Travel notes - Ushuaia

As a child, I just loved my grandmother’s living room full of paintings and antiques, and one of my favorite objects in it was a globe. You could even hit a switch to light it up. Rotating the earth with my forefinger, I would look at the continents and imagine travelling to all those foreign places. Some names were, of course, more fascinating than others and a few evoked images and a curiosity that stayed with me until I was grown up. Lake Titicaca was on that list, Marrakesh, Luxor and Kairo, Timbuktu … and of course Tierra del Fuego and its capital city Ushuaia.

Coming to the conclusion that I would never get closer than this, I booked tickets to go before our time in Argentina ran out. Because of our tight schedule, we only had four days to fly down there and get back to Buenos Aires, but we managed to squeeze in most of the main attractions. And in those few days Ushuaia gave us a pretty good impression of what the weather is like all year round.

 

But that’s what Patagonia is famous for – the ever-changing weather. One minute it’s sunny, the next it’s raining, then you have both at the same time. Yeah, so what else is new? Well, for us, Ushuaia pulled out all the stops. When we opened the curtains on the third day, it was snowing like crazy. But we were told that even for the Patagonian summer, this was very fierce and unusual. Everyone we spoke to was convinced that the climate is definitely changing. And the favorite argument supporting this was that the formerly “dry rain” nowadays actually soaks you through. Dry rain?? Ehm, well, sure.

We didn’t let the weather get in our way, but bundled up, used the sunny spells as best as we could and put in regular stops to drink hot tea and get warm again. We did the obligatory boat tour on the beagle channel and around the famous lighthouse, and it depends on the perspective to pick the adjective. We went in the morning, and it rained throughout the whole excursion. The hike on Isla Bridges was shortened to about ten minutes because the wind was icy and we couldn’t care less about the flora and fauna or the archeological Yamana site on the island. Lucho, our guide explained everything when we got back on board and showed us pictures in a book. I admit that this was absolutely fine with me.

 

But I wouldn’t call the trip a failure. With the unpredictable weather in Ushuaia you can call yourself lucky if you get to go at all, and we even made it around the lighthouse. Besides, we were only eight in a boat for 25, everybody was in a good mood, the crew was good fun and we managed to spend a few minutes on deck during some dry spells. So I am glad we went and did not wait in the hotel for a permanent change of weather like the American couple in our B&B. They even asked us what’s worth seeing in Ushuaia. What kind of question is that? Isn’t that something that everyone has to answer from his or her own perspective?

I personally do not regret the four days. Was Ushuaia like I had imagined it as a child? No, it wasn’t. But then I guess the strongest fascination during my childhood had stemmed from the remoteness of the place and the fact that I had not travelled much at that age. And the world seems to have become smaller since then, and when I look at a rotating globe today, it triggers different, real images from my trips to different corners of the world.

 

Ushuaia is now part of this mixture of real images and memories. When I hear the name I think of the beautiful harbour skyline and the quiet grey horizon close to the lighthouse, the friendly, almost chatty people and the delicious spidercrab dishes at Tia Nina’s, the strong nationalism expressed in numerous posters and wall graffiti angrily claiming the Malvinas property of Argentina, the cozy Hosteria Tierra Leyendas, where we were made very welcome, and the peaceful National park Tierra del Fuego, where we hiked in the snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still, there are many places left on that list. I will keep you posted.