I finally made it Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, after four flights and almost 50 hours of travel time from Istanbul. My first flight was to Dubai, then Rio de Janerio and then Buenos Aires and finally to Ushuaia. It’s fair to say that I was pretty wrecked after two sleepless nights.

IMG_7646Sign says: Ushuaia – end of the world

Ushuaia is a small town full of Gore-Tex-clad tourists who visit for hiking and trips to Antarctica in the summer and snow sports in the winter. Located in Argentina and part of the famous Patagonia region, Ushuaia is a nice little town to visit for a few days. I ended up staying 11 days and started to feel like part of the furniture, but the reason I stayed for so long was because I was waiting for my trip to ANTARCTICA! Yes, I’m going to the Great White Continent.

IMG_7636_EditUshuaia Port

I hiked in the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego with some friends and that was definitely the highlight during my time in Ushuaia. The National Park is on the border between Argentina and Chile and provided us with some stunning views and also sore legs for three days thanks to the five-hour hike! I was also lucky and managed to pick up some freelance work for a travel agent. That helped the time pass pretty quickly, whilst I also got to eat some amazing home cooked traditional Argentinian meals – Thanks Alicia!

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IMG_7537The hike was worth the view!

The Five Senses of Ushuaia

Ushuaia looks like Switzerland. The area around the port is so peaceful and calming with the water surrounded by snow-capped mountains. My friend Raphael, who I met at the hostel, hails from Switzerland and even commented about how he thought he was back at home.

Ushuaia smells like salty sewage. There’s a distinct odour that whips off the water at the port – a cross between salty water and sewage! You eventually get used to it.

Ushuaia feels like comfortable. After 11 days in a small town, anyone would feel comfortable and I had a pretty good routine with work, which gave me some structure. It was also great to have Alicia and Osvaldo take me in and to help them out.

Ushuaia tastes like amazing. Yes, I know, I should probably choose one taste, but the food was simply amazing. Whether it was steak that I cooked for myself, or the steaks that I ate in the Argentinian barbecue restaurants or Alicia’s homemade empanadas, it was all to die for!

Ushuaia sounds like construction. Across the road from my hostel was some serious construction work going on and the sound of nails being hammered and jack hammers going off was ever-present.

The main reason I visited Ushuaia was to use it as a point of entry to Antarctica, but I met some great people and had a good time. It also helped me get a clearer picture in my mind as to what I want to do for work in the future. Right now, I can’t even describe to you how excited I am. Tomorrow afternoon I board a ship for Antarctica and I know that it’s going to be phenomenal. As you can imagine, there won’t be free wi-fi down there, so I’ll be offline for the next two weeks, but I know you’ll be waiting with bated breath for my Antarctica blog and photos from the actual end of the world!

Country number 41 – Argentina… Check!

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