Activities at the End of the World
I had three full days in Ushuaia. The first day included a drive through the surrounding glacial valleys and forests to Estancia Haberton where we then took a short boat ride on the Beagle Channel to an island with Gentoo and Magellanic penguins. We spent about an hour onshore with them. The area is quite beautiful with water surrounded by craggy peaks and glaciers in Chile and Argentina. There were about twenty of us on this trip including a number of Americans and even a family from Vermont.
The next day involved four-wheeling through a forest to a lake where we paddled in canoes. We then continued on a wild ride to another very large lake where we had a typical Argentinian barbecue – meat, more meat and salad. The beef in Argentina is VERY good yet a meal of beef and salad gets old after a while. I am not sure what the aversion to vegetables is all about. The scenery of mountain peaks, glaciers and forests continued. The eleven of us on this trip included all Argentinians except two Brazilians and me. The Brazilian couple were next to me in the Land Rover and they spoke exceptional English so we had a lot of good conversation. The issue of visas and the difficulty to get them from the U.S. and Brazilian governments was an interesting discussion.
Yesterday, I went on another trip with five other tourists to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. English was the language of the day given that we were from Holland, Switzerland and Britain. We hiked for a few hours along the shore of the Beagle Channel and through the beech tree forest. The leaves are changing and the air is crisp so there is a real feel of autumn in the air here. We then got into canoes after lunch and paddled across a lake, down a river and through part of the saltwater bay. We unloaded at the end of Route 3 which is the end of the Panamerican Highway. A sign told us Alaska is only 18,000 kilometers away! I was thinking it would be interesting to hitchhike it especially wondering how many rides and how long it would take. I had always told Chris that we would someday take an RV the whole distance when it became safer to do so. I think I can report now that it is safe enough to do such an epic drive although I have not heard of anyone doing so. I doubt there is a more interesting drive in this world.
As I said before, the end of the world is quite nice and beautiful. The people are warm-hearted and the weather… well, you do not come here for the weather. I now start a long journey north which will eventually get me to California in about two months. The next 2-3 weeks will be spent in Argentina before crossing into Chile headed for Bolivia. It should be very interesting and it should get warmer.
Tags: argentina, south america, Travel
vagabondrick
hi rick-
i’m going to cuba next week. i misplaced your email so am contacting you thru your site. please send me tips/must sees. thanks.
your travels sound fantastic.
-jessica
Hello Rick,nrnrI have finally gotten a chance to catch up on your blog… WOW!!!!!! I am still sooooooo envious. This year has been long already, a lot has happened, but I will go into detail on your next visit!nrnrWe still think of you every day… Matthew is making Duck Tongues now. Keep up the good blogs, but try to avoid Asia concerts!nrToto would be better!!nr-Bryan