Ushuaia, Argentina
Kara says:
Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego (an island in the very southern tippy-tip of south america), southernmost city in the world, or as the locals prefer "el fin del mundo" - the end of the world. I assumed they meant geographically and not temporally so didn't panic. This is where the road ends, literally, see photo of sign at the end of the road nearly 18,000km from Alaska if you feel like a Sunday drive.
Lovely little town in a gorgeous setting, surrounded by mountains on three sides, the Beagle Channel and then more mountainous islands behind it. It even has two irish bars! The Galway and the Dublin (most southerly irish bar in the world, apparently). Sad to say the Dublin was best, it was almost a real bar, cosy, smokey, no table service. And some very nice locally brewed beers too, proving you only get nice beer in crap climates. In Ushuaia the snow falls horizontally - see photo of me battling my way through it.
There's a naval base here so the whole place is pretty enthusiastic about the whole Islas Malvinas/Falklands Islands thing. There a big memorial to those who died in the war with a declaration that they'll be back! Don't know if I've mentioned this before but Argentina thinks the Malvinas (Falklands) are theirs. They put them on all their maps so it must be true. Along with the South Georgia Islands actually so maybe that's the next stage for a war with the UK. They also put a large chunk of Antarctica (Antartida Argentina) on their maps which unfortunately seems to be the same large chunk Chile puts on their maps (Antarctico Chileno). Once global warming opens it up for development there could be quite the battle. Karl and I plan to stake our own claim shortly to a part we'll call "Antarkarla", we'll put a map of it on the blog and it'll be ours.
As well as the indoor activities we did manage some outdoor ones. There's a big national park nearby, some fabulous countryside, it looks a bit like how I imagine Alaska to be, big bays, snowy mountains, beavers! Also an interesting road sign in the park (see photo) that i think is encouraging you to get some air while going over the next hill.
Also went skiing. In the mountains the snow falls vertically, but upwards. Have proved you don't need wussy things like ski-pants and jackets, ski-gloves, goggles, none of that nonsense. We went in our ordinary clothes and only almost died of frostbite. See photo of me lightly dusted in white powder that was wind-blasted into me off the side of the mountain. And photo of Karl pioneering the sport of gloveless skiing. All his fingers are still intact and he's playing guitar at this very moment proving that truely manly men don't wear gloves. Also photo of Karl enjoying his apres-ski in the ski centre that was one big log cabin. And how good is it to be able to ski in October! The top of the mountain (with lovely thick powdery snow) is at only 1000m and you can ski all the way to the bottom (in fairness, a bit slushy near the bottom and thin in patches) at 200m (200m!!!) in the middle of spring! And not a snowmaker in sight.
Also, dogs here are evil, not like Uruguayan dogs, they bark and chase and go crazy and are horrible. Very mean dogs in Ushuaia.
Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego (an island in the very southern tippy-tip of south america), southernmost city in the world, or as the locals prefer "el fin del mundo" - the end of the world. I assumed they meant geographically and not temporally so didn't panic. This is where the road ends, literally, see photo of sign at the end of the road nearly 18,000km from Alaska if you feel like a Sunday drive.
Lovely little town in a gorgeous setting, surrounded by mountains on three sides, the Beagle Channel and then more mountainous islands behind it. It even has two irish bars! The Galway and the Dublin (most southerly irish bar in the world, apparently). Sad to say the Dublin was best, it was almost a real bar, cosy, smokey, no table service. And some very nice locally brewed beers too, proving you only get nice beer in crap climates. In Ushuaia the snow falls horizontally - see photo of me battling my way through it.
There's a naval base here so the whole place is pretty enthusiastic about the whole Islas Malvinas/Falklands Islands thing. There a big memorial to those who died in the war with a declaration that they'll be back! Don't know if I've mentioned this before but Argentina thinks the Malvinas (Falklands) are theirs. They put them on all their maps so it must be true. Along with the South Georgia Islands actually so maybe that's the next stage for a war with the UK. They also put a large chunk of Antarctica (Antartida Argentina) on their maps which unfortunately seems to be the same large chunk Chile puts on their maps (Antarctico Chileno). Once global warming opens it up for development there could be quite the battle. Karl and I plan to stake our own claim shortly to a part we'll call "Antarkarla", we'll put a map of it on the blog and it'll be ours.
As well as the indoor activities we did manage some outdoor ones. There's a big national park nearby, some fabulous countryside, it looks a bit like how I imagine Alaska to be, big bays, snowy mountains, beavers! Also an interesting road sign in the park (see photo) that i think is encouraging you to get some air while going over the next hill.
Also went skiing. In the mountains the snow falls vertically, but upwards. Have proved you don't need wussy things like ski-pants and jackets, ski-gloves, goggles, none of that nonsense. We went in our ordinary clothes and only almost died of frostbite. See photo of me lightly dusted in white powder that was wind-blasted into me off the side of the mountain. And photo of Karl pioneering the sport of gloveless skiing. All his fingers are still intact and he's playing guitar at this very moment proving that truely manly men don't wear gloves. Also photo of Karl enjoying his apres-ski in the ski centre that was one big log cabin. And how good is it to be able to ski in October! The top of the mountain (with lovely thick powdery snow) is at only 1000m and you can ski all the way to the bottom (in fairness, a bit slushy near the bottom and thin in patches) at 200m (200m!!!) in the middle of spring! And not a snowmaker in sight.
Also, dogs here are evil, not like Uruguayan dogs, they bark and chase and go crazy and are horrible. Very mean dogs in Ushuaia.
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