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Published: February 2nd 2008
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Well, we finally made it back to a computer after a long week of exploring Tierra Del Fuego. We arrived in Rio Grande last Thursday after having checked out a wonderful stuffed anmial collection in Puntas Arenas ( Note Photos) and spent the next day and a half preparing for a 5 day road trip around the island. . . a little vacation from our vacation if you will. Our friend Collin made it on bike on Friday evening so he was able to go on the road trip with us.
On Saturday we picked up the car in the morning and Matt started his fishing expedition. The night before he heard from another fisherman that there was a great little river right outside of town that had some really big fish in it. Since we were so close the river we decided that Matt would go fish it in the morning while Collin and I caught up on reading in the hostel. Matt returned around 3:00 with a nice 5lb brown trout for dinner and we got packed up for the road trip.
We loaded up the car and headed about 100km south to find a place to
camp for the night. We found a great little campsite on the edge of a naval base. We built a big campfire, cooked a big brown that Matt caught earlier in the day and enjoyed being out of town for a while. The next morning we packed up fairly early (if you call 1:00p early) and drove south to find a new place to explore. Driving along the road Matt found a river he "had" to fish so Collin and I dropped him off and went to find somewhere to hike for the next few hours. We found a little resort-ish place that had a map with hikes that ranged from 2km to 15km. We set out on a 10km but got distracted by the sign that pointed to a waterfall. Once we started on the path we realized that no one had been on this path for what looked like years, but we thought we might as well try to find it. After hiking for about 45min (and finding several dead ends) we finally saw the waterfall way off in the distance. Now that we knew the general direction we took off in search of a closer view. After
going up one mountain, down the next, across a river, and on top of another bolder we reached the top of the waterfall. We were able to stand on a rock and see the water swirling around us. It was great! Then we decided that we needed to see the front of the water fall so we climbed straight up the hill, literally, until we were able to see the front of the water fall. It was soooo nice! It was getting close to the time we were supposed to meet Matt so we started heading back in the direction we thought the trail was. After getting slightly lost a few times we finally made it back to the trail and went to pick up Matt and find a campsite.
Matt caught several trout that day but none of them were large enough to feed 3 people, so we had steak and potatoes for dinner instead of fish. We found another free campsite right out of town that was full when we got there. It was Sunday afternoon and it looked like a bunch of local families use the campsite for BBQ´s. Once it started to get dark there
was no one there so we had another peaceful night of camping!
Then next morning we set a goal of going as far south as possible. Ushuaia is generally regarded as the southern most city in the world, so we knew we had to do better. We actually made it to Rio Moat, which is on the southern most post of South America and Matt caught a small, but delicious, Sea Run Brown. The end of the world is really pretty, but it is REALLY windy, all the time!
After Matt got his fill of fishing we stopped at what was described as a Bone Museum on an Estancia just north of the river. The museum was one of the best I have ever been to. For about $3 each we got a full lecture-tour of the largest collection of sea mammal and water bird skeletons in the world. I was very impressed by the by the collection and more impressed by the information that guide had to offer. It felt good to use my brain again. . . . we are feeling a little brain dead after months of vacation!
From there we went to a
great campsite on the edge of a river in the estancia where we cooked the Sea Run Brown (they taste like salmon), some mussels we picked on our way home, and garlic butter pasta.. . . . sooo good! The campsite was amazing, and free which makes it that much better!
The next morning we packed up and headed to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park outside of Ushuaia to camp for the night. We weren´t sure if Matt would be able to keep the fish in the park so we picked up hamburger and veggies for tinfoil stew. The park itself was ok but on the plus side it was full if rivers for Matt to fish. Collin and I did a little exploring on the trails while Matt tried to catch some fish. Oh, and the park was absolutely full of bunnies. . . . very strange.
The next day was our last day with the car. Matt wanted to fish the first river again because he knew there were some big fish waiting for him. Collin and I dropped him off at the river and headed back to town. We cleaned out the car, showered
for the first time in 5 days (we were really gross!) and went to a museum at an old mission. The museum was alright and the priest was a little crazy, which we figured out after he spent about 10 mins talking to a battery operated parrot. . .. weird!
We went back and picked up Matt so we could turn the car back in. Matt caught a big Sea Run Brown in the river that we got to eat for dinner! The trip ended very well with a huge fish dinner complete with rice, salad, and wine. It was a great way to wrap up the vacation from the vacation.
The next day we hopped on a mini bus to Ushuaia where we are waiting for our flight to Buenos Aires tonight. Yesterday we went to a small aquarium and killed time poking around the tacky tourist shops in town. . . . . much like the tacky shops on the Oregon Coast.
It´s hard to believe we only have 11 days left in SA. . . . . . We may update this again before we are back in the states. . . .however the
Stupid Camera Timers
Hmmmmm, a riverside self portriat gone bad. call of the surf may be too strong! We hope everyone is doing well and we´ll talk with you soon!!!!
PS. We will be back in states around 10:30pm Florida time on the 13th. In one of Matt´s moments of genius he sent his phone back to Portland. If you would like to talk with him before we make it back to the west coast you will have to call him on my phone (208)880-7656.
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Aaron
non-member comment
Here fishy fishy fishy
more great travels. i really dig the portrait of matt holding the fish btw...killer. try not to have too much fun eh? oh, dont tell matt there are rivers on my island that have trout ;-) Aaaaaaaaaaa