Day 13. Ushuaia. 29.1.25

"TIERRA DEL FUEGO NATIONAL PARK TOUR - This morning you will be collected from your hotel for an excursion to the only National Park on the island. The park is located 12 km to the west of the city, near the international borderline with Chile. Home to a wide range of flora and fauna, glaciers, waterfalls, mountains and stunning scenery. Visit Ensenada Bay, Roca Lake and Lapataia Bay. Take some short walks near the lake, beaver dams and Lapataia Bay and reach the end of the National Park where you will reach the end of the Panamerican Highway." 

I am very excited about this tour. Tierra del Fuego is also known as the end of the world. We have watched a few YouTube videos and it looks beautiful.

6.10am.

"The southernmost protected area in Argentina safeguards Andean-Patagonian forests that bear witness to the meeting of the final stretch of the Andes mountain range with the sea in the Beagle Channel, which connects the Atlantic and South Pacific oceans. The land of fires , whose name was given by explorers after seeing the bonfires lit by the island's original inhabitants, the Yámanas."

We elected to take the train into the national Park. The steam train tells the story of the prisoners that served their criminal sentences in Ushuaia. Aforetime, the train left from the prison towards the slope of the Susana Mountain with the objective of obtaining materials (wood and stone) for construction.

Locomotive workshops. 

"The park protects 68,909 hectares and is the only one in the Argentine Republic that combines marine, forest, and mountain environments. The little train crosses a forest of high and low deciduous beech trees known as lenga and ñire, peatlands and the Pipo River, the Burnt Bridge."

We stopped at Macarena Station and got out to walk up to the Macarena Cascades. 

We bought our 'gimmicky' photo.

This is the 'end of the world' post office and store. I had planned to send home postcards to our grandchildren from here but  unfortunately it is closed as it's 'too old'. Very sad.

We took a short walk along this trail.

Plenty of well fed wild horses. 

The end of the Panamerican Highway, route 3, from Alaska to here.

Snowy peaks.

Port Arias.

Another walk along the foreshore. 

Apparently the more lichen around means the healthier the air.

 Black necked swans.

 Speckled duck family. 

Information centre/Cafe.  

Sadly the tour ends here. 8am-1pm. We were dropped off in town at 1.30ish.

Hopefully our ship will be here in the next 24 or so hrs.

A few photos from Ushuaia. 

Our dinner views. We watched boats coming and going, light planes doing touch and go, helicopters buzzing around as well as a commercial plane take off.

The line across the mountains is where in winter the snow is and therefore the mountain tops are bare.

Today's temperatures were 9-13°
I forgot to put Strava on this morning but we have walked about 7kms. 

It took about 22 flying hours to get here.

We decided to take a late night walk as it doesn't get dark until 10.30-11pm ish.

Ended up walking about 8.5 kms today.