Day 52 - We're at the edge of the world...
...quite literally! We are in the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia, which is the last town before Antarctica (it's distance from London 13,361 km and from Pakistan 15,705 km).
š§ Penguin Island Tour
2.5hrs from Ushuaia is Isla Martillo, where you will find colonies of penguins. Only 20 people are allowed to be on the island at one time. We booked our tour with Pira Tours and boarded a jeep that drove us to Haberton Ranch from where it was a short boat ride to Isla Martillo.
Before we got off the boat our driver instructed everyone 'control your emotions' on the island. This announcement was followed by a collective laughter but it was only when I set foot on the island did I understand what he had meant. I was overwhelmed with a feeling of joy I have rarely experienced before. Although I have seen penguins in captivity previously, seeing them in their natural habitat was very, very surreal. It made me question the morality and value of zoos and whether they do more harm than good.
We saw two types of penguin colonies on the island; gentoo penguins stay on the island throughout the year, whereas magellanic penguins stay for only six months. They breed with the same partner year after year and migrate to the North during winters after the breeding season is over.
We walked on the island for about an hour, learning about their nesting times and the lives the penguins lived on the island.
Day 53 - Hike to Laguna Esmeralda
Overall Hike info
Distance: 9.5 km round trip
Ascent: 196m
Descent: 75m
Duration: 3 - 4 hours
Difficulty level: Easy for seasoned walkers, Moderate for beginners. It generally considered a beginner friendly hike.
On our second day, we decided to do a trek of Lake Esmeralda, probably one of the more popular walks near Ushuaia. It is a 3-4 hour long round trip along a boggy terrain to beautiful views of the laguna.
The blogs we read as preparation, talked about peat moss bog and how wellies or gore tex shoes were a must, because we did not have any, we hired some for $3000 Argentinian pesos/person and took the 10am bus to the entrance of the hike (30 mins from Ushuaia). However, to our surprise there is now a boarded walk where you will encounter the boggy terrain so you need not hire any boots.
The walk was fairly easy and the views were beautiful. It was however windy in sections. It started snowing once we reached the lake but we still managed to get some nice pictures. We packed a delicious lunch that we'd prepare the night before. Our favourite lunch to pack for walks these days is crusty bread with basil pesto and tuna in olive oil, any crunchy veg like onions or celery are a plus. Ā
By the time we finished the walk we were so cold that all I could think of
was a cup of hot chocolate. Once back in Ushuaia we were waiting for the boots rental guy to collect his boots, he arrived shortly and handed us two free vouchers for hot chocolate. I couldn't believe my luck! We told him he'd read our minds, thanked him profusely and went to enjoy our delicious cups of hot chocolate.
