End of the world Patagonia

Ushuaia is known as the end of the world because it is regarded as the southernmost  city in the world. It is 400 miles from Antartica.

We'd been looking forward to coming here for some time. However, we'd expected it to be swarming with tourists and backpackers all buying souvenirs from the "End of the world " gift shops and drinking coffee in "End of the world " cafes, but we found the town pleasantly quiet with a wider range of shops and cafes than we'd expected.

It is the height of summer here but at temperatures peaking at about 10 degrees , we were wrapped up in our fleeces, coats, hats and gloves.

Our initial view of Ushuaia was of the jumbled, brightly painted corrugated iron houses. The houses are built from corrugated iron because it is light to transport. When we looked above the roof lines, we could see the majestic ice capped mountains. This is what we had come for.

We spent much of our time in the beautiful Tierra del Fuego National Park, making the most of the wonderful views of the lakes, mountains and forest. For once there was no rain, just clear blue skies and the freshness of the day.

We reached a point with a sign saying that we were standing on the southernmost road in the world, so like many others, we had our photo taken there.

One of the saddest things we learnt, was that the indigenous population has now pretty much disappeared and that there is only one remaining woman aged 85 years old. With few people able to speak the indigenous language , this is likely to soon become a part of history.

It is hard to know exactly where Patagonia starts and ends as it spans both southern Argentina and Chile rather than being an actual region.

We are now at the end of our time in Argentina, which has been an amazing and interesting introduction to South America. Now we look forward to discovery neighbouring Chile as we progress through Patagonia.