Ushuaia

Ushuaia was amazing. The town, the beagle channel, and the towering mountains surrounding it. Absolutely fantastic. Tierra del Fuego- the Island of fire. Just fantastic.

The first night we were there was after the big 4 ½ day trek- Tim and I thought we deserved something good after that and so we headed out to town to have one of their world famous Centollas- king spider crabs. We went into a place called La Cantina de Freddy and had the most amazing crab ever- it was male and yet it was soooo juicy and sweet- lots of meat and yummy fat- not good really, but we’re only in Ushuaia every so often. Haha! Washing it down with some Patagonian Sauvignon Blanc was good as well. We actually had a photo before and after as we selected it from the live tank and held it before it was cooked in the kitchen. So good…

The next day we went on separate excursions-Tim went on a sailing boat and Maria-due to her not wanting to experience seasickness- went on a much larger catamaran. They both went down the beagle channel- Tim’s boat took 4 hours, and Maria’s boat took 6 hours- a bit longer.

Tim went with a group of 10 people- all our mates from the trip and went with a boat that had Jacques Costeau’s oceanographer on it. Apparently it wasn’t choppy at all, and the beagle channel was beautiful with views not only of Ushuaia, but the surrounding Andes and the World famous lighthouse at the end of the world. They went to where there were birds that looked like penguins called Cormorans, but still had flight. They then sailed around and got off one of the islands and headed back to shore. It was an enjoyable half-day out for Tim

Maria went with another group of her friends along with a few more tourists in a bigger catamaran where they approached the cormoran island, as well as the sea lion island where she saw loads of big ones playing and making loud noises.

The boat then travelled to the more distant penguin island- where they actually beached themselves and so we had great photo opportunities. There were 2 different types of penguins on the rock- the other one looks like the Mexican penguins in Happy feet. Very cute. If you want to get even closer, you can pay another boat to take you on the island and you can “walk with the penguins”- all staying at least one meter away from them as well. We chose not to do this as we had already seen them in the penguin reserve in Chile.

The next day we had our first museum visit. The Museo del fin de Mundo was ok, but a bit small and mostly in Spanish so we both struggled to understand most of it. The Maritime museum though was quite interesting- it had 5 different exhibits on, and used to be the old jail in Ushuaia. It was quite eerie seeing the prison as we could just imagine how cold it would be- we were there in summer/fall time and we were quite cold. We also saw part of the maritime history, and how the different types of ships were used and the many accidents in Ushuaia Harbour. Tim also had to check out the pescar exhibit which was minimal but still satisfying.

Tim went fly fishing the following day, enjoying a full day out from 8 am until 11 pm! It was also St Patrick’s Day so the merriment could be felt everywhere, with everyone wearing a bit of green and orange but unfortunately no Guinness could be found anywhere! They had to make do with either Bailey’s or some other beer but it was much fun anyways.

Meanwhile, as mentioned Tim had been out the whole day and Maria was getting quite worried as the guide had said that they would be back by 4-8 pm at the latest and it was already 10 pm! After another hour Tim finally walked in looking windswept and tired, but cheerful. Alas, after all that- no fish! The only one who caught anything was the guide and according to Tim they were tiny ones. A bit disappointing but Tim enjoyed it immensely, nonetheless. It was a great few days for us all in all.