Well the last few days in Patagonia have definitely been an adjustment. Not only is it freezing way down south, but it has also been a change of pace from life in BA. Since Brazil, I’ve gone from wearing as little as is acceptably possible to wearing as much as possible. Because I have very few warm articles of clothing, I essentially wear the same thing everyday: leggings, track pants, a Lulu tank, a light hoodie, a bigger hoodie, and then my jacket. On top of that, I bundle up in a scarf and headband, both of which were made more for looks than for warmth, and are not entirely effective in this cold climate. All of that is enough to keep me decently warm down here. In BA, I made an attempt to look cute for school, meticulously planning my outfits, combing my hair, and putting on makeup. Now that I am in hiking country, I have slipped easily back into the routine of throwing my hair in a messy knot on top of my head and not putting on makeup. It always amazes me how easily humans adjust to their surroundings, and the changes in lifestyle that they are presented with. I believe that we are like chamelions, slipping from one skin to the next in order to fit in with our surroundings. This is the same at home, as I slide easily from my work self, to my social self, to my active self, with each change sheathing a new skin. Here, I have slipped into my makeup free, messy hair, layered clothes self!
Prior to heading down to Patagonia, I had read that patience was a virtue in that area (not my strongest virtue, unfortunately) – buses don’t run very frequently, tour schedules are always changing, and set plans are definitely not the way to travel here, unless you literally have all your tickets booked. After a few days in Patagonia, I can definitely attest to having my patience being tested. Within our first hour of being in Ushuaia, we set out to find bus tickets to our next destination. We had arrived on a Saturday afternoon, and all the tour companies were closing in the early afternoon until Monday morning. After running around from company to company (because there isn’t central station), we determined that our best option was the 8am bus heading to Puerto Natales on Tuesday. After purchasing our ticket, we headed back to the hostel to add another day to our booking before determining how best to spend our next 2 days. Originally, we had planned to take the Fin del Mundo train, but the manager at our hostel strayed us away from that, saying that it was overpriced, that we wouldn’t see very much, and that it was essentially for people who are incapable of walking. We opted to take his alternative option, but to wait a day due to rain.
The next morning, we woke up to dark skies, and pouring rain, and I was thankful that Ryan had checked the weather and that we weren’t out hiking. We killed some time in the morning until the rain tapered off, and then went for a lovely walk around the harbour. When the rain stopped completely in the afternoon, we bought tickets on Che & Tango’s Beagle Channel Excursion. We chose this company because it offered a smaller group, and a smaller boat, and after watching the hoards of tourists pushing to the front of the other packed boats, we did not regret our choice. Our group consisting of us, 3 American girls studying in BA, and a French girl, chatted on the front of the boat, as we watched the mountains and the lights of Ushuaia drift off in the distance. The further we headed out in the channel, the colder it got, and the wind lashed at us viciously. Nevertheless, it was totally worth it to see the flocks of birds, and barking sea lions atop the rocks in the channel. Although I saw plenty of sea lions in the Galapagos, it was cool to see some bigger sea lions in the channel. We saw ones that looked more similar to bears than to sea lions, and when they barked viciously at each other, it was more scary than it was cute. From there, we headed to the Beagle Channel lighthouse, which is shockingly small, and very old, with it’s candy cane red and white stripes. This lighthouse is a symbol of the Beagle Channel and plays a large role in the history of Ushuaia, so it was pretty cool to see. From there, we made our last stop on one of the islands, where we had an amazing view of the city, the mountains, and the channel. Here, we learned about the local flora and fauna, and watched the sunset over the mountains, which was beautiful. We headed back to Ushuaia, enjoying hot chocolate and beer, where we virtually ran back to our hostel to get out of the cold. A hot shower felt pretty good that night!
The following morning, we woke up to blue skies and sun – the perfect day for a hike! A bus picked us up at 10am, and we set off for Tierra del Fuego National Park. We were dropped off about 2 km into the park, and set off on a 3 hour, 8 km hike along the coast of the Lapataia Bay, a bay off the Beagle Channel. The hike was moderate, and the view was beautiful, and as the sun climbed higher in the sky, I stripped off one of my sweaters. We stopped for lunch about 2 hours into the hike, eating in a quiet area, where the only sounds were the sounds of our chewing and occasional bird chirping. The water was still, and the mountains reflected off the water in the most perfect way. It was both tranquil and serene, and utterly perfect. From there, we made our another few kilometres until we hit the main road, where we crossed and headed north towards Roca Lake. After hiking for a few more kilometres, we hit the lake, which was a picture of complete and utter beauty. It was truly the perfect way to end an amazing day of hiking. We caught the 3 o’clock bus back to Ushuaia, and after lying down for a little bit, we went to see Rio 2 in spanish at the local movie theater. They spoke far too quickly for me to understand everything, but being that it was a children’s movie, I got the jist, and it was a pretty good movie. Following the movie, we made dinner and packed up for our early bus ride to Puerto Natales the following day.
My 7:10am alarm came way too quickly, but after boarding our 8am bus, I passed out and spent the next few hours sleeping. At around 12:30pm, we crossed the boarder between Argentina and Chile and then made a pit stop for lunch. As we made our way north, the scenery reminded me of the prairies in Alberta, as the mountains became a distant outline, and the skyline was dotted with yellowing fields and cows, and in the case of Chile, the occasional llama. In the early afternoon, we took a 20 minute ferry from the Tierra del Fuego island where Ushuaia is located, into the heart of Patagonia. By the time 3pm rolled around, I couldn’t believe that we had still another 9 hours to go!! It’s surprising how easy it is to kill a day though. I spent much of my time reading, listening to music, sending Snap Chats, working on spanish homework, and answering old emails. At around 7pm we arrived in Punta Arenas, where we were told that we had an hour for dinner and then we were changing buses to continue the journey to Puerto Natales. After running around the tiny city in search of dinner, we finally found somewhere decent to eat, and after spending another few hours sleeping on the bus, we finally arrived in Puerto Natales. We stepped off the bus to bone chilling winds, and after the 10 minute walk to our hostel, I was thankful for multiple blankets on our bed, and the heater in our room.