2012 - The End of the World - Ushuaia, Patagonia, Argentina

"Hey dude, you wanna go to Patagonia?"

"That sounds pretty cool. Mark said it was dope."

"Let's go!"

And there you have it! The trip planning conversation of the decade between Brian Beezy and me. (If you're a follower of his blog, this is gonna seem like the repeat game. But every person experiences a situation differently, so feel free to read on.) After a steak dinner in BsAs, we went to kayak.com and made some of the biggest, boldest moves of this trip so far. I had 2.5 weeks to get from BsAs to the end of the world and back, with plenty of stops along the way. Destinacion Numero Uno: Ushuaia.

Why Ushuaia? It's the "southernmost city in the world" or "El Fin Del Mundo" (some might say) before Antarctica, and they love to advertise this everywhere you go: tshirts, city signs, grafitti, churro stands. They're all about it! Basically, our flight to El Calafate (stay tuned for that one) included a stop in Ushuaia for the same price, and they threw in a sick passport stamp!

 

 

Fun fact: Brian had 40 hours between learning that Ushuaia existed and arriving in the city. He couldn't even remember/pronounce the name (ooosh-why-uhh) until we got on the plane.

DAY 1:

As we were flying over the end of the world, I was getting excited to see NO signs of civilization. I thought this could be a crazy place to see some major stars at night. Unfortunately, we touched down in a pretty modern airport and realized it was a bigger city with a large tourist draw. It felt like being in a ski town, and it was COLD. I knew that when I left California I wanted to check out Patagonia, but I still packed my bag with gear for summer in Rio and beach type places, with a couple "cool weather clothes". You're gonna see a few pictures in the upcoming posts with me wearing the same outfit. Rest assured, none of the items were washed in between the cities: FOREVER FILTHY!

Here's the Maldivas Islas Parque (aka Falkland Islands) in Ushuaia. There's a bigger political story here between Argentina and the UK, but I won't get into that here (mainly because I haven't done the research). Either way, every city we go to has something similar to this park and it's always in the news because it's still a huge controversy. 

Even though I was the one schooling Bri on Ushuaia facts, I only knew 2: It's the southernmost city and there's a boat tour where you can see penguins. Also included on the Beagle Channel Tour: wildlife islands (seals, "penguins", various birds), a stop to walk on one of the islands for panoramic views of the mountains and sea and a lighthouse. So after the check-in to the hostel, we cruised the streets looking for this tour. Luckily we found the Beagle Channel Boat Tour, but only had about 10 minutes to get on before departure and hadn't had any lunch yet. They told us they served food on the boat tho:

The Beagle Channel Ham and Cheese Sandwich, possibly the worst thing I've eaten this year. Beagle Channel beer was good tho.

Another ship sailing to the end of the world.

Bird Island

Standard Ushuaia Pose

Walking around on this island was one of the most amazing things I've ever done. Just absolute wilderness all around for thousands of miles. The most remote place I've ever been, and more beautiful than my camera (or photography skills) can capture.

Bri vying for "last man on the island" title

Sea Lion Island

Another ugly sunset

The Lighthouse

Toasting to Life in the World

Me, full of regret for having made this trip.

The first AWOO this island has ever seen.

DAY 2:

The ultimate Carpe Diem: waking up at 3pm and trying to figure out what else there is to do here. We wanted to get out and explore the beautiful landscape, and to warm up our legs and lungs for some big time hikes coming up in our next stops in Patagonia. Luckily, there was a short hike up a mountain to "walk on" Martial Glacier. Sounds like fun!

The view from the bottom of the hill, staring up at the mountain covered in "snow"

The stream that runs along the trail

The stick man himself

Although it was short, this trail was a beast of an incline. Panting and taking breaks after about 5 minutes, we kept going for about an hour until we got to the top. As I'm taking pictures and wondering where the "glacier walking" begins, Bri reads the sign and says "GEEZ." Apparently, the "snow" on the mountain IS the glacier. The same exact snow we could see from the bottom of the trail and even from the town, and no way for us to actually walk on it. What a finale! At least we got some exercise.

I promise, it looked the same from here on the top as it did from the hostel.

Even though we came at a time when it was really cold, it made for cool scenery since the trees had all changed colors.

Crewing up with the stick man and enjoying the muddy walk down.

Panoramic View of Ushuaia Bay

DAY 3:

Nothing too fancy on day 3, just a casual stroll around the waterfront to enjoy the view before our flight out to El Calafate.

The Beagle Channel Tour Boats

Lookin Fly, Boots.

The Sinking Ship

Amazing reflections

Reflections 2.0

And just like that, we proved the Mayans correct: The end of the world really happened in 2012! Next stop: Big Ice Tour - Perito Moreno Glacier in El Calafate, Patagonia, Argentina.