I am at that point writing about Ushuaia where, while I am loving looking back at the photos, writing about What We Did seems so very boring. It wasn't boring at the time, mind you, but the writing about it is as interesting as white rice, which, while just the thing underneath a burning hot curry, just doesn't do well standing on its own.
That said, I shall try to stay awake as I chronicle our next events in Ushuaia. For those who would like to skip ahead and check back in a week, the next few posts will include a trip to the Martial Glacier, a sunset boat trip on the Beagle Channel, and the Train At the End of the World (aka, The Most Boring Thing We Have Ever Done. Emphasis on the "ever.").
The Martial glacier is only a few kilometers (basically straight up) outside of town. Here's a photo taken from the Beagle Canal to give you the perspective. Channel in the foreground, port/town in the middle and glaciers rising straight up in the background. Have I mentioned what a fabulously cool place Ushuaia is?
We had driven to the base already for our zip line adventure. And, applying a few pesos, we hopped on the chairlift and spent about 15 minutes getting to the top of the ski slope, which is located about at the bottom of the glacier. It's not much of a hike up if you are the fit sort, but exactly the sort of thing to frighten a 7-year old to death, which is why we took the ski lift.
Not a gorgeous photo, but you can see the Beagle Channel in the background. The whole point of coming up here is to get glorious views of the Channel. And to climb on the glacier (snow!) during the summer. Wait, "summer." It had been snowing all morning up on the glacier, so our summer holiday during the winter was beginning to feel like a wintery holiday in what was supposed to be a summery place during our break from real winter. Or something like that.
And, look! Snow! A pretty decent amount considering that it was summer.
The necessary snowball fight, with the Beagle Channel in the background.
And, a snowman.
Somebody looks cold. I promise I was wearing plenty of layers (tank top, long sleeve, sweater, fleece, vest, jacket, scarf, hat and gloves), so why was I cold? Jeff thinks it is all in my head.
As it turned out, the young one didn't really want to traverse the entire glacier, so she and I headed back down while Jeff and Tom climbed farther up.
December being early summer, it is generally safe enough for children to clamber up the glacier; it's not advised during the actual winter, when it snows heavily. As opposed to now, during summer, when it only snowed lightly. The glorious view of the Beagle Channel, alas, was hidden under the glower of snow clouds. But I think the snowman making and snowball throwing and the sheer loveliness of the snow more than made up for the lack of views.
Poor Jeff really would have preferred sun for the sake of some decent photographs, but memories mean an awful lot, too, and the memory of being able to make a snow man over Christmas holidays in the summertime on top of a glacier is pretty grand. Assuming they can remember all of that, of course.
Tomorrow: Beagle Channel: Cormorants, Sea Lions and Lighthouses
I love the snow line in the first photo. And yes, you look very cold! However, if I had on that many layers I would look very....wide.
Posted by: Debbie Hanson | January 27, 2012 at 09:19 PM