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Ushuaia End of the World

By December 20, 2013March 9th, 2015Travel

Guy in the snowSo this is it. End of the line. You can literally taste the Antarctic breeze in your lungs. The most southernly city in the world; the portal to that big sheet of ice they call Antartica, and WOW do they capitalise on this!! Ushuaia pronounced oos-why-aa (not uushwaya) has a ‘this is it’ feeling at every street corner and road sign. It’s buried within a scenic 280 degree mountainous landscape and a harbour where Antarctic cruises embark on their journey. The city itself is quite small and lies on a slope facing towards the ocean, where one can cross the beagle channel for some penguin watching or to take those awesome photos at the infamous red lighthouse at the end of the world. Close by is the National Park, Terra del Fuego (Land of Fire) where, battling a head cold, I cycle to the end of the world, stopping to the train station for the end of the world train (see a pattern emerging here) and followed this with a stunning 4hr trail to the end of the world (beaver dams, woodpeckers and crystal clear skies) and needless to say, hitchhiked back with some friendly locals.

Ushuaia is a ‘ I’ve-been-to-the-end-of the-world-and-all-I-got-was-this-Tshirt!’ kinda place. Due to its location it’s a fantastic place to meet some of the most amazing travellers out there. We met an overly trodden-down Í´ve-seen-it-all German photographer who had been travelling non stop for the past 20 years, two Italian men that were waiting for their nifty motorbikes to arrive on a cruiser as they were to begin a world recording breaking trip to Alaska. We also met a guy from Belgium (999 toliets around the world) and his dog who had just celebrated by hoping ontop of his ancient minivan with some champagne after 5 years and 6 months on the road from all over the world. These guys were serious travellers with some jaw dropping crazy stories…

Other days in Ushuaia were spent trying to find the unusual wind swept trees. Inadvertently, we had trespassed our way onto a ranch with hundreds of angry bulls. We armed ourselves with sticks and stones for protection and clung to the edge of a cliff face. We also managed to climb a glacier mountain (Martial) in desperate weather conditions (one point on our hands and knees as the snow was so intense). To make a quick descent we then proceeded to slide down on our asses using a plastic bag. Not the best idea when suffering from a head cold. After all the wetness of the glacier and mountain we stumbled upon this unusual fairy tale tea house where everything was pink…Was I on drugs?!?

End of the World

Like something from Alice in Wonderland I thought for a moment that I’d hit my head off a giant rock. They serve freshly hot butternut squash soup with grated cheese and warm crusty bread rolls…mmm.. I must have been dreaming

Highlights: looking at a map of the world and realising how far away from home you are!