Friday (Viernes) 12th February, 2010
Day 336


Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia, Argentina
Miles: 35,993
S 54.81238°
W 68.34991°



It rained again last night and is cold again today - I know that's becoming a broken record, we are getting a little sick of it also - hence it will soon be time to start heading north in search of warmth and maybe beaches. Hence today we decided to make the obligatory trip out to the local national park; Parque Nacional Tierra Del Fuego. There is very little access to this park by road or by hiking trail. So we along with many individual tourists in local taxis and many many tourists from the steady stream of cruise ships that docked in Ushuaia headed out along the only road to get our photo taken at the end of highway 3 - the southern most highway in South America.


We stopped along the way to get some photos of The End of the World Train. This mini steam train - with we estimate a 24" gauge line - is now a tourist ride and attraction but was originally a real working train used to transport prisoners to and from their work. You see Ushuaia was, following Britain's lead with Australia, a prison settlement in its early days.

At the end of the road sign we met two German motorcyclists who were just completing the ride from Canada. We also met a few thousand ship tourists taking flash photographs of the mountain scenery.

Later in the day we strolled down the main shopping street of Ushuaia with outdoor equipment and souvenirs in every direction. The sun was out and it was almost warm enough to take off my fleece jacket - almost!