The End of the World

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We set off early again, but this time the drive was a bit of a monster... after about 5 hours we arrived at the straights of Magellan, with the wind blowing fiercely, but the sun was out so we were happy enough to while away the time waiting for the ferry on the beach and by the lighthouse. The ferry was pretty much like the small Caledonian ones - space for about 30 cars and trucks, and took about 20 minutes to get across. Christoph was pretty convinced he´d seen something in the water, and once we set off we saw them - more black and white dolphins! These ones were just as tricky to take a picture of, though. Once on the other side we were back on to dirt roads, heading for Argentina. We all ate our huge packed lunch on the bus, which meant we were ahead of the Canadians (the significance will become apparent later) and we headed over bleak treeless pastures to the border. I have to confess I fell asleep not long after the "trout capital of the world" but woke up as we turned on to the dirt road to the estancia. All of a sudden there were hills and trees, sunshine too! The trees were festooned with old man's beard, and the late afternoon sun and lack of wind made it a thoroughly pleasant place to be! That, and the fact that we´d beaten the Canadians, meaning that we had the bedrooms rather than the big dorm!! Another "parilla" for tea - 3 lambs from the farm barbecued on long skewers, just for us, and (shock horror) salad, and bedtime and night had descended.
Next morning saw us watching a sheepdog and sheep shearing demonstration, followed by an hour and a half in the bus to a mountain refugio; this time we were in a small dorm above the dining room and kitchen. After death by empañada (mozarella & tomato, cheese, beef, chicken and a couple of others I can´t remember) we headed out for a walk. I had naively assumed that we were in the middle of nowhere, but as we walked up the path we passed a bus full of kids coming back down. Further up the path left the forest and struck out across the moorland - we really could have been in Scotland. The rest of the group had bagsied the wellies, so I was walking prissily around all the mud and water... after nearly an hour of this we reached the green lake, just as the weather took a turn for the worse... in fact, as we started to walk back it started to rain. I just plugged in the mp3s and quite enjoyed the walk! On the way back to the lodge we saw a beaver.... they were introduced about 60 years ago and are now proving to be one hell of a pest. After tea and biccies we headed out again to see if we could see them properly; they proved to be a little elusive, but I did see one climb up over the dam about 30 foot in front of us... photos are rubbish, tho.
A surprising ly good sleep saw us jump into a new minibus, and head for Ushuaia, it seemed quite pleasant in the sunshine. We dropped our bags at the hostel and headed to the national park for a walk along the seashore - the weather started to turn and the wind picked up - by the end it was really quite chilly! We headed back into town, and promptly got soaked waiting for the boat cruise... our company said it was too rough so we jumped on the biggest boat in the harbour and set sail.... it was really quite scary how close we got to the rocky outcrops in quite a heavy sea. Still, some sealions, cormorants and a light house later we were back, gertting passport stamps from the end of the world, and one or two souvenirs, then our final dinner in a..... Chilean restaurant! King crab is one of the local delicacies, but I have to say that I had no stomach for it :o(

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Comments

[Dr Astelia]

Just to let you know...
...I have completely resisted making any sort of beaver related comment. Phew.. that'll be a relief then. I would be a bit put out if you had managed crab, given the face you pulled when I once made the error of serving it to you. However, I take heart in the fact that you ate mine without actually voicing a complaint. Bon Courage!