Saturday, December 8, 2007

The End of the World


Well, in this trip I´ve gone from The Middle of the World to The End of the World. (And yes, there is a certain REM song stuck in my head for which I only know the one line). Ushuaia is very proud of its claim to be the most southerly city in the world and if ever you wanted an egg-cup that says ´Ushuaia the Most Southerly City in the World´on it then this is definately the place to get it!

Ushuaia is on the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego the island at the tip of the South America. We were surprised by the calm weather when we arrived two days ago but strong seas meant our boat trip along the Beagle channel was cancelled yesterday. So instead we went and got covered in mud in the Tierra del Fuego national park instead. Luckily today was much calmer so we managed to get out this morning. Lovely calm weather when we were leaving but it got really cold along the trip. We were all layered up like a Michelin man convention. Apparently the native people, before the European arrival, used to live naked here just covered in animal fat - madness! Don´t think I´d fancy winter here if this is mid-summer. Along the channel, which is surrounded by snow covered mountains, we saw lots of sea-lions, cormorants and some swimming penguins.

Flying back to Buenos Aires tomorrow for a few days shopping, sight-seeing and hopefully enjoying the nice warm temperature. Then off to Iguazu Falls on my way to Brazil for my final week!