Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego
Supposedly the southernmost city in the world and is nicknamed Fin Del Mundo (end of the world). For most, this may be the end of the world, but for Antarctic travellers, Ushuaia is actually the start of their journey.
One thing I learned upon arrival is not to use the name Falkland Islands while in Argentina. They refer to the archipelago as Islas Malvinas. To this day the dispute of who has the authority over the islands, whether it's Britain or Argentina, is probably not settled. The airport itself is called Malvinas Argentinas Ushuaia International Airport, so that explains the argentine's stand on this matter.
The first impression upon landing was that Ushuaia reminds us of the Alps. Both the mountain range as well as the buildings in town. The latin vibes are hardly noticeable. None of plantain nor bean-related food and there is no sound of reggaeton anywhere 🤣 For all intents and purposes, this could have been in Europe. Argentinians are mostly, if not all, of caucasians/ european descents.
Our very first excursion was to sail the Beagle Channel with different stops at islands where we could see patagonia's wildlife including sea lions and penguins.
We chose an easy trail for a day hike due to the cold weather (mainly my problem), the muddy trail (mainly my problem), and possibly still snowy trail (also my problem). The kids and the Mr had no problem whatsoever in the cold and the snow was a bonus for them play in. So in an effort to not be the party pooper I decided to hike with them up to the point where I can handle the wind (not that high, thus 😂).
We rented a car and independently explored the area- to the east we went to check out Lago Escondido and to the west we did a day- hike to Glacier Martial, TWICE!
Fun fact: In 2021 aquaculture/ industrial farming of salmon in the Beagle Channel was outlawed in Ushuaia. The new law is historic because "it is the first country in the world to legislate against this activity that is harmful to the environment". This was my quick search when I saw a sticker on the wall of a beer cabaña. "Ushuaia dice no salmoneras"; "No a la salmonicultura". Yes to Grow Shop (look at the sticker Bien Al Sur), No to Salmonera. You go, Ushuaia!
El Calafate, Santa Cruz province
Our last stop before returning to Buenos Aires is El Calafate. A 1.5-hr flight time northwest of Ushuaia, very close to the western border to Chile. The famous glacier there is called El Perito Moreno. I don't know a majestic enough adjective that can fairly describe the glacier, the surrounding, the contrast between the arid landscape on one side and the arctic-looking landscape on the other.
The highlight of the trip is our minitrekking to the famous glacier, Perito Moreno. The minimum age to do the trekking is 10 years old, so little Mr just barely made it. We started with a drive of about 80 km east of El Calafate. We rented a car so we were quite flexible and made several stops following some less traveled road, got on foot approaching some cows and lambs, and made a stop at an estancia (I think the closest translation is "farm") to have a lamb grill.
The host approached us with a stack of photo albums. "There is no signal nor Wi-Fi here, so please enjoy these photos of the farm from all seasons". Oh yes, I welcome that every time. Signal-less places are priceless!
After a 20-min boat ride from the muelle we arrived at the entrance to the glacier. The kids have been looking forward to and talking about wearing the cramponetas (crampons), which are the spikey device attached to the shoes in order to walk on ice. It was an easy hike with some inclines and it felt easy with the crampons on. The harder part was the descending because we had to lean back a bit and kept the direction of the feet forward. It was nowhere close to walking on snow when we could step sideways to descend. All sorts of thoughts were hovering over me. But some more fun stops to drink from the glacier water and to go into an ice cave, took the worries away.
On our last day in El Calafate, the town dressed up for a festivity. It was dia de la tradiciòn and we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the gauchos parading the town and gathering at the municipality stadium. It was a beautiful, sunny, festive day. We had our last taste of choripan and more meat while observing the crowd. Gauchos and gauchas and their horses had dressed up for the occassion. My eye caught the name engraved on the back of the belt of one of the gaucha, it says "Holtzman". I almost choked my choripan as I didn't expect that 🤣 The Mr also saw that and we had a good laugh. Soon we can make our own gaucho belt that says "van de Griend". I mean if Holtzman can have one so can we.
Until the next adventure! 🥂
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