Advertisement
Published: April 20th 2013
We arrived in Ushuaia on 8th April 2013 after 3 flights. Puerto Madryn to El Calafate, El Calafate to Rio Gallegos, Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia. When we decided to come to Argentina I always thought that Ushuaia would be a highlight of the journey and it hasn´t disapointed. Sitting on The Beagle Channel and surrounded by mountains you just have to step outside to see some of the most amazing scenery. This is where the Andes meet the sea, the most southerly town in the world, many expeditions to antartica leave from here.
Charles Darwin came here aboard The Beagle on his famous journey around the world making his study of the natural world, back then it would have been only inhabited by the native Yamana (almost wiped out by British missionaries shortly after). The Beagle Channel to the south of town was named after the HMS Beagle on its survey of Tierra Del Fuego in 1833. Now it has every amenity a traveler needs without having lost its beauty and uniqueness.
We climbed up Cerro Del Medio 940 meters above sea level. This was a half day trek through ever changing woodland until you pop out above the
Above the tree line at last!
Cerro Del Medio, looking down over Ushuaia and The Beagle Channel.tree line to the most stunning views of Ushuaia, The Beagle Channel, and the surrounding countryside of Tierra Del Fuego. It is autum here at the moment so the leaves glow yellow, orange, red as soon as the sun hits them. Extremely steep in places but exhilirating, we rewarded ourselves with a Fernet and Coke after. Fernet is an Argentine drink (I think it is like a herb rum), it is very nice and we are sure it is good for you!
Another trek we did was to Laguna Esmerelda, 5 hours 15 minutes. This is a popular hike and the route is very well marked, it takes you along a river punctuated with Beaver pools dammed up most impressively. Eventually you reach the lake, fed from a glacier much higher up the mountain, it is a beautiful milky green/blue colour depending on how the light hits it. We saw a fox by the waters edge, he came out as soon as we took snack bars out of our pockets so I think people must feed him. This was another beautiful days walking, with Fernet and coke (for recovery of course) afterwards. Marks knees are holding out very well,
I think the amount of city walking that we have done has helped get our walking muscles ready, just as well with the amount we have been eating we need a lot of excersise. Every place we stay serves bread with Dulce de Leche for breakfast, you start out saying you´ll only have a little, or not everyday, but eventually you start to crave it!
Last full day in Ushuaia and we just had to try the King Crab. We got a recommendation from the Hostel staff for a local restaurant and had a late leisurely lunch. The crab was fantastic, we had never tried it before and it was sweet and delicious. We had ours with saffron rice and a prawn and muscle sauce accompanied by a bottle of white patagonian sauvignon blanc, couldn´t be a better way to finish our experience of El Fin Del Mundo!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.048s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0265s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Don and Tanya
non-member comment
Lucky guys
What fantastic scenery. A wonderful experience. Lots of love Tanya and Don