Argentina - Ushuaia and Tierra del Fuego

Ushuaia... the land at the end of the earth, in Tierra del Fuego. This region is majestic, and words do little justice to the alpine-like beauty we saw here. There are deep blue ocean waters, lakes of every shade of blue, white-capped mountains which continue to the horizon and blur into a sea of grayness that is often the horizon here.

Our hikes here took us from rocky beaches to forests of lengua, southern beech, and mid-mountain meadows of peat moss which intersected our treks up to the mountain summits. During our time in Tierra del Fuego, we spent most of our time on the outskirts of Ushuaia, where we beheld the awesome views of lonesome, jagged mountains towering over the seas and little towns that dot this landscape, and saw islands covered with seals and birds.

We drank from streams flowing with alpine mountain water that flows from the glaciers, rejuvenated ourselves with savory Argentine lamb and local king crab, and started our days with artisan breads smeared with local calafate berry jam.

The summertime beauty here is unusual, filled with vivid colors amidst the greys and blues. the specific details of our brief time in this rugged land included hiking the National Park's coast and mountain trails, in which we squeezed 10 hours of hiking into about 7! Another day, we took a cab out to hike to Laguna Esmeralda and then further up to Ojo de Albino, a tiny glacier near the mountain summits ringing Laguna Esmeralda. During this hike, we met a great porteno couple, Alicia and Fernando, whom we later met up with in Buenos Aires. And we also took a brief boat tour around the Beagle Channel, I think it was with Maria tours or something like that.