More on Ushuaia

So I left off on my departure from El Chalten, Argentina, to Ushuaia,  (Dec 31) where I would spend New Years.We got there by plane (probably one of the most beautiful plane rides I’ve been on) and immediately upon arriving we got on a boat to visit the Beagle Islands.

The Beagle islands, located naturally in the Beagle Channel, are at the southern tip of South America, belonging varyingly to Chile and Argentina. There’s a lot of explanation that goes into this, but the basic gist of it is that Chile owns the western portion of the Channel  while Argentina holds the east.

On our little boat ride we got to spot some Sea Lions, Walrus and Albatross.

Great to look at… but man are they some smelly animals!
And lucky us, Located in the Beagle Channel is the Southern Most Lighthouse of the world, Lighthouse Les Esclaireurs called “The light house at the End of the World”   

The boat ride – while it was awesome to see these things (and I not by any means down playing having the privilege of seeing what I saw) the boat ride itself was probably the best part of the tour. The waves were perfect for turning the boat into a huge trampoline…jumping, dancing, laughing, falling. I couldn’t have asked for a better group to travel with. We had way too much fun!

New Years day, we finished our visit to Ushuaia with a trip out to Tierra del Fuego National Park for our last run of the adventure.

Upon finishing our run, we had some time to just walk around and relax in the Park and the craziest thing happened to me. I was walking along the shore, close to the shore was outlined with that type of grass that just enchants you into having to sit and roll in it. So I took a seat and looked out over the water. Green lively grass all around me, a Calm lake filling in the distance between me and the mountains, and not another soul in sight.

For years I imagined this exact picture in my head for times when life became a little to much. At the finale of the trip, I was sitting in my dream.. I just laid there. Soaking enough time as possible in this little place that fueled my dreams.

After that, the trip wasn’t totally over. We still had time to spend in Buenos Aires, a fancy schmancy Tango show to see, and not to mention a 20 hour flight home (Jan 1-4.)  If I had been more interested in Tango at the time (ironically Alaska of all places has sparked that one!), I probably would have paid more attention to this portion of the trip and enjoyed it more.
But being the city girl that I’m not, and really only on the trip to run and see mountains, I can’t really say I have anything valuable to share!

It is definitely where most the population lives and gets their education from in Argentina, so its really not a bad city. Its just a city which for me isn’t all too exhilarating.

One part of the city did entertain me though. ” La Boca ” An artsy/touristy little neighborhood with a “caminito” for tango dancers and other artists to display their talent.

Video of Tango along El Caminito