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South America » Argentina » Tierra del Fuego » Ushuaia
March 9th 2009
Published: March 13th 2009
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Canoeing in the Beagle Channel
After a week traveling around Ushuaia and El Calafate, all I can say is wow. There is no way I can possibly describe in words all the amazing sights that I saw. Even pictures seem to fail to capture all the natural beauty that is there. While in Ushuaia, a friend of mine who I was traveling with commented it’s so naturally beautiful that it’s almost impossible to take a bad picture—the bad ones turn out good, and the good ones spectacular because Mother Nature has already done all the work.

We spent the first four or five days of our vacation in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world and the launching point for trips to Antarctica. We mostly spent the first day walking around and exploring the city. A few of us headed to the Maritime Museum, which is actually a prison/maritime/Antarctica/wildlife museum, with some artwork thrown in for good measure. The prison section took most of my attention, as it gives detailed accounts of Ushuaia’s origins as a penal colony, prison life, and even the stories of some of the prison’s more notorious inmates.

The rest of our time in Ushuaia turned into an active adventure
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Penguinos!
tour. We hiked a coastal trail in the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, went canoeing in the Beagle Channel, and hiked a trail on Gable Island. We also took a quick visit to a penguin colony! The penguins are accustomed to human visitors now, and they are curious by nature, so they were a mere five or six feet from us. The last day some of us took hiked to the Glacier Martial (okay, we cheated and took the chairlift or “Aerosilla” part way, but the view from the chairlift was great) and had lunch overlooking all of Ushuaia. It was a great way to finish off the trip.

When we first arrived in El Calafate, we had our doubts. A fraction of the size of Ushuaia, it seemed desolate, windy, and dusty. Our hostel, at first, appeared to be far from the center of town since everything is so spread out. We seemed to have landed in some God-forsaken place, and we were wondering why we left Ushuaia; but we quickly realized that El Calafate had its own version of prettiness.

Our first night we went horseback riding at an estancia and had a fantastic asado afterward. But hands down, the highlight of my days in El Calafate was trekking on the Perito Moreno glacier. Words can’t possibly describe this mammoth glacier…you can fit the entire city of Buenos Aires on top of it. It stretches as far as your eye can see, and the cracking and splashing of ice falling into the water is amazing to hear. We had a great time on the glacier, thanks to our fun guides and fantastic weather. Some whisky and alfajores at the end of the trek didn’t hurt either!

Beyond this outline of what I did and saw, I can’t say much more…most of the excitement of the trip was being among nature so grand that it defies explanations. You have to experience it for yourself.



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El Calafate

The view while horseback riding...
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El Calafate

Perito Moreno Glacier
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El Calafate

Perito Moreno Glacier


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