Tierra del Fuego National Park

On our second day in Ushuaia, we went to Tierra del Fuego National Park. The bus was supposed to pick us up at 11 am, but they said they were going to be a little more like 11:15. Then they said they would be a little later than that. At about 12:20 the lady at our hostel went next door and talked her friend into giving us (Stefani, me, a German couple, and an Australian named John) a ride. We thought that she was going to take us all the way to the park. Just as we were going to leave our bus showed up, but we decided to take the free ride instead. We soon found out that our free ride was only going to town so we could pay for another bus.

We talked to one company that was asking for too much money. Then the Germans struck up a deal with another company. They were very insistent on getting a specific bus. The driver assured us we would get the good bus and then collected everyone’s money and we waited for more passengers. When it was time to go, the driver ushered everyone towards the crappy bus and the German dude kind of flipped out. His arguments were in vain, though, and we were soon on our way. The driver promised the good bus for our return trip.

We got to the park and made a 1 km hike down a dirt road to the waterfront. There we had a quick lunch and headed off down the trail. There were beautiful views of the mountains, forest and bay. We couldn´t have asked for better weather. As for wildlife, we saw geese, woodpeckers and rabbits, but unfortunately, no sasquatch. The park and the surrounding area would be a great place to camp. This is partly due to the lack of large animals and partly due to the picturesque setting. It was an enjoyable hike, but made us realize quickly that we need to get in better shape before Machu Picchu. That will be a much more difficult trek and at a much higher altitude.

After the hike we found the bus that was supposed to take us back to town. It was not the good one they had promised After sitting in the van for about twenty minutes waiting for our driver to have a Pepsi and a couple of smokes we were on our way. Unfortunately this van had no AC and filled up with the dust kicked up from the buses and vans in front of us. That didn’t last too long because the van broke down after about five minutes. Another five or ten minutes later and we were finally on the bus they had promised us to begin with and on our way back to the hostel.