt try to ram everyone into this boat and the inside was comfy and spacious, which made the trip all the more relaxing. lots of penguins were spotted and i took way to many photos of the cute little things.
the next day was my birthday (woo!) and we had booked a canoeing and trekking day in the national peak tierra del fuego. our guide was great, very friendly and informative and it was nice to have her to ourselves instead of having a group of 8 or so people with us. the canoeing was a bit gentle for my liking but the trekking was good with lots of mud and amazing views. after a hard days walk a nap was required (i really am getting old..) before we went to
tiny glacier 6
the view back out over the beagle channel kuape for dinner. as ross said the food was fantastic and the wine was indeed free-flowing. ross is now convinced he's truly getting old as he can enjoy some wine with a meal. i'm happy about it though as our next stop is mendoza, where the best malbec in the country comes from. a boyfriend who will drink the tasty wine means i can get a bottle with dinner without having to worry that ill keel over drunk before i finish it and waste both wine and money. yay for wine drinking ross!
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