USHUAIA - FIN DEL MUNDO (End of the World) - in the PATAGONIA region

DAY 14 - THURS OCT 23 - USHUAIA, ARGENTINA

My flight was changed to an earlier time so I got up at 4am - after getting a new girl in our room who made noise until 3:30am. Crappy night!

We landed in Ushuaia - where it was raining and cold!!! First impressions were awful. I was dropped at my hostel, which also was a negative. I upgraded to an individual room - eventually tried to cancel but they have a no refund policy so I couldn’t afford to walk away.

I walked around the town, which was so totally unique - I liked it though I was frozen and wet. I went for a long lunch to Brix Bar.. it was ok.. I ordered chicken and salad - the flattened lightly breaded fried chicken is common here.. not my favorite.

Went to a local grocery store where I purchased a BOTTLE of Cabernet Sauvignon for $3.05 u.s. I had to try this. It was not great but really not even too bad. I enjoyed the grocery options.

I bought a few groceries, went home and used my leftover chicken with pasta i cooked with butter and spices. Called it a night.

DAY 15 - FRI OCT 24 - USHUAIA, ARGENTINA

I hopped on a bus that picked me up, we drove into the Tierra Del Fuego National Park and explored. I hung out with Jason, a Physician assistant from Staten Island, New York - and Carla and Paulo - he a physician, and she in tech - from Milan, Italy. What an unbelievable day exploring this PATAGONIA region.

It was beautiful, and cold. We took a train to the very ‘end of the earth’ and walked up to a waterfall. I loved this tour!

We arrived back, and I decided to book a 2nd tour this day - a catamaran to see the penguins. This penguin can only be found in Antarctica so I decided to spend the big bucks and go see them. I sat with Maria from London, England. We were halfway through the tour when they called my name on the speaker. They told me that the woman had given me the wrong ticket, and that I was on the wrong boat. This boat only went to see the sea lions, birds (local bird similar to penguin), the light house, and that’s about it. No penguins on this tour. This was my chance to see the penguins. Her small computer error cost me the chance to see the penguins at the end of the world as I will never come back here. Brutal. They did give me a refund after I told them it is the least they could do, but I feel very upset as I had decided I wanted to see them.

Note too that as we were leaving on this tour, we had a small snow storm. How insane to be in Argentina in October in a snow storm. I would have never dreamed it.

All day I felt my throat starting to hurt when I swallowed. I came home, had a warm shower, took lysine and ivermectin, drank a neo citron and took 1 tylenol pm, and slept 10 hours.

DAY 16 - SAT OCT 25 - USHUAIA, ARGENTINA

I spent the day walking and exploring this very cool town. I went on a city tour bus as well to learn the history of this city. I knew I needed to bring home a souvenir from this amazing place and I have no space. I was thinking a t-shirt that reads Patagonia Ushuaia. Then I learned that Patagonia the company has nothing to do with Ushuaia brands, they only capitalize on this place. So I decided against anything Patagonia from this city. I ended up with a hat from a sweet gal drinking her mate, her name escapes me at the moment but we did that a photo. I had to take a photo, she told me I looked like a queen in this hat… hahaha.. good sales tactic to be sure.

I came home to get warm as it was starting to rain again. A girl from a chocolate shop, named Melissa said she would try to find me coca to purchase for high elevation since I have had no luck finding it in any shops

I have not been loving the food here, so I cooked myself some ichiban with snacks and I have to finish my wine as I leave tomorrow.. 3 days for 1 bottle, not too bad.

RECAP OF USHUAIA, ARGENTINA

I could have never imagined this city. Fin del Mundo. They call this city Ushuaia, the End of the World . This is the last major city before Antarctica. It is 1000 km from Antarctica. Ushuaia is on the Isla Grand de Tierra Del Fuego, the main island of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Approximately 2/3 of the archipelago belong to Chile

Ushuaia is situated on the coast of the Beagle Channel. In this channel are small islands that also belong to Chile. The border between Chile and Argentina is 5308 km long! The border runs in the Beagle Channel, separating the main island from the smaller islands. Ushuaia is on the Argentinian side of that border, but we can easily see the Chile islands and the Andes mountains belonging to Chile just walking around in this town.

This area was discovered by the Native Shamana people. They say the ‘white man’ from England came here and used too many of the sea lions to feed themselves, which starved out the Shamana people The last full blood Shamana woman died at the age of 93 in 1993. Initially, this area was used as a prison area- where prisoners were made to work very hard labour, such as cutting down large trees for wood burning through the winters. I heard many very interesting stories of prisoners from this area. They eventually took the prisoners out of this area, it no longer houses any of them.

I even saw wild horses here in the Patagonia region. Amazing! They find eachother and exist together, one of them even had a baby nursing, no humans go near these horses.

In 1970, there were 5000 people living in Ushuaia. The government announced this area as a NO TAX zone in an effort to bring more population. To say the least, this tactic worked! CorpoToday this area boasts over 85K in population! From 2010 - 2022, there was a 45% increase in population. People are from all over Argentina, they love the peaceful community and they like the cold. They have grown up only with heat, and enjoy the cold. Winters here hover around 3 degrees, and summers around 15 degrees, but their average temperature here is 5 degrees. Summers bring long light days, but winters are only light from 10am-5pm.

Ushuaia is quaint and so adorable. Most of the streets are one-way and no stop signs. People just somehow know who has the right of way. The main attractions are all down by the water, so this city is easily walkable. There are a few busy streets with tourists, the rest of the city is for the homes built up the hill for residents. The streets are steep so they are not easy to walk beyond the main streets. The shops are great. Souvenir shops, winter gear - Patagonia is everywhere, many cute coffee and chocolate shops, wine, and local artisan type shops. I adore the vibe of this place. It has a small town, safe, friendly feeling. So fun to walk the streets here (minus the wind, rain, sleet, and snow).

All water comes from the Marshall glacier, which comes straight into the faucet at my hostel. It is delicious. There are no stray dogs here, I see few dogs and they are all fenced in people’s yards.

They introduced the beaver to Ushuaia in 1946, but conditions here are not conducive, so they took over and are an issue now for both Argentina and Chile - since they cross the border back and forth constantly with no passports. :)

Employment here is great as they have the oil industry, tourism, electonics and fishing. Their ski hills accomodate all levels of skiing. Yet the economy is tough, houses are prety run down and there is a fair amount of garbage everywhere. I’m not sure why, as people seem very responsible, I believe there may not be Government funding for the smaller issues.

Ushuaia if the only city in Argentina on the other side of the Andes mountains. They ended up building the #3 highway to be able to cross the mountain range. There is ONE HIGHWAY that goes from Alaska to Ushuaia - and ends in the National Park - at the end of the world.

I do not love the food here. It consists of meat, bread, and the salad is lettuce, onions and tomatoes. Also a lot of potatoes here, paps frittos.. french fries. Empanadas with various meats, and dulche de leche on everything. I have to say, it does not come close to the food I had all over Asia. Here it feels like I am always consuming so many calories with food that I do not even love. They also love to consume a lot of sugar.

The weather here is harsh. It rained or snowed almost the entire time I was here. I could never remember that I was in Argentina while I was here. It felt like a similar feel to Kenora, Manitoba - surrounded by the Marshall mountain range - lol. Then I would see Spanish people walking around holding their mate and I would zone back into Argentina.

The beauty here is really something else. The homes are run down but colorful, which makes for incredible views. The people are great! They are happy because they have all moved here in the past few years intentionally because they love this place. This is a really tough place to rate because I don’t think I could find any place more unique than this place, ever.

Ushuaia - The End of the world, Argentina snow, super incredibly dramatic views, great people, not great food, but overall… I rate Ushuaia 8.5/10. I am so glad I came here! What a totally fantastic experience.

RECAP OF ARGENTINA

Overall, Argentina is a country of PASSION. So much so, there is no alcohol allowed at the soccer games. The passion is so high, they can’t add that dynamic. Passionate about music, sports, tango dancing, drinking mate, eating asado, and passionate about love. This is probably the most passionate culture I have ever witnessed. Their energy is tangible.

I was not aware that I would experience such diverse landscapes in one country. Argentina is 3694 km long! and 1408 km wide at the widest, 2km wide and the narrowest, and that is where I am now, Ushuaia.

I like the people. I felt pretty safe all over this country. The food was a downer.. I did not enjoy the food here.

Overall, I give Argentina a solid 8/10.

PICS BELOW

1-2 pics at airport with the wrong city on my gate, no english, over crowded, i almost missed my flight

3 my hostel great location

4-5 walking around downtown

6 where I am at the end of the world

7 making food in the kitchen :)

8 an actual post office, was closed today.. in the national park at the end of the world so people can send postcards

9-23 tour into the national park and friends i made on the journey.. including carla and paola from milan, jason from new york, and denisse from mexico city, i’ll see her again soon

the next bunch are my next tour on a boat.. missed the penguins :(

then walking around town, pic with election official it was election day while i was there, i went to church on sunday and chatted w the priest, took a pic

flew back into Buenos Aires, asked my awesome uber driver to stop for a pic, he was an actual rock star singer.. haha pretty cool, we were running around in traffic but got the pic

oh and my hair stylist raquel from paraguay!!