El Fin del Mundo

I know this is supposed to be a running blog, but I'm in the southernmost city in the entire world, in the middle of winter. I would not be caught dead running on ice and snow in sub zero temps, but I want to share my trip with you. So, this post will chronicle my adventures of not running in Ushuaia!

First of all, I'm really excited to be here as you can tell. We've arrived at the end of the world after spending several days in Buenos Aires. Now is our time to relax and unwind with nature. I'm fighting off a cold, which really sucks, but even more so when you are on vacation. Thank goodness for very helpful pharmacists or else I would be worse for the wear. 

Ushuaia was once a penal colony and has obviously weighed heavily in their history. They've preserved the original jail and have turned it into a museum, with each of the cells holding maritime, prison, and local art history. It was built like a starfish, with 2 story arms of cells. I noted that this setup is very similar to the way old folks homes are now being built. Coincidence?

Just like the Green Mile, right?

Some of the prisoners needed counseling, so I stepped right in with my long list of credentials.

We took a short cruise down the Beagle Channel.

The city of Ushuaia is in the background. 

Despite being the middle of winter, we got to see sea lions and penguins (I guess some of them didn't get the March of the Penguins memo)! After just enjoying Shark Week, I was half expecting to see a Great White shark crest and gobble up one of these guys, but we didn't see anything of the sort. 

And to round out a very exciting day, we took a night trip to Valle de Lobos for a once in a lifetime experience. With temps hovering around 5 degrees Fahrenheit and heavy snow, we drove 4x4's in the dark, rode in a dog sled, and went snowshoeing. 

My husband let me drive and I repaid him by kicking up snow in his face.

We had to have 13 dogs pull this load!

I did a little running in these snow shoes. However, they don't prevent you from falling into the snow very much. Perhaps Wilson rackets would have worked better.

And finally, today we hired a car to take us to the Tierra del Fuego national park. We were hoping to see some wildlife, preferably a fox (our driver had seen several of them on a recent trip), but we weren't so lucky. We were rewarded with amazing views and a fantastic day of sightseeing. 

The adventure unfortunately ends tomorrow, with a very long trip home. While this has been a fantastic vacation, I'm looking forward to getting out of the cold to get over this cold and snuggling up with my puppy. 

Miles logged: 0.0