Apart Hotel Cabo San Diego Ushuaia

... with lots of international brands, and lots of salons and upscale shops. I guess they are catering to the Antarctica and cruise ship clientele who have some money.

We spent the next day in Tierra del Fuego National Park doing a short hike through the trails. We didn't go as a group, but just a few of us went. We saw some wild Patagonian horses, more birds and some great scenery of the end of the Andes ranges with all the snow ...

... with loads af artifacts from the native indians and also history about old Ushuaia - photos, old prisoners uniforms etc

And so we have made it from the north of South America to the south of South America and what a journey it has been! We celebrate with yet more wonderful Argintinean red (wine and meat!) but try to get an early night...tomorrow we begin our journey back up the other side...the journey starts with a 20 hours bus leaving at 4:30 am...

... actually the furthest urban dwelling south. That title belongs to Puerto Williams, just a triathlon away, down the channel and back over the aquatic border in Chile. I'd read that the small marina in Puerto Williams is an old cargo vessel, now a decrepit museum, inside which floats one of the most unique bars a lover of alcohol is ever likely to visit. To avoid an otherwise unreliable and hideously expensive trip there, you really needed the service of a boat. Et ...

... no one was complaining about the views! Puerto Natales is where we were dropped off from the boat. This is the gateway to Torres del Paine National park. We´d heard nothing but amazing things about the park. We spent our first day visiting various lookout points. The mountains were capped with snow, the trees were a mix of green, yellow and orange. We couldn´t have asked for better weather. We then stayed the night in one of the hiking huts. It cost us $88 NZ ...

... and see a glacier but had the luck that just this week the teleferic was out of use and we did not have enough time left to climb the thing. I got a certificate of the city of Ushuaia that I was at the end of the world. At least at the most southern city...

... tait pleine, plus de place, et nous avons dû faire demi-tour. C'était une petite déception, mais bon j'ai vu le hall d'entrée de la prison d'Ushuaia! :) Enfin, dans cette ambiance pourrie et malgré les paysages superbes j'ai été bien content de partir d'Ushuaia. J'aurais vraiment dû rester à Punta Arenas! ---------- I was so well in Punta Arenas... If I hadn't wanted to move on and see the Argentinian side of things, I would have stayed there a bit longer. But that's what travelling is ...

... at. We also saw a lot of birds called cormorants that look a bit like penguins, but unfortuneately I didn´t see any penguins. Ushuaia is where cruises to the Antarctic depart from; they´re quite expensive so I opted out of that particular trip! Since I couldn´t go any further south if I wasn´t going to the south pole, it was time to start heading back up north again. I had a gruelling (and very dull) 33 hour bus journey to Puerto Madryn on the Atlantic coast ...

Hello Feb 8 2009 10 degrees 12 noon the polar plunge was a great sucess, it was 10 degrees with a 35 mile an hour wind , with a water temp of 32 degrees F, I ran towards the water , I dont even recall any memory of the cold as it is a shock to the body, I dunked my head fast, lost my footing as the water was over my head and stumbled back to shore, It was much colder on shore with the wind and Susie ...

... Capitan and the crew "we are being very lucky because such smooth waters are rare" As we progress toward the horizon it was getting worst, but less than what we were expecting. The boat is built with all sorts of stabilizers to soften the impact, and it really works. I have finally learned the difference between the waves and the swells. If you look out in front of the boat and suddenly see a huge mountain of 30feet raising in front of you, well, ladies and ...

... thus eleminating the need to tender. The weather was mostly sunny and very windy. The Channel is surrounded on all sides by mountains, snow covered and ragged; one side is Chile and the other is Argentina. These mountains are the southern end of the Andies which, over the millenium, have sunken. We cruised very close to ...