The End of The World

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Ushuaia lies on the shores of the Beagle Channel at the southernmost tip of the Americas, it’s the most southerly city on the Island of Tierra del Fuego and is as far south as roads go on earth – giving the city its apt nickname of “the city at the end of the world”.



Tierra del Fuego is a large island separated from mainland South America by the Magellan Straits, ‘The Land of Fire’ is mainly in Chile, but 30%!o(MISSING)f it, including Ushuaia belong to Argentina.

It’s an odd town to drive into, with the spectacular Fuegan Andes peaks that ring the city contrasting against 100’s of shipping containers stacked up messily on the dock of the industrial port. With the rain pelting down and the peaks of the Andes hidden in cloud the city feels, grey and dull, which just goes to show how wrong first impressions can be.

We arrived on the afternoon of the 30^th Dec and after checking into an unassuming hostel a few streets away from the doc we headed out to explore and to book some adventures for the next couple of days.

In the hope that the weather would improve a boat trip around the Beagle Channel for New Years Eve and a trip to the Tierra del Fuego national park for the afternoon of New Years Day are booked in.

The rain started to clear early evening and by the time we headed out for a late dinner and some drinks the sky was bright and sunny once again – Sun set in Ushuaia isn’t even thought about till gone 11pm so the evening tends to start late and go on later…



Dinner and one or two drinks done we awoke on the morning of the 31^st to a beautifully sunny day, still cold if in the shade and the wind but in the sunshine beautiful. After a late breakfast and a wander around the town we headed off to the port to catch a boat for a trip around the Beagle Channel.

Leaving the port we headed out to Alice Island to see a colony of sea lions lazing in the sunshine, they look so relaxed and comfortable even though they are sprawled over sharp looking rocks at odd angles. We then continued on to Birds’ Island where the king and imperial cormorants live. Looking a little like penguins they covered island in a squawking, chattering black and white mass.

En-route to our last stop - Bridges Island - we swing past Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse, it’s not the official end of the world light house but it is the symbol of Ushuaia. At Bridges Island we leave the boat and take a trek around the island, our guide Thomas talks us through the local flora and fauna and points out the archaeological rest points of the Yamanas, the aborigines who lived on the island many years ago.

Returning to the boat the cabin has been set for coffee and biscuits – as it was New Years Eve we’d brought some Rum, so the journey back to shore was spent chatting, drinking rum coffees and ruminating on what a lovely afternoon we’d had.

Back at the port at 7.30pm we headed up to the hostel to shower and change, before celebrating the new year with some drinks , first in our hostel before wandering through town to another hostel to see in midnight with some of the friends we’ve made along the road.

The first day of 2013 dawned clear and bright, after a slowish start – and maybe some sore heads…. - we headed off in the afternoon to the Tierra del Fuego national park. Driving through the park for a ramble on a beach we then headed to the shores of Lake Fahnano for a walk that blew the last of the hangover cobwebs away.





Tierra del Fuego and the city of Ushuaia are stunning, I could spend weeks here exploring if I had the chance, it’s the main drop off for trips to the Antarctica so one day when I’m off to explore the White Continent I’ll make sure I schedule some more time in Ushuaia. For now though we leave on the 2^nd, driving back to Chile, crossing back across the Magellan Straight to reach the Torres del Paine national park, where I’ll be spending 5 days in the park walking the W trek.

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