Ushuaia Hotels
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What a setting and hooray the sun is back!
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WOW...what a location and what a great little city at the end of the world! To be fair, Argentina have done a genius marketing job on Ushuaia as there are actually 2 more places further South one which is called Puerto Williams...actually not surprised they chose Ushuaia why would anyone want to go there with that name! Hee Hee!
The journey down was interesting in itself...we headed on a bus bright and early and crossed the Magellan strait by ferry (mega strong currents pushing the ferries way off course!) and the sun was shining all the way! A bag of good old English toffee later and we were finally on the Island of Tierra del Fuego! Yipppeee! The North of the island was very barren and full of sheep and colourful corrugated houses and as we got further South, everything suddenly got alot greener with lots more snow as well!!! We finally arrived late evening and went pretty much straight to sleep! Zzzzzzzzzz!
Well the sun was shining again the next morning infact not a cloud in the sky and we headed straight down to the seafront to admire the view! Perfectly still bay, boats bobbing away and their perfect reflections all surrounded by snowcapped peaks! Lovely! We actually forgot that we'd moved on an hour and I happened to catch a glimpse of a clock just as were heading out just in the nick of time as we were heading out on a boat on the Beagle Channel and would have missed it otherwise! Phew! We walked down the harbour past all these executive looking catamarans to our little chugger - the Barracuda - the first tourist boat in Ushuaia! You see...all these flashy boats but we were travelling on a piece of history...and it was a bit cheaper! Hee Hee! We had an amazing afternoon following in the footsteps of Darwin on the Beagle Channel...amazing views back of the town, little islands covered with sealions & their babies, king cormorants & turns! It was a great experience...I even had a go at driving and NO we didn't crash!!!! We headed out as far as the lighthouse and then headed back just as the light was starting to turn! Beautiful! It was pretty cool seeing all the Antarctic expedition boats moored up as well...one day...when we've got lots of money!!! You need it as the trips start at 3000 pounds per person! OUCH!
The next day we headed into the Tierra del Fuego National Park! We got dropped off at Bahia Lapatai and then wandered around for the rest of the day! There was literally no-one else there for the first few hours and even then it was only the odd person we saw...it definitely had an end of the world feel to it and was stunningly beautiful! We basically had this huge lake to ourselves, lots of birdlife (ibis, swans, geese) beautiful mountains and Paul stalking kingfishers with amazing results! Wait till you see the piccies! There was a covering of frost over everything as well which gave it that wintery feel topped by the majority of the lakes being frozen over! WOW! We walked past massive beaver dams, heard lots of noises but no beavers, frozen peat bogs and saw condor and birds we think are called chamango's! They look abit like hawks! Stopped for a yummy steak sandwich (yummy Argentinian steak!) and a cup of char and then we followed the coastal path back along the Beagle Channel! Stunning views again with mountains offset against the lakes and then had a mad panic back up to the road where we had arranged to be picked up! We thought we had lots of time and then reached a sign that told us it was 30 minutes to the road and we had 15 minutes until our lift arrived! Talk about bezzing...sweating and red-faced we got there with time to spare and got into the van! PHEW! Rational Dawn had visions of freezing to death in the forest! Hee Hee!
After a hot shower, we headed out for beers and an 'All You Can Eat' meat restaurant! And we did...big chunks of lamb, pork, beef, chicken and the chunkiest sausages you've ever seen! Think that's more meat than our stomachs have seen since we've been travelling! As a consequence of this and too much vino, we spent the next day digesting and decided to go out and eat some more in the evening but this time a scrummy seafood platter for two and a good drop of white wine! Paul gave the waiter a minor stroke when he tasted the wine and pulled a face as a joke! Hee Hee! The waiter spent the rest of the meal trying to get his own back! So all in all, a FAB time at the end of the world and to be recommended to anyone!!!!!!!!
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