Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
New Years Eve at the End of the World...
New Years Eve. I hiked the Costera, in the national park Tierra del Fuego. It was such a beautiful trail, working its way in and out, from forest to beach and back again, and it went on and on like that for miles on end. It was so nice, and all the while the sky was brightly overcast, and sprinkling off and on, giving everything a rich vivid color. It was a great day. The trail was very interesting, lush, moss covered, forest with open, rocky beaches bordered with golf course quality grass. It was rather spectacular really. I have never seen anything quite like it. The rocks and sand that made up the beaches were of a type that you would only find somewhere like this... the end of the world. 
So amazing. I spent hours tip toeing around these beaches. They were filled with so many different things. I mean look at the photo above, that's how the beach was for hundreds of yards. And as you get closer to the forest it turns into a finer gravely sand, then sharply turns to grass and then woods. It was such a treat.
This moss covered everything. It was pretty neat stuff. It made for a pretty mystical hike.
So amazing. I spent hours tip toeing around these beaches. They were filled with so many different things. I mean look at the photo above, that's how the beach was for hundreds of yards. And as you get closer to the forest it turns into a finer gravely sand, then sharply turns to grass and then woods. It was such a treat. 
This moss covered everything. It was pretty neat stuff. It made for a pretty mystical hike.
Vivid growth everywhere, this stuff was growing all over the sides of trees.
As you would come in and out of the woods you would be met by this amazing grass, and a perfectly worn trail through it. I would stop and ask, where am I? It just looked so amazing, it was like I kept stumbling onto a golf course.
I cant get over the trails here that get worn into the grass and meadows, its almost as though they were cut by a machine. Four inches deep and fifteen inches wide...
Such a beautiful trail! It would weave in and out along the coast going from one spectacular beach to the next.
The postman at the end of the world. He was a character. You could send a hand made postcard from here for about 17 bucks. It was tempting, they were pretty cool, but really thats a bit much. Oh, and you could get your passport stamped saying that you made it to the End of the World. It was pretty cool.
Is it a good thing that the post office sports a pirate flag above the Argentine flag? I dont think that would fly in the states.
Post office at the end of the world. Pretty cool little place.
As you would come in and out of the woods you would be met by this amazing grass, and a perfectly worn trail through it. I would stop and ask, where am I? It just looked so amazing, it was like I kept stumbling onto a golf course.
I cant get over the trails here that get worn into the grass and meadows, its almost as though they were cut by a machine. Four inches deep and fifteen inches wide...
Such a beautiful trail! It would weave in and out along the coast going from one spectacular beach to the next.
The postman at the end of the world. He was a character. You could send a hand made postcard from here for about 17 bucks. It was tempting, they were pretty cool, but really thats a bit much. Oh, and you could get your passport stamped saying that you made it to the End of the World. It was pretty cool.
Is it a good thing that the post office sports a pirate flag above the Argentine flag? I dont think that would fly in the states.
Post office at the end of the world. Pretty cool little place.
Boat Ride...
This was a pretty decent little boat ride that took us out to see Sea Lions, some strange birds, I cant remember what they are called but the look like little flying penguins, and I finnaly got to see acutal Pinguinos! And they also took us to this really cool light house. It was a long ride and the water was way rough, as you will see in the photos below...
Me at the end of the world. The wind is relentless down here, I had to be careful with that little strap on my backpack, (the one at my chest), it would get cought in the wind and whip me in the face. Brutal wind, it never stopped.
Pinguinos! They would pull the boat right up the the shore and sit there for a while for you to take photos. It was a little frustraiting that they would not let you off onto the beach. You had to take a seperate tour just for that, but it was expensive and thats all you would get to do, get off and walk with the pinguinos. You did not get to do or see anything else, so, I opted for this tour and it was pretty good.
Lazy blobs.
Ok this was nuts, on our way back we were going into the wind and the waves were huge. I have never seen anything quite like it. Our boat was pretty big, 180 passenger catamaran two stories high. Anyway the ride back was over two hours long and during that ride we saw nothing but the above, not for one second could we see through any of the windows. It was like being in a submarine! The water was breaking over the boat and just pounding us. It never let up. I cant belive that the windows didnt cave in. (they would come down every few minutes and check to see if the windows were still there, it was crazy) I would say that seven out of ten passengers puked there guts out. It was so amazing. And all the while they had this cheery spanish guitar music playing, it was so funny. It was such a contrast to what was going on, to be going down to a watery grave listening to such music was so strange, I laughed out loud to it. Good times.
I mean look at those windows the waves were nuts! Not once, in two or three hours, did I get a glimps out of them. It was so wild!
Our boat, or I should say submarine...
Me at the end of the world. The wind is relentless down here, I had to be careful with that little strap on my backpack, (the one at my chest), it would get cought in the wind and whip me in the face. Brutal wind, it never stopped.
Pinguinos! They would pull the boat right up the the shore and sit there for a while for you to take photos. It was a little frustraiting that they would not let you off onto the beach. You had to take a seperate tour just for that, but it was expensive and thats all you would get to do, get off and walk with the pinguinos. You did not get to do or see anything else, so, I opted for this tour and it was pretty good.
Lazy blobs.
Ok this was nuts, on our way back we were going into the wind and the waves were huge. I have never seen anything quite like it. Our boat was pretty big, 180 passenger catamaran two stories high. Anyway the ride back was over two hours long and during that ride we saw nothing but the above, not for one second could we see through any of the windows. It was like being in a submarine! The water was breaking over the boat and just pounding us. It never let up. I cant belive that the windows didnt cave in. (they would come down every few minutes and check to see if the windows were still there, it was crazy) I would say that seven out of ten passengers puked there guts out. It was so amazing. And all the while they had this cheery spanish guitar music playing, it was so funny. It was such a contrast to what was going on, to be going down to a watery grave listening to such music was so strange, I laughed out loud to it. Good times.
I mean look at those windows the waves were nuts! Not once, in two or three hours, did I get a glimps out of them. It was so wild!
Our boat, or I should say submarine...Ushuaia by night...
Ushuaia was a really unique place to be, it felt like you where at the end of the world. I am not sure why it feels that way, was it the wind, the long days, was it the way the light reached the end of the earth? I dont know what it was, but it certainly felt different. It would get dark at about eleven or so at night, it really took a bit of getting used to, expecialy the mornings, I would get up in the morning and see that it was light outside and go to get breakfast and it would be like five thirty in the morning. These photos were taken at about eleven thrity at night. Remember, these photos are strait off the camera, the color is unreal. I am not sure why the camera captured such vivid blues...
From Puerto Natales to Ushuaia...
The trip from Puerto Natales was about 12 hours or so with border crossings and all. It was a nice adventure. It is still amazing to me how barren the landscape can be out here, and then litteraly out of nowhere, there are these amazing geological wonders that just pop out of ground such as Torres del Paine or the Fitz Roy range. Its beautiful. That how the trip was going to Ushuaia but in reverse, we went from flat lands covered in sheep to this lake filled mountain range that we wound our way down until we arrived at Ushuaia, the end of the world. Ushuaia at night looking out from my hostel towards the port.
Its amazing how much this thing could hold.
I dont really know what these were, they were really small, like three feet long and they were following the ferry as we crossed the way. (I think it was the Magellan strait, or stait of Magellan or something like that.)
This was a cool ferry that took us to the Tierra del Fuego (land of fire).
Its amazing how much this thing could hold.
I dont really know what these were, they were really small, like three feet long and they were following the ferry as we crossed the way. (I think it was the Magellan strait, or stait of Magellan or something like that.)
This was a cool ferry that took us to the Tierra del Fuego (land of fire).
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