Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego (Land of fire) holds the title of Southermost city in the world. You would expect a desolate little town, cosidering its history as a Hispanic version of a gulag. Yet what awaited this poor Muchillero was a photocopy of your standard Swiss ski-town, full of overpriced stores and plump Europeans in day-glo colored jackets. Fear not, I will find a way to create an authentic shoe-string experience. Enter Jeff, a 31 year-old Canadian who has just ended his 22 month-long journey motorcycle journey from Edmonton, Canada. For a last hurrah, he decided to borrow a sleeping bag and head over to the best (and free!) trek in town, a two day adventure called el caminante. The Israeli dynamic duo of Shanny and Shiri came along in the last minute. They may have not realized this, but they would provide me (and you) with a valuable lesson on what NOT to do when trekking.
One of several glaciers surrounding Ushuaia:
So we are off at 11 am, beginning our 13 km trek. Over all, the trip is supposed to be relatively mild, with a few leaps in elevation here and there. In reality, the supposed experts under-estimated the difficulty and neglected to mention that the signs were sometimes nonexistent. Shanny and Shiri, who definately proved their toughness, were unfortunate as to come along with their muchillas (spanish for rucksacks), theirs being hybrid packs which had both shoulder straps and a wheels. The wheels are cumbersome and the shoulder straps unsatisfactory, causing the weight to be shifted to the upperbody, and away form the body, fostering a constant tilt back. Add to that a horrible sleeping bag (they didnt even take the other bag, which was somehow worse) And a tent they could not fit in their packs (though it fit in mine perfectly). Yea, much suffering to come...
in happier times (Jeff, Shiri, Shani):
The first day was not to bad. We kept a strong constant pace, suprising the band of10 israeli trekkers who lost their way and decided to return (ominous sign?). We were all in good spirits, and decided to camp around 6 pm. Accompanied by a French-Canadian and an Italian, we lit a camp fire and went to sleep around 10. I woke at 8, to the sight of Shanny shivering. Neither of the girls slept at all, due to the undue cold (result of insufficient fleece blankets and only one sleeping bag). Meanwhile, Jeff left our food outside, which the rodents (or the French Canadian guy, as the girls contend. He only had dulce de leche and crackers to his name) got to. So, we are left with 2 granola bars per person, and lingering doubt regarding the rest of the trip. I added their sleeping bag to my pack and we moved on. We reached the peak of our trip within an hour or so, and planned for 2 more hours down-hill until we reach our ultimate destination. The midway point was at a high elevation (above timber-line, next to a glacier) and it began raining/snowing. But so what, we made it! right?
If you see the following stone sculpture (made by yours´truly) know that you have gone to far to go back...
Here is when it gets bad, or adventurous. The rest of the trek was through a valley, yet we quickly lose track of the trail, so...we move on. Knowing we are at the right valley and direction, we head out. Cutting right to it, a 2 hour trek became a 5 hour ordeal, blazing a path through thick brush, crossing rivers...Survivor is a cakewalk compared to our trek. Needless to say we got a bit wet, and Shiri started getting tired...real tired, and panicky...and apparently she may have blacked out, yet mighty Jeff was there for the rescue. Shani was holding her own, and I was ahead, scouting. Long story short, we made it out around 7 pm, with some bruises and cuts, but a hell of a story...right? Mom, Dad, no worries. we reported our departure and honestly it wasnt that bad. Even another night there would would have been more than fine, except for an awkward body-heat sharing session...
To conclude, Ushuaia is good for: 1) a stop on the way to Antarctica ($3500-5000), 2) just to say you were in the Southermost city in the world (a few hunder pesos for transportation, food, hostel) 3) roughing it out for a few days and moving it on. In other words, save up before or suffer!
My advice: a bit unrelated to the above - you know it is time to leave your hostel/town when 2 Russian/Israeli guys who just got out of the army (Golani) check in. No, they DO NOT represent the Israeli Poeple! Do not think that i am fostering some self-hating imagery. It is just that one does not travel thousands of miles South in order to end up in Tel Aviv. Traveling with ´your own´can be comforting at times...but for me, there better be some looong spaces of time in between.
If you see the two in the picture below, hide your food!
