Feeling on top of the world at the end of the world

Ushuaia otherwise known as 'fin del mundo' or 'the end of the world' is the southernmost city in the world and also the main gateway for people heading to Antartica, which is only 621 miles away.

I arrived under the cover of darkness so it wasn't until the next morning I got to see it in all it's glory. Flanked by the snowcapped Fuegan Andes peaks on one side and the Beagle Channel on the other it really is a stunning place. Needless to say the climate here was quite a lot cooler than what I had been used to further north.

The main street has a bit of a ski town vibe about it with lots of outdoor adventure shops, souvenir stores, travel agents, restaurants and cafés.  

As well as catering to backpackers, the city has a steady stream of cruise ship passengers passing through and it is also a popular starting/finishing point for many trips. I met a couple of New Zealanders in their early 70s who were about to set off on a motorcycling adventure all the way to Alaska, which they estimated would take 9 months!  

The city did gain some notoriety in the UK and Argentine press last year as it is where the Top Gear team were chased out of town due to 'that' number plate. Up until now, I hadn't really seen an awful lot relating to the Falklands conflict.

Ushuaia was the point from which the Argentine warship, General Belgrano, set sail before it was sunk by a British sub six days later killing the 323 men on board. The memorial to those who lost their lives in the conflict is much larger and more prominent than the one I saw in Buenos Aires, which gives the impression that what happened 33 years ago is still very much a sensitive subject here.

This was confirmed when I wandered down to the port and noticed a sign painted on the wall to the entrance which read 'Prohibido el amarre de los buques piratas ingleses' or roughly translated 'English pirate ships are prohibited from mooring.' I also found a leaflet in the tourist info office regarding arguments for Argentina's claim to the Falklands. Unlike the Top Gear crew I didn't encounter any hostility during my stay and all the locals I met were friendly enough.

That aside and other than being the southernmost city in the world what else does Ushuaia have to offer? Well, there's lots of hiking to be had, boat trips and there is even a glacier. During my stay I also got to experience Carnaval, it might not have been Rio but it was still good fun.
I was in Ushuaia for 7 days, but you could easily manage to do most of the main activities the city has to offer in 4 or 5. 
 

As I mentioned above, the Martial Glacier overlooks the city. It is possible to walk all the way to it from town and as it was a nice sunny day I decided to walk the four miles from my hostel to the start of the trail. However, you can also get a taxi to this point.

 The first 30 minutes of the trail were the most punishing as the incline was quite brutal. There is a chairlift you can take for this stretch of the trail if you don't feel up to it. Once you get to the top there are a few different routes to try.

To start with I went along the Sendero del Filo path, which ends at a viewpoint where there are amazing views of the city and bay. After that I went back and took the Sendero del Glacier trail. This was quite challenging as it is mostly scree and rocks.

Just as I reached the edge of the glacier it started snowing so I can now say I have experienced pretty much every sort of weather since being in Argentina. Thankfully it passed just as quickly as it started and before long the sun was back out again.

I wasn't all that blown away by the glacier as it was covered in snow so it just looked like snow on a mountain to me. However, the views from the top were amazing and made the walk well worth it. All of the trails are well marked and it's possible to get a free map from the info office at the beginning of the main trail where there are also toilets and a small café.

The day I went there were coach loads of people being dropped off to make the hike. Although, as another guest at the hostel and I both remarked a lot of these people didn't look very well prepared for a hike up what is essentially quite a strenuous trail and as I experienced can be quite changeable in terms of the weather conditions.  

Tierra del Fuego National Park, which is about seven miles from the city is one of the main attractions here. I went with three other people I met while staying at Cruz del Sur Hostel. The hostel organised our transportation, which cost 200 pesos each for a return trip and we each had to pay 100 pesos for entry to the park.

The park is massive but there is only a small part open to the public so the majority of hikes are all ones you can do in a day.

I was a little underwhelmed by the park, I think perhaps I'd been spoilt by the views from the glacier. The park is a big draw for the area so it has been made very accessible to attract more people, which means there are a lot of coach tours at the more popular viewpoints. A few times we ended up jostling for space. However, we did find a couple of trails, which were a bit quieter.

The highlight of the visit had to be Lago Roca not only did we see a red headed woodpecker in one of the trees on the way, the lake itself was spectacular. The water was so still and clear it was like looking in a mirror. Across the lake you can see Chile as the border crosses the far side of it. 

Finally, the last outing I did was to Laguna Esmeralda. The hostel organised my transport, which cost 120 pesos return. When the bus arrived to pick me up I was the only one on it and when we pulled up to the trail I thought I was just going to be dumped in a dusty car park and left to figure it out. Thankfully I was shown the path and in a mixture of Spanish, broken English and hand signals the driver explained there would be a sign further down to tell me about the trail.

On the walk I experienced different terrains and scenery from forests of lenga trees (tall deciduous beech trees) to crossing vast peat moss fields called turba (this feels like you're walking over a mattress it's very springy). I also saw evidence of a few beaver colonies along the way although unfortunately I didn't spot any actual beavers.  

I didn't have a map, but the path was easy enough to follow as there are blue markers to direct you.

It took me about 1.5 hours to reach the lake and it was beautiful. It is a blue/green colour as a result of rock movements from the glacier above it. It is possible to walk around the lake too, but I was on a bit of tight schedule due to being tied to bus times - if only I had left earlier in the day.

On the way back from the lake I did get lost as the land is very open on this part of the walk and quite disorientating because the blue markers are harder to spot. I ended up following a group of 3 people as I thought they knew the way - nope they were as confused as me. Thankfully after a little detour the Dutch guy who headed the group managed to get us back to the main path - phew. Definitely taught me a valuable lesson to be more observant when doing walks like this where I don't have a map.

When I got on the bus to make the return journey back to Ushuaia the driver offered all the passengers tea or coffee and he even brought some pastries along too - yum! I hadn't been expecting anything like that so it was definitely a welcome surprise after an afternoon of walking. 

Seven days in Ushuaia was definitely more than enough and by the end I was certainly ready to continue on with the next stage of my journey to El Calafate and the Perito Moreno glacier.  

Journey from Patagonia to the Land of Fire

I am writing about my journey to Ushuaia purely because nothing I had read beforehand about taking an overland route really went into detail about what happens, so as you will see below I was fairly unprepared. This makes for a good story afterwards but at the time was a little stressful and bewildering (especially when I had already made a 20 hour journey prior to this one).

Most buses to Ushuaia leave from Rio Gallegos, which is where I picked mine up from too. Firstly, the best piece of advice I can give to anyone travelling by bus in Argentina is (in my experience) that most will arrive at the final destination later than scheduled so if you are getting a connecting bus leave at least 2 to 3 hours between them to be on the safe side.

I was travelling with Tecni-Austral and when the coach arrived it looked more like a police riot van with a big heavy grill over the windscreen. I'd heard that some of the roads were unpaved so assumed this is why they had the added protection and not because we were going to be attacked by pitchfork wielding locals - but you never know!

The coach wasn't the best I've been on, but considering the journey should take around 10 to 12 hours and was during the day I wasn't too worried. 

At the Terminal de Omnibus in Rio Gallegos make your first port of call the desk of your coach provider. For part of the journey, which I was unaware of at the time, the coach will cross into Chile so it is sort of like checking in for a flight but not so stringent. The person at the counter will check your ticket and cross your name off the list of passengers due to travel. 

The only reason I went to the desk was out of habit to check the bus was running etc. However, a couple of passengers didn't do this and had to rush back inside to do so before they were allowed on-board.

Unless you want a hefty fine, make sure you dispose of or eat any fruit and vegetable products you have on you. I don't know if this is true of all the coach companies but the host on the bus I was on came round just before the border with a bin for any food you might want to throw away.

I panic ate the two carrots I had on me much to the amusement of the host and some of my fellow passengers. Well, they were likely the only vegetables I was going to have that day so I wasn't going to waste them. I also had a couple of bananas but they hadn't travelled well so I was happy to dispose of them.

The border formalities took a little while as you have to be stamped out of Argentina and stamped back into Chile as well as putting all your hand luggage through an x-ray.

Back on the bus and by this point having consulted the map app I have on my phone, I guessed we would be reaching a water crossing. The map wasn't wrong and soon enough we reached it.

The weather by now had turned and was windy, rainy and cold so I'm not going to lie I probably didn't appreciate crossing the Strait of Magellan as much as I could have done.

Also, bearing in mind I had come from further north than a lot of people on my coach I looked like that one tourist who comes back to the UK from warmer climes still in summer clothes.

Unlike the majority of other passengers on the coach, who looked liked the contents of an outdoor adventure store had thrown up on them, I'm pretty sure I was the only one rocking flip flops! I did have a fleece and was wearing trousers albeit of the thin cotton kind so I didn't look entirely like a fish out of water.

Once we reached the other side we got back on the bus and had another couple of hours driving along unpaved roads - imagine a coach swaying from side to side like a boat rocking on a rough sea and that's pretty much what the journey felt like!

We reached the next border crossing and were stamped out of Chile (this was much quicker than getting into the country). Don't worry at this point if you haven't got a stamp stamping you back into Argentina as the Argentinian border post is a bit further up the road.

When we reached Rio Grande, which is about 3 hours from Ushuaia, we are told to get off the bus as there will be another coach arriving to take us the rest of the way. No indication as to how long this might be, but at least I wasn't the only one in this predicament as the majority of people on the coach were going on to Ushuaia. After about 30 minutes the new coach arrived we all piled on and 3 hours later arrived at the end of the world only 3.5 hours late!

Despite all the faff involved and getting on and off buses and ferries, I'm glad I took an overland route. Although the scenery did get very monotonous at times, it was stunning - vast plains of windswept, sun bleached emptiness occasionally punctuated with the odd hill, lake or lone estancia. 

As we drove into Ushuaia, even though it was dark, I could tell we were in Tierra del Fuego as the terrain became more mountainous and I imagine in daylight it would have been quite spectacular.