Ushuaia, Argentina

Saturday, March 18, 2023

Our cruise ship, the Celebrity Infinity, arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina this morning. Ushuaia is located at the southern tip of South America and touts its status as the southernmost city in the world.

Ushuaia has been on Andi and I’s Argentina travel bucket list from the start. The city is located near Tierra del Fuego National Park and is surrounded by the Martial Mountains and the Beagle Channel. The city is a jumping off point for Antarctic cruises which is how we stumbled upon the idea of cruising around the South American continent in the first place. Originally, Andi and I seriously considered taking a voyage to Antarctica, but the price, actual time spent on the 7th continent, and the rough seas of the Drake Passage swayed our decision. Instead, we opted for the 12-day cruising voyage we’re on now which helped us get to the city of Ushuaia.

There’s so many activities to do in Ushuaia, we could have spent several days exploring the area. Alas, we only had one day in the city. The cruise ship docked right in Ushuaia’s harbor, and passengers were cleared for exit of the boat around 7:00am. Andi hired a driver to pick us up and take us to Tierra del Fuego National Park first thing this morning. The port is chaotic when exiting the ship with vendors shouting offers for tours to passengers disembarking the ship. There’s also a slew of taxi cab drivers lined up along the curb waiting to take on customers.

One taxi was set apart from the rest, and looked like he might have a pre-arranged customer. Andi asked if the driver’s name was Raul through the passenger car window, and the guy responded with a “Si.” The four of us hopped into the taxi and began to drive away from the crowd. I got a funny feeling when the taxi driver then asked Andi if we wanted to go to Tierra del Fuego (that’s the national park in Ushuaia). Andi pre-arranged for the driver to take us to the park — shouldn’t he know where we were going? “Is your name Raul?” Andi asked the driver using Google Translate. The taxi driver responded, “Tierra del Fuego?” I knew then that we’d gotten into the wrong taxi. Andi typed into Google Translate that there had been a miscommunication and asked the driver to bring us back to the port. The guy seemed annoyed, but did as requested. Luckily, we hadn’t driven far. Andi paid the taxi driver for his troubles and then our family walked to the other side of the pier where a man was waiting with a big sign that read ANDI. Ha! That was obviously Raul. We hopped in with the real Raul, and headed to Tierra del Fuego National Park.

At the national park, Andi paid the admission fee of $5,500 Argentine pesos ($25 USD, or half that using the Blue Dollar exchange)/each to enter. The credit card machine inside the admissions office was broken, so Andi had was forced to use all of our pesos to pay for the tickets which was a bummer. Instead the park, the real Raul dropped our family off at the beginning of the La Costera Trail. The 8 km (5 mile) hike along the shores of Lapataia Bay ends at the park’s visitor center. We were a little nervous when we arrived to the start of the trail and saw three tour buses and several cars parked at the trailhead. Oh boy. The last thing we wanted to do today was hike a busy trail.

The four of us walked to the trailhead where several tourists were gathered taking pictures. The scenery was gorgeous! We walked 100 feet past the crowd of people to a completely empty trail. As is the way at most national parks in the United States, once you get past the scenic overlook, the crowds dissipate and you’ve got the whole amazing place to yourself.

Today’s weather in Ushuaia was better than expected. We were prepared to experience rain, snow, sleet, and mud (all on the same day!) as if often the case at the end of the world. The trail was muddy, as expected, but the sun was shining and the air temperature a pleasant 48 degrees. The four of us dressed in layers of shirts, sweatshirts, coats, hats, and mittens but ended up peeling off layers as our body temperatures warmed from walking.

Drones weren’t permitted in the national park, but Andi brought his along anyway. No warnings or restrictions registered when he tried to fly it, and we got some nice pictures of the bay as seen from the sky.

We continued walking along the trail, almost all of us enjoying it. Tory is not a fan of hiking, sometimes joking that she’d rather go to the dentist than choose the activity for herself. It didn’t help matters then, when she banged her forehead on a low-hanging branch about half-way along the trail. It really hurt, poor girl. She sat down on a rock and cried. “I’m done!” she shouted through tears. “I don’t want to do this anymore!” Neither Andi, Aden, or I had the heart to tell her we still had three more miles to walk and there was no way out of the forest except by her own two feet. We let her cry some more, offered her some water and a piece of chocolate, and eventually continued along the trail.

The scenery on this trail did not disappoint. What a beautiful spot in the world. We walked through the forest and along the shores of Lapataia Bay. It was a mostly flat trail with one looming hill-climb at the end. The biggest challenge was keeping our feet dry as we navigated around all the mud.

Somewhere about half-way through the hike, we stopped to sit on a rock to give our legs a break. A flock of birds were feeding on a small island and we debated whether they were penguins or King Cormorants. I think they were the latter, though we could be 100% sure without binoculars. We could also hear the distinctive “bark” of sea lions, but never did see them.

In the last mile of the hike, Aden’s legs were getting tired and he slowed down considerably. I walked slowly with him while Tory and Aden walked ahead of us. This ended up being the longest hike our family has walked together at 6.2 miles — that’s a long way for little kids legs, especially when navigating tree roots, boulders, and hop-skipping from rock to rock over the mud. When Aden and I reached Andi and Tory, we noticed Andi had a piece of moss hanging out of his ear. “Uh, Dad, you have some thing on your ear.” Aden said. “I do? Where?” Andi responded trying to make the kids laugh. It worked, and we finished the hike all in one piece. Raul was waiting for us in his taxi at the end of the hike to take us back to the entrance of the park.

I’d read beforehand that tourists can have their passports stamped at the Unidad Postal Fin del Mundo (end of the world post office) for $1,000 Argentine Pesos ($3 USD) and I really wanted to do it. Except, we didn’t have our passports since Celebrity Cruises keeps them during the ship’s voyage. Instead, I brought along four index cards and planned to have those stamped — if nothing else, for the kids’ childhood mementos.

We happen to time our visit to the End of the World post office just right, but there wasn’t anyone there. I noticed they also sold postcards, so we purchased two postcards to send to Grandma & Grandpa and Nana & Papa back home in the United States. I give it a 50/50 chance that the postcards actually make it to them, but it’s the idea that counts.

The postal worker was so sweet when I explained that I wanted him to stamp the index cards because I didn’t have our passports. He stamped the cards with the End of the World postage stamp, and a few other ink stamps that had pictures of snowflakes and penguins. I was surprised when he only charged me $1,500 pesos for the postcards. We addressed the postcards, and then dropped them in the yellow mailbox outside the post office.

By the time we were finished, a tour bus had dropped off and filled the post office with people. The poor postal worker was a saint dealing with the hoards of people pushing against the counter demanding stamps and postcards. “How much is it? Do you accept US dollars?” several people across the room, even thought the prices were clearly posted on the wall.

It’s cheesy, I know, but I wanted a stamp for the kids to say they were here at the End of the World in Ushuaia.

It was after 2:00pm by now, and we were all hungry. We asked Raul to drive us to downtown Ushuaia so we could have some lunch. He dropped us off on the Main Street, pointing to a restaurant he liked, and wished us well. Andi paid him $25,000 Argentine pesos ($120 USD, or $60 using the Blue Rate) for driving us today.

We didn’t look around for restaurant options, walking into the place Raul suggested called Quinquela Cafe Bar & Pizzas. It seemed fine for lunch. I ordered Tory a cheeseburger, Aden chicken tenders, and Andi and I four empanadas to share along with a place of French fries. Somehow, we also received a plate of rabas (or calamari) thought we didn’t order it. After an active morning, the four of us gobbled up the sub-par food and then spent the last hour of our time walking around downtown Ushuaia. Not until then did it dawn on Andi that we should have eaten at one of the many crab restaurants in Ushuaia. Bummer! Next time.

Before we left town, we stopped in a souvenir shop to buy the kids a stuffed animal. They always pick out one to take home on our trips. Andi urged the kids to wait until the end of our trip so they didn’t have to lug one more thing around Argentina, but they won over his credit card. Tory picked out a penguin stuffie she named Maddie (for Magellanic penguins we saw in Puerto Madryn) and Aden picked a fox he called Foxy.

Getting back on the ship was easy. It took us about 10 minutes to walk through the port and re-enter the ship using our key cards.

As the ship set off from Ushuaia, Andi and I listened to an acoustic guitarist play in the Cafe al Bacio on board. The four of us ate dinner in the Trellis main dining restaurant. We’ve had the sweetest servers there — Milton, from Peru, and Gloria, from Ecuador.

After dinner, Andi, Tory, and I sat in the whirlpool on Deck 10 as the ship navigated through the Beagle Channel. We could see glaciers outside the windows as the sun went down on the day. Though the ship is somewhat protected from the weather by the strait in the Tierra del Fuego archipelago, it is still swaying with the waves and wind. We are expected to be in Punta Arenas, Chile (about 627 km, or 389 miles away) by morning.