Ushuaia - THE END OF THE WORLD

South America
January 12th 2010

Published: February 6th 2010

Hi it is Nitzan,

I am going to write you to where we drove after Torres Del Paine.

After Torres Del Paine we drove to a city called Punta Arenas but a few kilometers before the city we stopped in a 'Pinguinera' that means a penguin colony. It was our first time seeing penguins in Argentina. The type of penguins are called Magellanic penguins. They are so cute. In fact all of the penguins in the world are so cute. We arrived to the ticket office, bought tickets to enter the colony, and entered the colony. There was an explanation about the penguins. It explaind that the adults are the ones that do not have fur and the young ones, the babies do have fur. The season we saw them was when the babies are starting to loose the fur and when they do not have fur they are going to swim for their first time, and then they learn to fish, and then they live by their own. There, the first time we saw 2 penguins we were excited very much but we walked a few meters more and then there were hundreds of them some were in

On the way to Tierra Del Fuego- On the boat

Our car Is the white one

the sea, and some on land. We were so excited especially me, I said like a millions of times that they are so cute, and their face looks cute, and they are so small, and they also walk very strangely, and funny. The penguins are already used to people beside them so they are not very afraid of people, there are some bridges that people pass on and the penguins just pass under the bridges, and also there are few penguins that dug their nests just under the walkway where people walk. This time (unlike with the crocodilw in Bolivia) I did NOT touch the penguins because: 1 - there was no guide to help me; 2 - I do not know the penguins, and some penguins can be very aggressive and bite, especially the adults protecting their babies.

We arrived to Punta Arenas and looked for where to sleep, we were pretty surprised that all of the hostels were full or too expensive. Finally we found one, it looked very good but we just put our stuff in the room and drove to the supermarket to buy food. Eventually, we did not need to buy food because there

Welcome to Tierra Del Fuego

was a 'eat as much as you can' chineese - argentinian restaurant next to the supermarket, so we ate there a bit of chineese food and a bit of argentinian meat.

Next morning we woke up early, ate breakfast, and then packed our stuff. We drove to a big supermarket and did a lot of food shopping for the next couple of days. And guess what we did then? Drove to the port. guess for what? To get on a ferry with the car and sail 10 minutes to TIERRA DEL FUEGO!!!!!

After getting to the other side of Beagle Canal to Tierra del Fuego, we got out the car of the boat and a sign said BIENVENIDOS AL TIERRA DEL FUEGO - WELCOME TO TIERRA DEL FUEGO. The first thing we did is drove towards Ushuaia to look for a camping, of course we did not get to Ushuaia. We looked for a camping about 2 hours, Omer, Shachar, and I were already asleep and there was nothing until a city called Rio Grande but until there there was nothing and we arrive at Rio Grande at midnight. There we found a camping that was also a

Shachar and I with "the" sign of Ushuaia

Kayaks club. The owner of the camping was very nice and instead of letting us put up our tent (it also started to rain, and he saw that Omer and Shachar are asleep) he gave us a room that was just 4 walls without anything even without a bathroom, but warm and with electricity - that was enough for us at midnight. We put there our blanket, then our sleeping bags and that is how we slept. He even gave us more sleeping bags of him, if we are still cold.

Next morning we made pancakes in the kithchen that there was in the camping in a huge room with some tables to sit on and have breakfast, and that is what we did. Then Omer, and I did some learnings. A few hours later we found out that today 3 guys from the kayaks club who are kayaking for 9 months all over Argentina sometimes kayaking in the sea and sometimes in the rivers are going to leave for their last part of their journey and kayak to Ushuaia. It was an interesting adventure and I guess they are enjoing it very much. It was fun to watch

I am stamping my passport

how they pack all the food and the equipment, and how they get into the sea, and see them far far away. After they left, we started to head off to Ushuaia.

After 2 hours of driving we got to USHUAIA - THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!! THE CLOSESET big CITY TO ANTARTICA IN THE WORLD!!!!! Maybe there is some more very small towns that are a bit closer to Antartica but Ushuaia is the biggest city that is the closest to Antartica. Ushuaia is 1,000 and a bit km from Antartica .There are boats that sail to Antartica for a week or so, but we did not do that because it costs 4,000 US dollars per person, and that is at last minute tickets - just imagine how much the price without any discounts. My mom said with that money we can travel for 4 months, and if we want to do that sail we have to cancel all the trip! That sail is absolutely not in the budget.

When I grow up I will do this sail! Anyway let's get to the story.

When we arrived to Ushuaia we wanted to sleep in a hostel

National Park Tierra del Fuego

The view of trail 1#

but all the hostels we looked in the city were full, totally full! so we had no choice but to sleep in a camping. So we put our tent up in the camping ground, ate dinner and went to sleep

Next morning we just went to take a walk in the city. We visited the marine, walked in the main street, and there we had a coupon hot chocolate in a chocolate store like Del Turista in Bariloche, by the way there was also Del Turista in Ushuaia. We also went to the tourist information and there we stamped our passports with our chosen stamp of "been to Ushuaia - the end of the world".
After we took a walk in the city we went to the supermarket to buy meat for making BBQ for dinner and that is what we did. We had a really good meal of meat (my father managed to light the wood and make good BBQ although it was raining on him and on the fire...) and then we went to sleep.

Next day we woke up early and went to a national park called: Parque Naconal Tierra Del Fuego (National Park Tierra

National Park Tierra del Fuego

A kind of an owl

Del Fuego). There we did 4 little walks. In the first one we walked by a destroyed dam of beavers, then by the sea and we saw a kind of an owl, it was a mini-owl. At the end of the walk we saw a light house.

In the second trail we saw a dam of beavers that we think there was beavers in there but we did not see any.

In the third walk we saw a black woodpecker and part of her head was red. This time we saw a female one and that is why she was little less prettier. Then we walked by a nice lagoon.

The fourth and last trail was by another lagoon and than a bit in the forest, and there we saw a kind of an eagle.

When we got back to the camping in the city we ate dinner and went to sleep. This was our last night in Ushuaia.

The next morning we left Ushuaia and my dad will tell you about our next destinations.

Love You All And Miss You All,

NITZAN

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