Ushuaia - Meeting Dad At World‘ End

Leaving Uruguay, I was heading to the end of the world. Ushuaia, the southernmost city on this planet. However, before heading there, I would reunite with my dad who I picked up at the airport in Buenos Aires for our flight to Ushuaia together. Visiting Patagonia has been a little bit of a dream of his and when I planned my trip around the world and my leg through South America, it became clear that this was a chance to fulfil that little dream and travel together - father and son style. Plus, I was also very happy to see a familiar face from home - especially family. That said, let's see how 'different' my travels will become.

Anyway, on our first full day, we were heading to Laguna Esmeralda to get a first glimpse of the mountains at the end of the world. The 1.5-2h path to the lagoon kinda felt as if we were walking at the end of the world, as we hiked through forest, weird trees and open fields with amazing views of the mountains. The lagoon is beautifully located right in front of a mountain wall offering superb views. We also decided to get a bit adventurous and went around the lagoon, which entailed finding a non-existent way through the woods, crossing rivers and swamps. It was good fun, though, and a perfect first day in Patagonia with dad.

On the second day, we took an Uber to walk up to the viewpoint of the Glacier Martial. It was a straightforward smooth 1-1.5h hike up, and while the view was nice, there was no glacier. However, there was snow and the mountain wall that rose in front of us made for a cool set-up. It was nice, but nothing to write home about. Going back, though, we took a little detour to have a great view over the city and the Beagle Channel - the waterway to Antarctica - in the background.

The following day, we focused on exploring the town, its shops and the views from various vantage points. In all fairness, the city itself does not have a lot to offer and you can walk around it in less than 2-3h. Since it also started to rain at some point, we decided to head back to our AirBnB, talked about life and future plans and played Yatzy - a dice game I had not played in ages.

For our last full day, we decided to hike to the Estanica Tunel. This hike took us right along the Beagle Channel and offered beautiful views over the waterway and the mountains behind it. Unfortunately, we could not go into the Estanica as it was private property and not open for tourism, but it gave us a good excuse to go out and about, breathe some fresh air and just see what the flora and fauna looks like at the end of the world. Spoiler: Lots of leaning trees and surprisingly green.

That was it for Ushuaia, already. I think generally speaking, Ushuaia is not a must-visit in Argentina, but we decided to meet up here, as my original Antarctica trip that got canceled would’ve ended here with my dad arriving the following day. So we had it in our schedule anyway, and I think we made the most out of it. The hikes are interesting, but probably not comparable to what we are going to see during the following four weeks we would travel around Argentina.

That said, it was really nice to spend the days with my dad, explore new places together, see his curiosity about the most random things and just spend quality time together.Baca lagi