All good things must come to an end. Today we returned to Buenos Aires where we spent two nights. We were kept busy washing clothes, changing luggage, and updating the blog.
We went on another hike for our last full day in Ushuaia. There is some great hiking here.
Today was another day of hiking (this time at the ski resort) with a special treat of a zip line at Canopy Ushuaia. The zip line excursion was a splurge. We knew the kids would enjoy it. I also participated. I'm scared of heights but I decided to do so because someday I want to take a zip line in the rain forest. It's better to get over my fear now. After the hike, we decided to take advantage of our rental car to drive out of town. This photo is of some of the buildings on the outskirts of Ushuaia. The most popular excursion is to Estancia Harberton. Instead, based on the zip line guide's advice, we headed to the fishing village, Puerto Almanza, for the afternoon. Today we hiked at Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. Today we explored a bit of the city and took a boat ride (our 5th boat trip during our vacation) in the Beagle Channel. Most of our day was spent in a bus - an 11-12 hour bus ride from Punta Arenas, Chile to Ushuaia, Argentina. We were all troopers. It was a long trip. We slept, read, ate, and got antsy at the end. There weren't any movies or video games to help us pass the time. I'm glad the boys got to experience this type of traveling. We've been spoiled with a rental car during most of our trip. The views during the last hour of the trip were amazing. We ascended and then descended through the Andes. The Girabaldi Pass was incredible. While our fourth day was not a holiday, it was a Sunday so a lot of stuff was closed. We visited a museum and went on a hike. The Museo Salesiano Maggiorino Borgatello was surprisingly good. The museum had a collection of animal specimens that was 100-200 years old. This is a puma (check out its paws). Argentina's national rugby team is named the Pumas. I've been told that the team was mistakenly given this name through translation - the team was supposed to be named after the jaguar from northern Argentina. I wonder what people from Patagonia think about this story. I'm sure they are proud of their native pumas. We went for a hike in the Reserva Nacional Magallanes. Since we no longer had a rental car, we took a taxi to the park. The driver was a character. His Chilean accent was different to what we are accustomed to. To get directions to the park, the taxi driver called his father-in-law who he kept calling "suegro" (he didn't use his name or anything). Punta Arenas was a lot more lively on January 3. We started our day early with a trip to Isla Magdalena to see the Magellan penguins - the highlight of our visit to Punta Arenas. Here is the Braun surname again. After the penguins, the boys went grocery shopping and back to the apartment with their dad while I checked out the Centro Cultural Braun Mendez. It is the former home of an elite family in the early 20th century. The family left the original furnishings in most of the house so its a great way to see how the wealthy lived at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of Punta Arenas was closed for the holiday. Fortunately, we found a tourist agency that was open and the friendly staff person recommended a walking tour of the city. On New Year's Eve, we took 2 buses (11 hours in total) from El Calafate, Argentina to Punta Arenas, Chile. It was a long ride. Since B often gets motion sickness on planes, cars, and boats, our friend from Phoenix (Dr. J) recommended dramamine and she went to the pharmacy in El Calafate to help me get some. As recommended, we gave B 1/2 a pill every 6-8 hours. It knocked him out and he didn't get sick. He slept for much of the trip. A possible side effect was that he later got a bit wild and crazy (or maybe it was all the sleep or the desire to make his brother laugh). Punta Arenas had graffiti (as seen on this bus stop). It also had homeless/drunk people laying on the ground asleep during the day. I don't remember seeing such people in El Calafate or El Chaltén. I think those places were so focused on tourism that the towns kept such occurrences out of places where tourists visited. Punta Arenas, in contrast, did not focus solely on tourism like those places. It is a larger city with more history. Happy New Year's Eve! We wanted to eat dinner at this restaurant (La Marmita) but it was full. It was hard to find a restaurant - a problem that we faced almost all weekend. Punta Arenas does not revolve solely around tourism, and so many restaurants were closed for 12/31, 1/31 and on Sunday. We made reservations at La Marmita for the following night. Happy New Year's Eve! The boys had pizza, John had pasta with lamb sauce, and I had pasta with smoked salmon. Patagonia is known for lamb (cordero) and Chile is known for seafood (Argentines prefer beef to fish). After eating, we were a lot less grumpy. A nice Chilean family on vacation from Santiago took the photo. We had an enjoyable conversation with them. The boys connected over fútbol and video games. Cheers! |
Southern Argentina & Chile (El Chaltén, El Calafate, Punta Arenas, & Ushuaia) - Dec. 2015 / Jan. 2016
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