Rio Grande to Ushuaia, about 250 km
Today we reach the South Pole. Not quite there are still some 35° in latitude to get there. For us, Ushuaia is most Southern outreach of our trip and our lives!
The journey takes us a “last” time through the steppe and about 30 minutes before getting to Ushuaia all of sudden there are trees. At first only the bleached white skeletons of trees. The scenery is eerie as it really looks like a forest graveyard. Then steadily the white turns green till there are thick forests.
Seeing the Bahia Golondrina from atop is spectacular. The Beagle Channel meanders to the horizon. Ushuaia is a patchwork town. Probably not unlike a hundred years ago. New buildings are mixed in with some old ones. There is any shop imaginable. It's very busy for us. And even if it is touristy it is not bad. It has the charms of Davos in Switzerland: great setting combined with not so nice houses.
We take our first hike to the “mini” (by the tourist office) glacier Martial. The views down are great although the sky is all gray. The glacier itself is almost nonexistent – basically a snow field. But again the trees surrounding the trail, the white water flowing wildly down are great (like in the Alps ;-).
Before dinner (which is - without a doubt - Tenderloin steak) the weather clears and the sun breaks through and reveals that clear light again.
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