Ushuaia

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Ushuaia presents itself as the southernmost city of the world, and while this might not exactly be true, it's certainly gained mystical status for its location. And a fine location it is: in the south the Beagle channel borders the town, while the north is ruled by snowcapped mountains. I wasn't so interested in Ushuaia itself, its center caters to cruise and adventure tourists, and its suburbs aren't so fascinating. But the nature around it is more than worth coming this far south.
Exactly one year before arriving here by hitchhiking, i met the love of my life, and this 11th of March feels very lonesome without her. Luckily, i ran into Cesar and Gaston - previously met in Tolhuin - again, so we could drown at least some of the yearnings in Malbec from Mendoza. I stationed myself in the Camping del Andino, a sky basis in winter, and a quiet camping with the possibility of drinking a coffee in the morning at this time of the year.
I spent way too much time talking about trekking over the mountains from Ushuaia to Tolhuin, so i felt like i really had to do it, to put my money where my mouth's at. My second day in Ushuaia made it clear that this walk is entirely impossible in the way i envisioned it, so i settled for a two to three days trek over the Paso de Olveja instead. In the local mountaineering club, i got a pretty shabby trekking map and in the tourist office, i registered myself, in case i wouldn't turn up again. My earlier overcourageous stance was countered a bit by walking to Glaciar Martial, Ushuaia's tiny glacier. While the walk was very easy, i needed to get as close as possible (of course). A decision to climb over the snowy and stony slope towards a nearby mountain pass got me stuck on really sharp rocks, with 40 meters to climb down to safe ground, and the conviction that the top is sometimes just a bad idea. I did manage to cross 'slide down a glacier' off my things-to-do list, and that combined with what i saw as insight in my own weakness made me feel pretty accomplished. When i finally did make it to the pass, i was rewarded with a beautiful vista over the valley below. In the night, the weather turned nasty, but bothered i was not.
Friday the 13th, i set out in a light drizzle, convinced to climb the Paso de Olveja, and have an easy three day walk. Wanting to avoid the road, i invented a shortcut, which led me over shrubs (going through them was impossible, made me fear to break my ankles when climbing over thousands of dead trees, and saw me advancing at less then one kilometer per hour. When i finally did find the trail, i had only very little time to get over the pass before nightfall. Walking really fast, i worked my way up on the boulderfields that led to the pass, as the rain slowly turned into snow. By then, i was already pretty much fully soaked, so there was no choice left: I was cold and wet anyway. The higher i got, the more difficult it became to see the path, covered in knee deep snow. At the same time, the wind got fiercer, creating a minor snowstorm. I tripped and fell quite a few times. And though i felt accomplished when i finally ended all of the muddy and snowy walking, i was mainly really angry with myself. Sitting in a wet tent, wearing wet clothes inside a wet sleeping bag, with no way to heat my can of mushrooms ( i had them cold with added Maggi soup), i felt like an extreme novice, putting himself at risk and not using his brain at all. I couldn't sleep at night, everything was just too cold.
The next morning, i decided to just run for it. I wrapped my fleece blanket around my legs and put on my pants over that. My pack was a lot heavier than before, with all the wet stuff inside. Not so knowledgeable about packing a backpack and using it's straps, my walk became unreasonably heavy. But since i just wanted to get to a fire fast, there wasn't much of a choice. The marvellous Valle Andorra opened up to me, and though most paths were mudstreams and my feet were numb, it was a fine hike. Getting back to the human world saw me chased by fifty (seriously) overprotective dogs, towards which my only defense was saying 'amigo, calma te'. So far, i've been pleasantly surprised by all the dogs on the streets. They're so much more social than Europe's fenced in critters.
After finally struggling out of woods and dog infested suburbs, i catched a ride with trucker Marcello, got bak to Tolhuin, lit a fire, and didn't get away from that for many an hour.

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