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Published: March 12th 2007
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For us it was a hassle to get here. Our plane should have left at 8:30 am from Buenos Aires. When we got to the airport, we were told that our plane would now leave at 4:30 pm instead. And apparently this is quite common. We weren't too bothered. We checked in our luggage and went back to town. Had lots of coffee and went to a couple of internet cafes. We arrived back at the airport at 2 pm, checked in and went for a walk. The airport is next to the ocean and people were fishing from a nearby park.
The flight left on time. As usual we suffered from inconsiderate passengers. This weird Japanese guy behind us had ants in his pants and couldn't stop playing with his tray. This flight took nearly 4 hours and once we arrived it was a quick taxi ride to the B & B we had booked. It was about 9 pm. Isabel, our Argentinian friend, had also just arrived. It was lovely to see her again. Her boyfriend, Marcio, was also with her. Once we had settled in we went to a lovely restaurant for dinner and had a
long chat. People in South America eat really really late so the restaurant was quite busy up until midnight.
We stayed at Alba's house (247 Belakamain St). Our room had a window facing town and the mountains behind, so our first view of Ushuaia was of a beautiful clear day, snow on the mountains and the wonderful variety of colour in the town. A little bit out of town but still within walking distance. Ushuaia fills up fast in the summer time so it is best to book early if want somewhere nearer the center. The Alba is quite a comfortable and friend place to stay. We had a shared bathroom but that was fine. Free internet, simple breafast. The guy running it is very useful for information.
Ushuaia is the southern most city in the world. It is situated between a mountain range and the Beagle strait. In the summer time it is full of tourists. Lots of cruise ships, some going to Antarctica. The town is quite pretty with lots of colourful buildings, but there is a lot of development going on that is likely to ruin the look of it. Lots of people come here
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Isabel, Marcio and Pieter for trekking.
While in Ushuaia you absolutely must visit the Prison Museum. So far on our trip, this is the best museum. This prison was started in 1903. It was finished in 1920. It was built by the prisoners themselves in extremely harse conditions. The most dangerous convicts in Argentina were sent here. The first serial killer and the first mass murderer. The museum has 5 wings, one wing is left as it was orginally so you could feel the cold and miserable atmosphere. Another wing was a museum of the prison, every cell with a display or a story inside and how they lived and suffered. They also talked about some of the infamous prisoners. There is also an art gallery, maritime museum and antarctic area.
There is a small museum in town about the Yamana people who were the original inhabitants of the Ushuaia region. They ran around naked except for a loin cloth. To keep the cold away they smeared themselves with fat from penguins. They eat penguins, mussels, and sea lions. The museum itself explains in detail how they lived and how they died off. There is only one original left. It is worth
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Nice looking cabins. Bit pricey? going if you are interested to know about the Yamana people. The museum used to be a house. When you go to the loo you are welcomed by a 70s style bathroom, with a bath. A bit odd but funny.
Good for a quick visit is the Local Museum. This was a little museum, a former bank. It has stuffed animals, an old general store, talks about the prison and the explorers and the native people. Also talks about a ship that sank in 1930 with 1500 people on board. No one died except for the captain. If you have time to spare, have a look otherwise don't bother.
We decided to rent a car to get to Tolhuin. It was much cheaper than local transport or organised tourist buses. We drove about 100 km out of Ushuaia, over a mountain range. It was so beautiful, lots of peat bogs. At Tolhuin, we first went to the lake. There was no one else around and we just went for a walk by the water. Next to the lake were some luxury cabanas. It would be lovely to stay there but we would hate to know how much it
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The best bakery for miles is.
Marcio and Isabel knew of a wonderful bakery in town so went there for some delicious factura (pastries). Pieter had a vanilla coffee that was very nice. The whole bakery was full of photos of the owner with famous people from Argentina. The bakery is a common stop on the way by road to Ushuaia. At the back of the bakery was an enclosure with a number of animals inside including a beaver and 2 toucans. It was a bit sad.
We still had the car the next day so took the short drive from Ushuaia to the National Park. Really good roads but that also meant they were clogged with big nasty tourist buses from the cruise ships. We had to pay 20 pesos as foreigners. Locals pay 3 pesos. Bahia Ensenada is a popular stop for the buses. It is a beautiful lake and there is a post office, supposedly the southern most in the world. Of course, we sent a postcard. The wild life was amazing. We saw lots of animals - ducks, geese, horses (probably escaped from a nearby field), rabbits (who are a plague) and a fox (who gave Pieter a bit
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Rae and the rental of scare). We didnĀ“t see any beavers although we saw their magnificent dams and the damage they did to the landscape. Most of what we saw was introduced. We went for a walk next to Lake Roca for about 1 hour. It was worth doing. The Lake is much quieter than other parts of the park.
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