Ushuaia - The end of the World

Catch-up series, part 2 of 3...

Leaving the ferry in Puerto Chacabuco, we transfer to the airport in Coyhaique for a short, yet spectacular, flight to Punta Arenas in the far south of Chile. We only have an afternoon to spend here before the final leg of the transit medley: 14hrs by bus to Ushuaia, Argentina.

Before the Panama Canal simplified things, Punta Arenas was an important port for ships traveling around Cape Horn. It was also a booming trade centre for locally grown wool. Unfortunately sometime in the early 20C wool prices plummeted and with the opening of the canal at a similar time, Punta Arenas fell out of favour.

However the historic buildings have been well preserved (lately natural gas reserves have kept the economy afloat) and it still looks grand despite feeling like time stopped 100 years ago.

Maritime museum in Punta Arenas. Here, Nic delights in finding weather forecasting stuff. 

But our stay here is really only a stopover on our way to Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world. The locals have got a bit carried away with the branding on this front but the title is deserved. By way of comparison it is 1000km closer to the South Pole than Dunedin (a convenient reference point for us. Or 54deg south). You can basically throw a stone to Antarctica.

For those that are interested, the LP gives a good description of the place. Although I suspect the colours have been tweaked in their photos, it's even more spectacular than they show.

Woolshed on an estancia we pass along the way, Tierra del Fuego 

We were lucky to have 4 days of beautiful sunshine and postcard perfect scenery

Ushuaia was initially settled as a penal colony. Hard to imagine how cold the cells must have been for inmates. The jail famously had no perimeter fences. When surprised government officials asked about this the warden would reply, 'but where would they escape to?'

Looking back across Ushuaia from the surrounding mountains. The land mass on the other side of the Beagle Channel forms Cape Horn.

Immediately behind the town centre is a small ski field with a single chairlift and short glacier trek at the top. Snow up to our waist stops us getting to the glacier and so we settle for a self-navigated trip back to town. What starts as a well defined trail gradually becomes a few sets of snowy footprints until finally, after an hour of walking, the footprints stop abruptly. We can hear cars winding down the ski-road across the valley. We plow on directly towards the engine sounds. But the scrubby bush gets the better of us and when we finally accept defeat it's with great relief to find a footprint map out of trouble.

Documentation for the search and rescue team. My shortcut gets us lost in the woods.

Relief on finding a way out. Though the scenery along the way wasn't bad.

On our second day we headed out for a dog sledding and snowshoeing expedition. I felt a bit sorry for the poor dogs having to tow our sled of 4 people, especially given that snow had fallen overnight and made the trail sticky. But they seem to relish the task and it was a surreal experience passing through the snowy woods with the dogs barking and yelping, and our musher shouting orders in spanish. I assume dogs understand spanish better than us.

A welcome alternative to bus travel

Despite their wolfy appearance they're really quite friendly

Snowshoeing

The ride home. New entry at number 1 on my Christmas wishlist.

After the sledding we hike deeper into the woods with snowshoes - a first for both of us. It's easy enough once you master your duck waddle and when we reach a clearing on the mountainside the views of the valley are spectacular. Finally we return back to the little refugio pictured above for sugary hot cinnamon buns. Delicious.

Our last day in Ushuaia is again sunny and still, and we can't resist a day skiing at Cerro Castor. This is Argentina's youngest ski field and has made the most of Tierra del Fuego's tax-free status to import the latest and greatest. All the facilities - lifts, rentals, base lodge, cafeterias - are brand new and we do not wait in a queue all day. Best of all, it's cold enough at just 200m above sea level for the snow to remain fresh even this late in the season so there are no issues for our waning fitness.

Last ride of the day and I get sent up with 12 dozen eggs for the cafe. Luckily for those making pies on the piste below, I overcome a great battle with temptation.

Cerro Castor

With sadness our time here comes to an end and we reluctantly saddle up for the return journey. While not an easy place to get to (for the budget traveller at least) it was well worth the effort and was a real highlight. As it's the launch pad for antarctica expeditions perhaps we will return in the summer one day and make the journey further south. It has certainly piqued our interest.

Many requests to post a map of this journey, but I'm having a few problems getting Googlemaps to work for me. Coming soon.

Part 3 to follow.