Bahia Ensenada, Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego (near Ushuaia, Argentina)
9 february 2001
Here we are finally in Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego, some 12 miles west of Ushuaia. We are at the end of Ruta Nacional Numero 3 which is the road that brought us here. For us, it was the culmination of our goal to drive as far south in the world that one can go by road so we popped a bottle of champagne and sprayed our vans which carried us here while we danced and cheered in front of the sign announcing the end of route 3. Some tourists who were walking by gave us a round of applause.
The town of Ushuaia is on the shore of the Beagle Channel across from Isla Navarino which is Chilean. The town is backed by year-round snow capped mountains which rise to no more than a few thousand feet but appear to be tall like the Rockies in the US because, like the Rockies, they are young mountains -- jagged and barren at their tops. Just below the snow are scree slopes of loose rock which are colonized by many different types of flowers and mosses. Below that, just under the tree line, begins a thick miniature forest of lenga or southern beech. A few hundred feet further down, the trees grow taller and then further down the slope begins the outskirts of the city.
Ushuaia offers not much to travelers like us but plenty to the tourists that arrive by the boatload... T-shirts for $18 to $28, a cup of coffee for $3 or a small ice cream for $2 and this is not at the Ritz-Carlton either. One thing we learned fast was to stay away from drinks in eating places... cokes are $2 and a liter of beer is $4. We on the other hand ate at the cafeteria at the TIA supermarket which was reasonable.
The weather was... how do I say this -- different. Kai had his bathing suit ready to go to the beach because he heard it was mid-summer here and where he grew up 55 degrees N near Hamburg, Germany, there was a summer and it was warm and you could go to the beach. However, here in Ushuaia four days ago there was a blinding snowstorm.
Three days ago, approaching town, everyone was thrilled and excited to finally reach our destination... Ushuaia! We looked and looked for the 'Welcome-Bienvenidos-Bem Vindo-Willkommen to Ushuaia' sign. We even had on our party hats and the champagne was chilled and we were ready to pop the tops on our imported (from Chile) beer. Guess what... NO DAMNED SIGN. No sign of a sign anywhere! Three days later, we still haven't found the damned sign! We couldn't even get our resident artist, Jozey, to make a sign!
And to fellow travelers who plan to do this trip, do it, but bring your own sign!
Larry & Will, Kai & Valeria and Les, Vicki & Jozey
