Ushuaia: Pinguinos and Snow Capped Mountains

The past weekend I spent in a frozen city at the very bottom of the world, the "Tierra del Fuego", the province of capital city Ushuaia. It is the southernmost city in the world, nearly 9.000 km from Antartica. As a group, we gathered Saturday morning at the local airport for our flight. All eager, and ready for winter weather we were on our way. Three hours later we landed in the port city and were greeted by the massive snow peaked mountains. The small city was built on the foothills of the mountains. The view is picturesque from all of the streets of the city. As we drove to our hotel we pass by big cargo boats on the water and small souvenir shops on the street. After settling in, we explore the little city and all it has to offer. We poke our heads in the sweet smelling chocolate shops and marvel at the giant sea crabs in the restaurant windows. Back at the hotel, we clutched our hot cups of tea close and watched the sun set over the mountains.

That following day we had a train tour of the rural part of the city. We clambered into the coaches and watched the tall green trees pass by our windows. Horses grazed alongside the train. The massiveness of the mountains put into perspective how small we are! After out train ride through the valley we jumped back on our bus and headed towards the port for a boat tour of the penguin´s islands. We were grateful to have seats inside the cabin of the boat because outside on the open water was freezing! Above us, circled seagulls looking for fishing boats. We could hear the roar of the sea lions before we approached their rocky island. The fuzzy beasts were accompanied by condors who fooled some tourists into thinking they were penguins because of their black and white tuxedos. After a couple of hours on the water we made our way to the island of the penguins. The little birds were splashing in the frigid water and making nests of pebbles. After we all awed and ran our camera batteries dry from too many pictures we made our way back to port and bundled up for the night.

Sunday morning we took a bus tour of the crystal lakes of Ushuaia. The lakes were so clear that the surrounding mountains reflected in their waters. The pebble beaches had perfect stones for skipping across the glass lake. Some of the locals drove by on jet skis and waved hola to us. The sun was high and warm at 48 degrees. We had been spoiled with Buenos Aires tropical weather. Everyone adorned knit hats and sweaters under big winter jackets. We spent the day outside of town and enjoyed lunch at a local bakery which also hosted an exotic bird sanctuary. We left the city with warm Buenos Aires on our minds, and hundreds of photos on our cameras.