Ushuaia, Argentina.. Part 2

Further to our earlier blog on Ushuaia here are is a little bit about the town.Ushuaia is a big little city with a population of 60,000 people, as the southernmost city in the world it is subject to hostile weather conditions and our time here in the summer has seen us exposed to sudden various changes.  It would be fair to say that the average conditions have been temperatures between 2 and 8 degrees with wind chills dropping these to between 4 and -5 degrees, winds between 40 and 65 kph and a couple of snow showers have added to the experience. In a weird twist we have enjoyed plenty of sunshine as well. The city is geographically isolated by country borders and sea water which has made moving around a challenge.

Why do people visit:

The Southernmost city and roads in the world

The Beagle Channel

The National park “Tierra del Fuego”

The departure point for Antarctic cruises (including crossing the Drake Passage)

A few more pictures from our climb to Glacier Martial

Since our last blog we have visited the National Park “Tierra del Fuego”.  Here at the jetty we are further south than in the town itself and this park has the southernmost non sealed roads in the world as well as the post office at the bottom of the world. We completed the coastal walk in extreme winds which made for some great photos.

After a bite to eat we set off on the lakeside walk up to the boarder of Chile and Argentina.

On Saturday we headed 20km out of town to complete the Laguna Esmeralda walk climbing to 411 metres to spend time at this beautiful lake beneath another Glacier.  This is the best walk we have done in Ushuaia as it offered a constantly changing landscape, beech forests to peat swaps, beaver dams to mountain rivers and water falls and finally of course the lake and the Glacier.

  
  

Our final night in Ushuaia saw us partake in the local delicacy – king crab.  Whilst we were at dinner the snow started falling to leave us with a memorable and stunning view of Ushuaia and the surrounding mountains. 

This afternoon we depart for Antarctica, another very exciting part of the journey.  We'll be out of coverage for a while, but with no wi-fi we will be at one with nature for 10 days :o)