TIERRA DEL FUEGO, ARGENTINA

04. April – 09. April 2011

I went to “The land of fire” because I was so close (only a 12 hour bus ride away) and the name of the southernmost city in the world “Ushuaia” just sounded cool. People that I talked to before on this trip had totally different opinions about Ushuaia – from amazing city to not worth going there. Guess, it's the same with all places – some people like it, others don't. Anyways, I really liked Ushuaia. I can't really explain why, but it had a special atmosphere and the surrounding landscape was very beautiful. Maybe to know that one is so far away from almost all places in the world helped to make it special. And I also liked the rough and constantly changing weather – cold wind, rain and sometimes sun. Already the drive there was beautiful. It was snowing when we were getting close to Ushuaia and the mountains, trees and streets were covered with a thin layer of snow. Most of the time in Ushuaia was spent relaxing and catching up on blog posts and emails. After the long hike and the four weeks before with little downtime, a few relaxing days were necessary. Besides walking around I didn't do much most days, the only touristy things were a visit to a Penguin Colony and to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. In Ushuaia, I also had to say goodbye to “my guys”. First Ruediger left to go back to Germany and his desk. Than it was time to say bye to Micha as well. After traveling together on and off for 6 months it was quite sad to say goodbye without knowing when we would meet again. THANKS for an amazing time!

Penguin Colony
By bus we went to the estancia Haberton from where we took a boat to the Isla Martillo. The bus ride itself was good with amazing views of the fall-colored trees and snow covered mountains. We also stopped at the so-called flag trees. Trees that are bend from the strong winds. After coffee and cake at the estancia it was finally time to go to the island. There were lots of penguins on the island. And they didn't mind if you got close to them. At least if you didn't get too close. Eventually they would pick at your fingers if you hold them very close. Most of the penguins were Magellanic penguins and some Gentoo penguins. But we were lucky and there was even a king penguin. King penguins are not native to this area but somehow this one penguin made his way to the island and stayed there. He was taller than the other penguins and more pretty with orange neck and beak as well. We stayed on the island for a while, walked around the penguins, watched them, talked to them (even if they didn't answer) and took lots of photos (especially me). Before leaving the island we could see some penguins swimming and arriving at the island after a day of fishing.

Tierra del Fuego National Park
I went to the park for a few hours of walking along the lakes. It was nice. Especially since the trees were fall-colored and the mountains covered in a thin layer of snow. The park was very quite and there were very few other people there. Since it was raining I stayed only a few hours and did some short walks before heading back to Ushuaia.