Tierra del Fuego

(19-22 April)

After a couple of days resting, working and waiting (for my glasses to come back from Torres del Paine) in the relaxing Puerto Natales, we finally decided to move south and this was for the last time our direction, for we hit the end of the world. To be fully honest, we would have liked to cross the Beagle channel and go further south to Puerto Williams, that indeed is the southernmost city in the world, and from there take a boat back to Punta Arenas. But we were one day late and we could not catch it. So we contented ourselves (for this time) of the most popular Ushuaia. 

If you happen to pass by these places, do not forget to try the King Crab.
I suspect we were out of season, but the locals could still cook it properly.

Ushuaia is a terrible city: so touristy that it almost feels arrogant, with private money running much faster than public ones and shape irregularly the city into a mix of huge commercial panels, mixed style buildings, streets with more space for cars than for people to walk. The weather did not help, as for most of the time it was the snowing, raining, or anyhow it was so foggy that you could not see much further out of the window. The reason why so much money is running into this city became however evident on Sunday, where the sky cleared from the clouds. We had decided to take a three hours boat trip into the Beagle channel and probably that was worth all the travel down there (12 hours by bus from Puerto Natales, crossing the strait  of Magellan). I guess what it made the difference was the mountains colors, divided by the red leaves of the tree at the bottom half and the white of the snow at the top. No ever-green tree to be seen. And of course see lions and other local fauna certainly helped making such a trip one to write back home about.

A sea-lion sounds like a mix of a sheep and a donkey.

Overall, of all the things that I have seen in the last 15 days, probably Perito Moreno is the most impressive and difficult to experience back in Europe. I am certainly not saying that I did not enjoy the travel so far. Rather, I would say that many of the beautiful things I have seen can also be experienced in similar places in Europe. Then of course the weather was cruel with us. But sure, it was great, and I am looking forward to see more.

Ok but that was it. I was (and still am) personally sick of bad weather. Fortunately we easily agreed to move northwards. Back to Buenos Aires where I am about to spend the first night after having started my one week intensive Spanish course. Ole'!