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Published: April 6th 2007
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To the end of the world
Av & Suzz El Fin Del Mundo - The End of the World!
Ushuaia - the southern most city in the world.
The bus out of El Calafate departed at 3am (!!), so an extremely early start with another day of travelling ahead - 5 hours back to Rio Gallegos then 12-13 hours, crossing into and out of Chile, through Puerto Delgado on a road to/from the port cleared of mines (!) and finally to Ushuaia in Tierra Del Fuego.
Having been used to warmer weather further north, the journey down south saw temperatures slowly drop, although surprisingly still fairly mild and no colder than the coldest of wintry days back home.
Nevertheless, thermals were a must if we were to survive a whole day out in the open in Ushuaia and having carried our cold weather gear for the entire trip we were both glad to finally put them to some use!
After several failed attempts to find accommodation we were beginning to think that we would have to sleep on the street as we bumped in to quite a few other backpackers with the same problem. However, we eventually found quite a nice little hotel in
the centre of town.
Our first full day at the end of the world started with our usual routine of going to the tourist office (we did this first, everytime we got to a new town) for details of what to do/see and essentially to obtain a map of the town. It was a horrible day, not only bitterly cold and windy but wet too - just like home!
Anyway, no time for sitting indoors, we decided to visit the local museum - an old prison built at the turn of the century by the convicts themselves. The museum is now a tribute to these convicts who contributed to building Ushuaia and its infrastructure, having also built roads and a narrow gauge railway.
Parts of the prison have been left untouched and show exactly how conditions were at the time - the cell block was heated by a single coal fire (not in use at the time of our visit) and each concrete cell was no more than 6ft square, the floor also concrete but lined with wood, with no heating and no light except a small window. You could feel the oppresive air as you entered
the block, cold, thick and damp - pretty grim. Prisoners had no chance of escape and they knew it.
The rain continued so we decided that we would plan the next day´s activities and hope that the weather improved. We headed down to the harbour and walked in to the Tres Marias Excursions cabin to find one of the many street dogs making himself at home on the mat - not just any street dog but a Springer Spaniel no less! The owner was obviously quite happy with the company as it seemed that due to the weather no one had called in to the office that day.
Anyway, we booked our 4-hour boat trip along the Beagle channel including a short trek on Isla H in the Isla Bridges natural reserve for the following morning, and like true Brits sought the shelter of our hotel and a brew to lift our spirits and our body temperature.
The following day we were pleased to see that the rain had stopped and most of the clouds had cleared to reveal a blue sky, although the temperature was still quite low. We made our way down to the harbour
and boarded our sail boat and headed out to the channel under motor power as there was not enough wind to raise sail.
After a short while we arrived at Isla H (an island shaped like the letter H - obviously!!) and disembarked, gracefully scrambling up the steep rocks. From here we trekked across the Island for about an hour during which the guide pointed out various birds, plants and the benefits of kelp to the skin, quite happily pulling a stalk of kelp from the sea for a demonstration of its rejuvenating properties on his face and hands (it does work).
Back on board the boat, we headed off to another small island to see Sealions and Rock Cormorants. After circling this island a few times the wind had picked up slightly so the main-sail was raised and we sailed back to the harbour, albeit with a bit of help from the engine.
In the afternoon we took a taxi to the Fin Del Mundo train station where we boarded the little steam train that goes into the national park. This train runs along a small stretch of the old railway that was built by the
convicts, passing the Rio Pipo and areas where trees were felled when the town was first built. Having decided to treat ourselves to "first class" seats we were the envy of everyone else on the train when we discovered we had the entire first class carriage to ourselves, along with coffee, sandwiches and cake!
Having had an event filled day on Sunday we decided to take it fairly easy on Monday by following one of the walking trails, heading up the Cerro Martial to the Glaciar Martial. Having obtained a map and directions from the tourist office, we stopped at the local supermarket for some provisions then started on our way.
The directions out of town were great and we were soon by the first tourist information board at the bottom of the cerro (mountain), where we checked which way the trail went. However, having ascended up what we thought was the correct path for about half an hour, we started to query whether we were going the right way, as we hadn´t come across any of the landmarks pointed out in the directions or any further notice boards! We spotted a local working by the roadside and
asked which way we should be going and he pointed us on to a very small path leading through the brush. Having come out by a hotel marked on the map we also noticed that we seemed to be on the wrong side of the mountain road from where the path should be. After spending about 15 mins scrambling around in a very boggy wood unsuccessfully trying to re-locate the correct path, we decided the best bet was just to follow the road up to the chairlift that would take us up the final leg of our trek to the glaciar.
So, about 3 hours after starting out, we finally reached the chairlifts only to discover they were closed for maintenance work! The weather was now much colder with the occasional snow flurry and the path up to the glaciar itself was supposedly another 2 hours hike away. Whilst deciding whether to carry on up the mountain or give up and go back to the hotel one of the local minibuses pulled up, so our decision was made - we hopped into the nice warm bus and headed back into town!
As it turns out, if you´ve already
seen the Glaciar Perito Moreno then Glaciar Martial looks a bit like an ice-cube by comparison!
Anyway, not to be defeated by the walking trails around the town, we decided to spend our last day in Ushuaia by visiting the Parque National Tierra Del Fuego - National Park of the Land of Fire - so named because of the, now extinct, Yamaná Indians who would have fires constantly burning in their canoes and by their temporary huts on land. The Yamaná people wore nothing but loin clothes and lived mainly in canoes on the Beagle Channel. They ate seafood and sealions and covered their bodies with the fat from the sealions to keep warm. When Europeans first discovered the Beagle Channel all they could see were the burning fires - hence the name.
Taking another of the local minibuses to the park entrance, we again followed the directions and map we had obtained from the tourist office. Fortuntately, this time the path was much more clearly marked and we followed a 7km trail walking alongside the Beagle Channel up to Roca Lago. The path took us past several inlets where we saw Kelp Geese resting on the shores
and swimming in the shallows, through dense, wooded areas where we encountered some very pretty little birds and finally arrived at a lovely café situated on the shore of Lake Roca where we treated ourselves to the biggest slices of cake we´ve ever seen!
Once back at the hotel, we packed our bags ready for the 4.30am start the next morning and a gruelling 48 hour journey to Bariloche.
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Ash
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Prisoner!
Av, I told you you can run, but you cannot hide from the Revenue! I see that they have finally cought up with you!