Tierra del Fuego National Park, Argentina, Day 106

Even though Christi and I try to delay the inevitable loss of our luxury lifestyle, Cruceros Australis is very efficient at getting us old, unwanted passengers off the boat so that it can prepare for the newbies. Our bags are dumped on the dockside and after a last croissant breakfast we collect them and stagger all alone up the pier, through customs and immigration and back into Argentina. Remarkably the sun is out, the skies are mostly blue and the snow-capped mountains behind the port town of Ushuaia are gleaming.

We double check our map of Ushuaia and it’s only a kilometer to our new home, the hostel Antarctica, so off we trot. Ushuaia, originally a penal colony, still has that frontier feel to it, and it’s not that surprising to see gaudy advertising hoardings featuring semi-naked women opposite the hostel – the Mare Australis it ain’t. Still the staff is friendly and after we’ve checked in they recommend we visit nearby Tierra del Fuego National Park now, right this minute while the weather holds. I had planned to visit tomorrow, nominating today as a rest day. However, bearing in mind our Bariloche blunders, we gird our loins, dash to the corner store for a few snacks, and grab the 10 am minibus. It’s a 12 km, A$50 (each) ride to the park entrance and another A$50 fee to enter the famed Tierra del Fuego National Park. Since neither Christi nor I are in the mood for serious hiking we stay on the bus until it drops us at Bahia Lapataia, probably the most picturesque and (as we soon find out) definitely the most popular section of the park as tour bus after tour bus disgorges passengers. They stay 30 minutes and are gone. Along the way to Bahia Lapataia, a fuegian red fox crosses our path although we were too slow to photograph it. There are several small trails and viewpoints around the bay, including a short boardwalk tour along the shore. It is wildlife rich with great photo ops of Upland geese (female is brown, male white) to the less exotic, but friendly European rabbits (together with beavers they are introduced species and considered a pest), and the raucous black-faced ibis. These are busy routes, however, and we are glad to escape the sedentary tourists for some more rigorous hiking.

We wander along several other trails through Lenga (false beech) forest to peat bogs, beaver dams (with all the attendant tree destruction they cause) and Laguna Negro with its beautiful marshland and snow-capped mountains. From there we follow the last stretches of the coast trail beside the Lapataia River, breaking off to Roca Lake. We probably hiked about 3 miles, so it was a pleasant amble. For once our timing was perfect. We reach the warmth of a small cafe and settle down with a steaming mug of hot chocolate as the clouds gather and the area is pummeled by driving snow. We watch contentedly until the 5 pm mini bus arrives to take us back to town.