It´s the End of the World As We Know It

Hello folks.

I´m currently sitting in an internet cafe in Puerto Natales, Chile. It´s a town that´s a stepping stone to the Torres del Paine National Park, famous for those photogenic mountain towers (Torres in Espanol) you tend to see representing all of Patagonia. Along with the Fitzroy range near El Chalten in Argentina, these are probably some of the most photographed mountains in South America. I´ll get back to the Torres in a bit.

First of all - Ushuaia!
The most southern city in the world. I´ve got a stamp in my passport to prove I was there (haven´t taken a picture of it yet) but I will do so for the next blog.

We got there pretty late after a fairly rubbish trip from Rio Gallegos on mainland Argentina. I say "mainland" because Ushuaia is actually on an island called Tierra del Fuego. "Land of Fire" in English. So called because when the Portuguese sailed past this part of the world in times of yore, the fire from the natives camps were clearly visible from the ships. Technically, the Tierra del Fuego, the southern most section of Patagonia (itself an awesome region of southern South America) is actually a group of islands, but the main one, known as Isla Grand de Tierra del Fuego is the one most people speak of when mentioning this region.
The bus trip involved a border crossing not once.. not twice... heck not even thrice. But four times. Yep. Once to get out of Argentina, then to get into Chile, then to get out of Chile, and back into Argentina. The reason being because Chile owns most of the area down here, and to get to Argentine Tierra del Fuego, you first have to go through Chile.

Anyway, it´s always had a rather mythical place in my mind, and I´ve wanted to come here for a while. The main city here (not in terms of population - that title goes to Rio Grande) is Ushuaia, and in the summer months, is THE main spot in the world to launch ships bound for Antarctica. Luckily, or unluckily (depending on my wallet and dreams respectively), we arrived after the end of the Antarctic season, so we were not able to go down there. Some of the last minute cheap berths are around $3-4k USD so I guess that might have been for the best! Otherwise the credit card would´ve been shaking that´s for sure! Ushuaia itself is set on the Beagle Channel, and is surrounded by high snowcapped peaks. Really beautiful.

We spent 5 days in Ushuaia, which we were assured was too long. But in fact, we could´ve stayed there a bit longer. There´s so much to do. We climbed a mountain right behind the city to see a glacier. Of course, the weather turned on us half way. You can see the fruits of our labour below.. REALLY horrid walking through this, and it got a lot worse, I assure you:

That´s me in the frame there

Another day, when the weather improved, we went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park and did a day hike with a really nice Welsh couple we met at our hostel, Jamie and Alexis. They are super friendly, and in fact, we will be hiking with them over the next few days here in Chile. But I´m jumping ahead of myself. On the hike, we saw incredible scenery, and I impressed everyone with my knowledge of raptors (Southern Crested Caracara!).. by impressed I mean bored of course. Jamie then had to show off with his knowledge of shrubs and trees and the like.. Cheers Jamie! ;)

We also then had the good fortune to go on a boat trip out of Ushuaia to see local seal and bird colonies. Pics below:

Boats around a Seal colony. Fur Seals and Sea Lions were here







And after 5 days, we left Ushuaia at a lovely time of 5am to catch a bus across to Puerto Natales, Chile, which involved two brder crossings, and two connections at Rio Grande and Punta Arenas.
We´ve now been here for a day, and tomorrow we will be going on a 5 day hike around the Torres del Paine. Wish us luck. It´s bloody freezing here at night!!

Anyway, sorry to keep this short. I´ll post more pics upon our return. Remember:
Smugmug galleries are there to check out.

One particular friend (no names mentioned!) had a whinge at me for not including more people shots. If you want, Fran has been doing more of those kinds of pics, and I can send the link to anyone interested. Just drop me a mail.

Gotta go. Much love all!
Adam