Ushuaia. Tierra del Fuego (the land of fire). "La tierra del fin del mundo" (the land at the end of the world). Even the name of the region is attractive. No one was able to give me a certain explanation of why this large island located between the Strait of Magallanes and Beagle Channel is called "Tierra del Fuego", but one of the most reasonables theories is that it has to do with the native tribes. For both Yámanas and Onas, it was very difficult to make fire because of the constant rain, so they took the fire always with them. Even when they were sailing they took the fire with them and the younger kids would sit in the middle of the canoe taking care of it. So apparently, at night, you could see the fire from the Indians burning all over the island.
And another interesting fact about Yámanas: since they lived in the Southern part of the island (where Ushuaia is nowadays), where it rains constantly, they couldn't wear any clothes because they would get wet. So they were naked all the time, covered with fat from the sea lions they ate. So think of that next time you are cold :)
Ushuaia has certainly been one of the highlight of my trip so far. I didn't expect much of this small town except visiting the southernmost city in the world (actually, the small Chilean settlement of Puerto Williams is slightly further south), but I discovered a beautiful place with plenty of things to do and meet what I consider to be the best friends I've made so far in this trip. And on top of that, this town known for it's windy and rainy weather, offered has 6 full days of calm sunshine and blue skies. What else can you ask for!
The first pleasant surprise was landing in Ushuaia on a stormy and windy day, and seeing all those spectacular peaks, channels and islands surrounding the city under a dark sky with beams of light finding their way between the clouds. Truly unforgettable.
I travel to Ushuaia with Geri, one of the funniest people I've met in this trip (more so because he's not really trying to be funny). I met this young Austrian from Salzburg in Comodoro, where he had spent two days doing nothing because he doesn't speak any Spanish and no one there spoke any English (how he got that far it's a true mistery). Meeting an English speaker was to him like opening Christmas presents for a kid.
Anyway, we went to this hostel that some Australians had recommended us and that was also the best place I've been so far. Clean, relaxed, filled with great people and owned by Sebastian, a incredible (and usually stoned) guy that resembled the guitar-player of Status Quo and who was the heart and soul of the place. There I met Teresa (a mystical girl from Cantabria who is one of the nicest persons I've run into), Darryll (a great Irish guy who calls himself "malagueño", as he lived in Málaga for a few years), Frederic (a 20-year old from Munich who had worked at BCG) and Lauren (a cute girl from London, that spoke Spanish with a Mexican accent). For some reason, we all became instant friends and still keep in contact now.
It's true that Ushuaia is a quite touristry town, but it's in such a great setting and the views are so beautiful, that I think it's hard not to like it. Years ago this was a prison town, then it became the center for cruises to the Antartida and nowadays it has became a destination on its own.
The Tierra del Fuego National Park has some nice walks along the shore and inside forests, where you can see the dams built by beavers (a couple of beavers were brought here many years ago, and now there are over 24,000 of them since they don't have natural predators). Also, walking up to the Martial glacier and seeing the view of the city and the Beagle channel from there is quite an spectacle.
Geri and I took a boat trip on the Beagle Channel that was beautiful. The views where incredible (Argentina on the left side, and Chile on the right), with incredible mountains all around us. Along the way we saw pinguins, sea lions, wild gueese, cormorans, seagulls, albatros, flightless steamer ducks (the move quite fast in the water using their wings) all swiming or flying around us.
It was quite funny to discover that each type of animal had chosen a specific island in the channel to live, and all of them were concentrated only in that island. That way all cormorans live in the "Isla de los pájaros" (island of birds), all pinguins in the "Isla de los pingüinos" and all sea lions were in a croweded island with hardly any free spot left at "Isla de los lobos".
At the end we visited Estancia Harberton, the first one in the island. It was built by Thomas Brigdes, the first Western settler in this land, and his great-grand son (who is in his 60s) still lives there (we met him). The estancia was built with metal, instead of wood, because settlers were affraid that the Indians could use their fire to burn it, and each piece of it was brought by ship from England.
The day after we went horseback-riding along the Tierra del Fuego, in an unforgettable 3-hour trip with Marucha (my female horse) across rivers, forests, hills and beaches. I even tried going "trote" (sorry, I don't know the English word for it, but that's what you call when a horse is walking fast but not running) for the first time in my life (not bad considering it was my second time on a horse).
We also visited the beautiful lakes of Fagniano and Escondido with Nacho, a friend of Sebastian's who was also a tour guide. We became quite good friends with him, and the day after he invited us to go with him in his small zodiak for a trip along the Beagle Channel. Despite it was the only rainy day we had, the trip was incredible. We stopped at a desert island where you could see the spots where the Yamanas (the old natives) used to eat. We had a snack there and then walked along that beautiful island just enjoying the incredible sights and the absolute silence.
The only bad memory I have of Ushuaia is when I woke up on March 11th to discovered that some terrorists had killed 200 people in Madrid and injured more that 1,000. Everybody in the hostel was completely shocked (except for a Basque who was an ETA political party activist) and I still can't believe there are people able to do something like that or people that support them.
Anyway, it will be hard to forget those incredible 7 days I spent in Ushuaia. Discovering wonderful places, having a great time with the group, Sebastian and his Chilean right-hand Alfonso at the hostel, talking over a bottle of Trapiche Malbec wine (or Darryll's splendid Irish whisky) or sharing a round of beers at the Pub Dublin. Even though Ushuaia made me delay my plane ticket to Calafate and miss the breaking of Perito Moreno (I missed it for just one day!), I have the best memories from that place.
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