Welcome to the end of the world! Leaving the heat of Buenos Aires a couple of days ago, I took a plane to Ushuaia, also know as the end of the world. A big temperature switch and time to get my hiking gear out! Time to start discovering Ushuaia, which is not much more than a little industrial town. The appeal of this town lies in the nature around the town 🙂 . Ushuaia itself is well known as point to embark an Antartica cruises and many backpackers come here trying to get a last minute deal.

After a really bad flight landing, in which we got lifted from our chairs and a Chinese guy grabbed my hand 😛 , I arrived safely in my hostel.

The Martial Glacier

In Ushuaia there are great opportunities to be surrounded by nature and go for hikes and other activities. When I arrived on Tuesday, I met some people in the hostel and that same afternoon we went for a hike the Martial Glacier together.

It was not a super spectacular hike but it was fun and we got super close to the snow 🙂 Despite the weather we still had some decent views too!

The view down the trek, overlooking the channel and Ushuaia

A detailed blog on how to hike the Martial Glacier is available here and it provides some great information.

Laguna Esmeralda

I met lots of other people in the hostel, and with 3 Argentines and 2 Israeli’s we left for Laguna Esmeralda. A bit off the beaten track and not a regular tourist tour, it promised to be a nice day.

Well, it actually became an awesome day, despite the rain (!!), the mud, the turba (swampy tundra) that sucked us in untill over the ankles and the cold.

On the way through the muddy grounds to the Laguna!

It was an amazing walk, very adventurous because the whole time we had to watch where we’d walk in order not to get mud everywhere. Rocks, plants and each other 😛 helped us getting to the Laguna. When the weather is nice, it actually mirrors the surrounding mountains in the blue/green lake. Unfortunately we didn’t see this, but the lake was beautiful anyway!

Hiking to Laguna Esmeralda

Ushuaia National Park

After the first two nights I went on my first Couchsurfing adventure. Couchsurfing is a project where people open up their houses for fellow travellers. I hosted some people back in Maastricht, but this was the first time that I’d surf somebody’s couch on my own.

I was hosted by Ruben in Ushuaia, and there was also another girl staying (Dorotha from Poland). With her, I went to The Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego .It is quite close to Ushuaia. We had a nice walk, but the park was not very special unfortunately! Overpriced for sure, but good enough for a daytrip and some nice pics!

We had a lovely time and hike and enjoyed some beautiful sights in the park!

PSSSST – for accommodation in Ushuaia check out these great deals

Booking.com

Where to next?

So what’s next: because of the trouble in Chile, I decided to book a flight out of Ushuaia. Instead of being insecure about the border crossings by bus, this was a safer option. Saturday the 22nd I fly to El Calafate where I will visit the Glacier and take a day trip to Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. Initially I wanted to visit this park for more days, but a multi day trip costs a lot + the situation in Chile is not too stable yet, so I decided to do a one day trip to just get some nice pics ;).

From El Calafate, I leave for El Chalten. A little town surrounded by beautiful mountains and lots of opportunities to go hiking and horseriding and other outdoor activities. Should be amazing! Then around the 26th/27th I’ll leave for Bariloche where I will spend 4/5 days. Then I will take a bus to Buenos Aires (otra vez 🙂 ) and spend some days in Mar del Plata at the beach and in Buenos Aires. Then buses to Mendoza, Cordoba, Salta and up north to Bolivia. So far, so good 🙂

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