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Published: February 23rd 2008
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Ushuaia bills itself as ´El Fin del Mundo´ (the end of the world), despite not actually being the southernmost town (the Chilean town of Puerto Williams is slightly south of here), and more importantly, not displaying any evidence of the Legion of the Undead devouring the flesh of the living, which I´m fairly certain will accompany the end of the world. (It´s taken me 4 months of travel to mention zombies in this blog - how´s that for restraint?)
Finally after several months of scorching sunshine, volcanoes, and gorgeous beaches (you really hate me now, right?) we have arrived in the polar south of Argentina. It felt really good to get on the fleeces and jackets that we´ve been forlornly carting about for the last 18 weeks... for about 10 minutes. Then I wanted the sun back.
Two things have struck me about southern Patagonia so far... It´s quite beautiful, and it costs a bomb. This is noticeable by the fact that most of the holiday makers here seem to be of the affluent ´packed the kids off to uni´age, meaning that trails over 4km are described in the maps as ´medium difficulty´, you can´t get a pint of
Splash!
Only louder beer for under 2 quid, and we´re about the youngest folk around for the first time on the trip - woop.
I´ve also had my second bout of food poisoning in a month. This would have been more annoying if it doesn´t save a fortune in food costs!
However, it´s not all bad! The scenery here is pretty much stunning, at least the bits that nature has been responsible. Unfortunately man has had a hand in things. As a result much of Ushuaia is as pretty as a picture (of a formal penal colony-come-naval base, reminding me of my charming home town). So we have beautiful snowcapped peaks, a brilliant azure blue beagle channel, and a load of stinking ugly factories - do they make them any other way?
That said, it doesn´t take too long to escape the town and make it out into the wilderness. Despite the food poisoning, we managed to make it up the Glaciers, and into the national park of Tierra del Fuego. This has to be one of the best places for hiking I´ve been... Fantastic enchanted forest style trees, an amazing coastline and beach, with snowcapped peaks in the background.
However, when the wind blows from the south, it´s coming straight from the Antarctic, meaning that´s it´s quite literally cold, in the truest and coldest meaning of the word.
We´ve also been staying in the most amusing bed and breakfast I´ve seen. Despite being some several thousand miles from blighty, it seemed to have been furnished straight out of those dodgy adverts you get at the back of the Mail on Sunday magazine (should you be unfortunate enough to have read it). Coupled with a slightly bonkers landlady, and what Natalie described as a ´lilliputian´breakfast. Now we were warned that the Argentinians don´t do big breakfasts. In this B&B they interpreted this to mean taking a perfectly generous brekkie (complete with yogurt drink, cereal, toast, cake fruit juice etc), and then going to the trouble of zapping it with a shrink ray. Tea spoons worth of rice crispies anyone? Perhaps a cubic square of yogurt drink? Molecule of milk with your tea? I wish that I were exaggerating!
Another factor about being here is the Basil-Fawlty factor, with regards to not mentioning the war... Literally everywhere you go in Ushuaia you´ll find a sticker proclaiming their ownership of
Las Malvinas (the Faulklands), or a memorial to the war. Las Islas Malvinas are a stones throw from here (provided you are Hercules, or possess a very large sling shot). This is perhaps the first place we´ve been where I think we´d have got a better reception as Americans! I can actually remember very little about the conflict being a nipper at the time, but it´s making me want to seek out a copy of Adrian Mole, which I think it´s probably the most authoritative source available on the conflict.
If I seem a bit grumpy today, it´s because I am! I´ve been sick, and it´s cold. That said, I still get to walk on a beautiful glacier tomorrow, complete with crampons and a polar bear for a guide. Woo hoo for holidays!
xxx Si
Update! Due to complete lack of functioning internet, I´m publishing a bit later than planned. We spent the day yesterday in El Calafate, a toy-town esque place devoted solely to hiking and outdoor pursuits. The highlight of this was the trek accross the amazing Glacier Perito Moreno... despite Nat also coming down with the dreaded food poisoining.
This is one of
Fox
survival is a fight without Chick-King round the corner the most expensive things we´ve done, but it´s well worth it. I´ve never walked in crampons before, but I´m tempted to keep them on as they definitely improved my balance! To top off the trip, the guide hacked a lump out of the glacier, and served whiskey on the rocks, glacier style. Quite a gimmick, but I´m a sucker for booze related gimmickery. Unfortunately we probably won´t be able to put up the photos for a while, as once again our internet is being powered by a particularly knackered looking hamster on a particularly rusty looking wheel...
Ciao again!
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