Ushuaia

I had planned this trip since Feb-2016, and on 13-Nov-2016 I finally made it to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. The setting of the city is beautiful. There are snow-capped mountains all around and, of course, the Beagle Chanel. I noticed that many Argentinians smoke cigarettes and many people seemed to have dogs as pets. The center of town was small, but pretty, and all of the shops closed from about 1:00pm to about 4:00pm… kinds like a siesta. It was a nice place to walk around and take a rest, but I, of course, wanted to explore, so… I did a day trip to the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Canoe Trip

I could have gone by myself or I could have done a simple trip in a van, seeing all of the main sites, but I found a company in town which offered canoeing and hiking in addition to the standard trip and I opted for that. There was a nice group of us and after entering the park and driving around for a bit we got our canoes, suited up, and hit the water. The weather started out quite lovely, then it started raining. We kept paddling as the weather of the 4 seasons seemed to come upon us randomly. The canoeing was lovely, and at one point we did see some seals swimming around us. After finishing we made our way to lunch before taking off on our hike.

Hiking

We took an easy enough route up to the top of a lookout point which gave us beautiful views of snowcapped mountains and the water below us. Along the way we saw a beaver dam, and we talked quite a bit about how they live and how destructive beavers can be to the local environment. Beavers are not native to this area and were introduced there from Canada back in the early 20^th century. Since then, they have reproduced rapidly and have caused quick change to the local environment. We also learned about a mushroom called “Indian Bread” and about many of the animals in the area. At the top of our hike, it started snowing, turning our green environment into a lovely white. It was a beautiful day and a great first opportunity to get out and see some nature.