Docked right on time here in Ushuaia – and we hopped off the ship bright and early to go pick up our car. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world – perched right at the end of Patagonia and surrounded by the Martial Mountains. It is here that Route 3 ends – the literal end of the road – and here that you can turn around and take the road all the way to Alaska some 17,000Km away.
The city isn’t as remote as you’d think since it’s a big tourist destination with cruises sailing to Antarctica as well as tons of hiking and naturalists options. There is also a ski area right outside of town that is accessible all year round.
We wandered our way up the main road to the car rental agency. Got a little concerned when the sign on the door didn’t have Sunday hours – but at 8:00am sharp, a truck pulled up and 2 guys got out and opened the office. They gave us a 4wd Jeep (we ordered a compact car, but that was all they had) – and gave us this little book with an even littler map! - and sent us on our way.
We were off to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park to hike and take in the scenery. It’s only 11km outside of town, and we were early enough that we missed most of the bus tours going there. And good thing! The roads through the park are narrow and twisty and all gravel or mud. We did end up getting stuck behind one bus and having one almost hit us head on….but otherwise….we did ok with timing! LOL
The park is just incredibly gorgeous with jungle and rain forests surrounding the roads and then stunning views of the Beagle Channel and the Lapataia Bay – where the road ends. We took a turn off to Zaratiegui Bay and were rewarded with incredible views across the water to the mountains on Redonda Island and across the bay in the natural reserve. There were a couple of trails here – but also hundreds of bus people from the ship – so we took our pix and headed out in search of the Pampa Alta Trail we planned to hike.
We found the beginning of the trail in the campsite 1km up the road. But it was really wet and muddy – and we also saw on the map where we could reach the trail from Route 3 – so we decided to go find it off the road and hope for dryer conditions. As we were searching for the trail, we looked at the map and decided to first head to the end of the road which was only about 8 miles away.
This is where the road gets windy and a little scary! As you progress through the forest, the road switches back a couple of times with hairpin curves, plus it gets pretty narrow. Then you break out into the open at sea level and cross one of the most rickety bridges you have ever seen! There are railroad ties stretched down the length of the bridge and it looks so unsafe we weren’t even sure we could make it in the Jeep! Much less a full size bus. No way they are coming across here. Ha! Right!
So we traverse the bridge over the Lapataia river and head through still narrower and windier roads – with even more spectacular scenery to be sure. There is another bridge even ricketier than the first and we gingerly pick our way across it. As we round a corner – what do we see in front of us? A full size bus! OMG – there are tons of them down here to see the end of the road. Not that we ever like to get on buses – but we are so very glad we’re not on one now and having come across those bridges!
The end of the road was worth the journey though – looking back over the National park and the Martial Mountains (the southernmost part of the Andes), the scenery was sublime. Sparkling lake, green forested hills in the forefront with towering snow capped alps in distance. Very much like Alaska but bigger, bolder, different! We soaked up the scenery then briskly walked back to the car (with a quick pit stop in the restrooms/porta-potty on steroids) in order to beat the buses out of the parking lot.
Back on the road, we carefully guided ourselves back across the rickety bridges and up and around the hairpin curves (this is where the bus almost smashed us head on – and where a tour van almost backed into us at full speed! We were following the van at a very decent distance when he saw one of his buddies going the other way. He just stopped in the middle of the road and started backing up to talk to his buddy and never looked behind him. Ed laid on the horn and the guy finally stopped – 2 inches from our bumper. Thank heavens we were in a jeep, but it still would not have been pretty if the van hadn’t stopped!).
After that little adrenaline rush, we stopped back at the trailhead on Route 3. This 2.7 mile trail was supposed to have great views of Beagle Channel and Pipo Valley River and we were looking forward to the exercise. Unfortunately, the mud did us in. Since we don’t have exclusive hiking boots – but use our sneakers for everything – our sneakers just would not survive the muddy bog that the trail had become. Plus it was so slippery and muddy, it was taking us forever to just get a little ways up the trail. At this pace, we’d miss the ship. So, we decided to bag the trail and head back into town to wander around.
The ride back was uneventful (fortunately), except that the car had this rubber smell coming from the rear end. We were hoping to get back to town before it exploded or locked up or something. We did make it – all over the town as a matter of fact. we wanted to try to find the ski lift to take us up the mountain and have lunch in a restaurant overlooking the channel and the town, but the only map we had only showed the direction in which the ski lift was – and we didn’t want to eat up valuable time searching for it. So we headed toward the Prison Museum
On the way, we found a grocery store to stock up one essentials, then found the museum without any problems. It’s supposed to be a great museum at the end of the town, with all the cells still intact and you can look out at the view the prisoners had, etc. But the entry fee was about $12 each – and we just didn’t feel like spending that kind of money to go walk through a prison! We figured we’d rather spend it eating and drinking – which is what we did!
We headed back to the main area of town, parked the car, then wandered the shopping district. There are tons of craft places, jewelry stores and chocolate stores – supposedly very good sweets and chocolates here. We perused a few menus and settled on Tanta Sara, had more of a bar/pub kind of atmosphere than the other cafeteria looking spots we had seen. Their slogan is – Enjoy – it’s the end of the World! How can you resist that?
As soon as we sat down – the skies opened up – so our timing was impeccable – once again. We ordered an appetizer of “picadas” – which ended up being marinated olives and eggplant, ham, salami and cheeses. It was very good – and the beer and wine were excellent as well! The beer – Beagle beer – is local and Ed – and Pietro – enjoyed it very much! Oh, and the bill? It turned out to be exactly what it would have cost to go into the museum – 100 pesos (about 24 bucks). So, in our minds at least, we made the right decision.
After our meal, we collected the car and deposited it back with the rental agency and headed back down to the ship. This afternoon we’re cruising the Beagle Channel and glacier gazing! More later.
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