Ushuaia, March 2019
I completed the first month of my journey to South America in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. The 8 days I spent in the city was quite a busy one with a lot of neighbourhood exploration, great food, watching a football match, meeting amazing locals and other fellow travellers, visiting the nearby delta region and partying a lot. It was time for me to leave the hustle and bustle of big cities and visit places closer to nature. My next stop was Ushuaia, the Southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is located in the Tierra del Fuego (translates to ‘Land of Fire’) region of Argentina, which is an island separated from the South American continental mainland by the Strait of Magellan. It is the closest to Antarctica you can go without actually going there.
My flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia left at 4:15 AM in the morning from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. Due to this odd timing, I had to stay awake the whole night not to miss the flight and spent the whole 4hrs in-flight sleeping. The hostel where I was staying was not far from the airport and I was able to reach there quickly by sharing a taxi with another traveller.
But on reaching the hostel, I came to know that the check-in time was a bit late and I need to wait for a few more hours. So, my next plan was to find someplace to go for a few hours. I was looking for some short hike and the guy the reception of my hostel suggested me to visit Laguna Esmeralda. It was a short hike of 3kms one-way from the starting point. Immediately they got a shared taxi that was already going that way. I grabbed a sandwich and a couple of bananas from the supermarket next door, took my bright orange jacket and jumped into the taxi. I was joined by other travellers from Brazil and Spain.
After a short drive through the city of Ushuaia and the highway, with the snow-capped jagged mountains to our left and the Beagle channel to our right we reached the starting point of the trail. Laguna Esmeralda(which translates to Emerald Lake/Lagoon) was around 3kms from the point. The trail was mostly flat. But due to bad weather (it was drizzling), it got a little slippery. And I was not even wearing my hiking boots, just my regular walking shoes!
So, in order to be a little careful, I walked pretty slowly and lost the others who started the hike with me. After a while, around midway through the hike, I came across something really strange. I thought that to be some lake or pond, but in reality, that was a Beaver Dam on the stream which was beside the trail.
On the trail near the Beaver Dam, I met Kylee from Canada and Bettina from Germany. Kylee who was about to visit her one of her final continents, Antarctica(her dream was to visit all 7 continents before turning 25) in a few days told me about the Beaver Dams. Being from Canada the Beaver Dams were something common to her. The Beavers, not a native animal to the region of Tierra del Fuego were brought in for fur trade in the 1940s. Since then they have exponentially grown in number and are destroying the local ecosystem and contaminating the water. This is due to the fact the unlike North America, Tierra del Fuego do not have natural predators for beavers like coyotes, bears and wolves.
As we walked the trail started to get more slushy, and the forest turned in open spaces with trees with red and brown. It was fall time in Tierra del Fuego.
It was pretty cold and the drizzling made the trail even more slippery. On following the trail markers, we came to a place where it was full of deep mud and water. The only way to cross was to walk through that. I started crossing the slushy part of the trail slowly, trying not to get my foot stuck. But I could not avoid it. One of my feet got stuck in the mud. I tried pulling my foot out, only to find that shoe was still inside the mud. I had to pull it out and continue walking the remaining portion of the trail with wet and cold shoes and socks! Probably with my water-resistant hiking boot with high ankle support could have avoided this.
And finally, after crossing this slushy part we reached our destination. Though the weather was not ideal and cloudy, yet the first glimpse of the greenish-blue waters of Laguna Esmeralda was mesmerizing. It was the first of the amazing Lagunas that I visited among others which I was about to visit across South America. Despite, the weather turning worse and I was walking with a pair of wet shoes and socks, the hike was memorable.
After having my lunch/breakfast near the lake it was time to return. The way back was easier and we were aware of the slushy portion of the trail and were able to avoid it. I got back to the parking space where the shared taxi was parked just on time and found others waiting for me in a cabin beside. There I warmed my hands beside the fireplace. Just, before leaving for Ushuaia came across this directional signpost which showed that I was 15,170 kilometers away from New Delhi. Probably, the furthest I have been away from India till that time!
