Tierra del Fuego
Saturday, March 25th, 2006Ushuaia proved to be a nice place to, quite literally, chill out; the temperature was pretty similar to what you´d be experiencing in the UK at this time of year. It made for quite a contrast to the hot weather and beach time I´ve had of late.
Wednesday I climbed the hardest trekking trail in the Tierra del Fuego national park, in my nice new pair of hiking boots bought the previous day – nothing like easing yourself into these things. This and the fact that I´d not done anything trek-wise since Guatemala at the end of last year meant I was a broken man by the end of the day, hobbling back down in agony and exhaustion. It started uphill through the woods for a couple hours, then across some fairly flat peat bogs and then back to a fierce uphill climb up the scree slopes to the peak, but the breath-taking views of the valleys and lakes from the top were well worth it.
View from half way up the mountain (Tierra del Fuego)
The next day I felt like an old man struggling downstairs, so I took it easy with a boat ride down the Beagle Channel, which connects the Atlantic with the Pacific oceans. Although the trip was supposed to be about cheacking out the cormorants, fat lazy sea lions and some light house, I actually enjoyed the view of the Andean mountains from the water more. The next day I took a trip to the local aquarium, which was all very nice, and at times rather freaky, but ultimately more like the sort of aquarium you´d expect to find on Craggy Island.
Another hard day at the office
Ed