South Trip

So after Calafate, we hopped on the bus again at about 3 in the morning and travelled to the southernmost city of the world! It was a long trip and included a several hour excursion through Chile. We crossed the Strait of Magallanes by ferry and many fields full of sheep and baby lambs. Most of the time while in Chile, the road was an awful dirt path. But we arrived in Ushuaia late in night.

Third Stop

The city of Ushuaia is in an area of Argentina named the "Tierra del Fuego" or Land of Fire. I hear that it's titled such because of the way the sun looks as it sets. I, unfortunately, heard this after the last sunset had passed. Up on the left, to the left of Punta Arenas, is the Strait of Magallanes. The green line that continues past Ushuaia goes through a body of water called the Canal de Beagle, where we went on a half-day excursion on a boat. Additionally, we visited the national park of Tierra del Fuego and a sled dog hatchery!

Ushuaia

Just thought I'd throw in a quick photo of the Strait of Mallagane

Ushuaia was surrounded by snowcapped mountians. It even snowed when we were there! This was definitely the coldest place we visited on the whole South trip.

Ushuaia is on the shore of the ocean (Pacific/Atlantic ?) and is, of course, a fishing town. Like Puerto Madryn, a majority of the fish is exported. However, I did happen to see a few seafood restaurants and even one sushi restaurant! I haven't seen these anywhere else in all of Argentina.

Parque Nacional de la Tierra del Fuego

After a morning spent walking around town, the exchange students headed to the National Park of the Tierra del Fuego!

We stopped by the sea. It was freezing and snowy, but lovely.

There was a bridge!

After the sea, we went on a walk around a lake area. The snow had stopped and the air was the chilly kind of fresh that I'm used to around this time of year, but haven't felt in all of the rest of Argentina.

Our lakeside views.

With a view as lovely as this, Bregje and I absolutely had to capture it with a handstand. However, we were not so successful with our attempt. Sometimes life (and handstands) is hard.

We happened to see a fox wandering around. That was cool! We didn't happen to figure out what it says though ...

Views of the National Park of the Tierra del Fuego.

 

We visited a train station on the way out.

Beagle Channel

Our second day in Ushuaia started with an optional boat ride around the Beagle Channel with included features like a lighthouse, sea lions and birds that looked like penguins, but weren't! I opted to go on it.

The other exchange students that also opted to go on the boat trip as we waited for the arrival of the boat. It was a very, very cold day.

 

Here are the islands that included the sea lions, birds and lighthouse! The sea lions are on the left of the islands while the birds inhabit the right. The sea lions were quite noisy.

My two home countries.

Sled Dog Hatchery

After lunch we headed to a sled dog hatchery! And here, yet again, was a sign indicating just how far away I was from everything. In this sign, New York is 10,508 km away!

First we went for another lovely walk that was cut short by a washed away bridge.

After the walk we learned about how to properly raise, train and race dogs in a video presentation while we were served some delicious hot chocolate. Then we visited with the darling dogs! They were unexpectedly skinny, but very happy with the attention.

Ushuaia is a fun place to have tucked into my travel resume, but it admittedly wasn't the most interesting. It's a small, cold city with a beautiful view, but not too much else. If you ever plan on visiting, I highly recommend traveling via plane because the drive by bus is just a nightmare! Lucky for me, I hopped right back onto that bus and embarked on a 38 hour bus ride headed to Bariloche.