About Us

About the Site

Credits

 Writings By Location

Bahia Ensenada

Next, we walked about 3/4 km down to the shore of Bahia Ensenada, and followed a rather long 6.5 km path up and down along the coast. There were a few beautiful views of mountains and the water, but overall, the first hike was much more rewarding. The views were not quite as impressive (partly due to the cloudy skies), and the terrain was much rougher, rising and falling over crests continuously, making the trek feel a lot longer than it actually was. By the end, my feet were swollen and sore, and yet we still had to hike 1.2 km to the lake where we'd meet the bus for our ride back. According to our schedule, it was supposed to be there at 5pm. We walked all the way to the end, then backtracked to the little cafeteria place and waited...5:10 came, 5:20, 5:30...no bus.

So we finally sat in the cafeteria thinking about whether or not to pay another $10 to take a different bus line, or just wait it out and see if it ever shows up. We ordered a hot chocolate and admired the excellent condition of this little tucked-away lodge: it was warm, clean, and there was even reasonably decent food, freshly prepared. Even vegetable cannelonis! (My god, something in Argentina without ham!) Finally, just as we were getting ready to give up and hop another bus, we saw ours pull in at about 5 minutes to 6, suggesting that the schedule we got from the airport was probably not as up-to-date as we'd been led to believe.

We're Not Geologists, But...

Erin and I were so exhausted, we both snoozed a bit on the short trip back to the city. Once there, we ambled around looking for food in the tiny town of Ushuaia. I wanted to try a paradilla, and the all-the-meat-you-can-eat "tenedor libre", but none of them were open yet...even though it was nearly 7pm! The late-night sunsets seem to affect mealtimes for people in this town. Our hotel, in fact, doesn't even start serving dinner until 8:45, which I found amazing. In most cultures, everything is shut down by then. I'm guessing this isn't the destination for a lot of retired people.

After dinner, we paused at a pharmacy to buy some bubble bath (which turned out to just be bath oils, but good enough), and took a taxi home. By now, it was 9:30 at night, yet the sun still blazed in the sky. We're 56 degrees south of the equator — about the same as lower Alaska, or Edinburgh, Scotland. Erin and I have only once been further from the equator (when we went camping in Scotland). We love this late-night light, but it's a little weird on the schedule. I could really like this place if it weren't so chilly when the wind blows!

We finished the day by dumping ourselves into a well-earned bubble bath. We hiked about 8 miles today, and lots of it was constantly going up and down. Our thighs got one heck of a workout, and we can feel it.

-- Keith

Back to Writings By Location