Date of Entry: March 9th 2016

Date of Writing: April 27th 2016, Art Factory Hostel Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

I’m back in South America.  It’s been my home for coming up on two years and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t missed it during my last month in Antarctica. Of course I’d also be lying if I said I didn’t miss Antarctica now.

I still remember the first day back in Ushuaia, walking with all my bags and rented gear through the streets of Ushuaia which is most certainly not a big city and just feeling like I had no more personal space, like everyone was pressing in against me, and that cities are just ludicrous inventions.  OF course they do have their advantages (like delicious pizza) and luckily within a day or two I was back into the flow of things, visiting Freestyle Adventure Travel to return the gear they were kind enough to give me and just to chat with them about Antarctica.  (Check back soon for my interview with Sarah from Freestyle in which she runs down all the best ways to get the best deal to go to Antarctica last minute.)

At any rate I spend about 5 days in Ushuaia not doing much, just getting back in touch with the world (I remember my head just utterly spinning the first time I logged on to facebook and stated talking to people all across the world.  I love fantasy but that right there is true magic), getting over the last of my cold and dealing with some serious foot issues after a month in too tight boots with poor circulation.  The numbness and pain now has my pretty nervous about trekking which is why I’m in Patagonia, but after 5 days on land I decide it’s time to give them a go on a short half day hike back to Laguna Esmeralda where I’ve previously been with the awesome Henrike and David.

Prices in Ushuaia have skyrocketed in just a month and my normal hostel Cruz Del Sur has gone up in price by about 70 pesos, so after two nights there I quickly move to Los lupinos, a large but functional hostel which costs 250 (23 CAD)instead of about 100 more than that at Cruz Del Sur.  It’s not quite as nice but perfectly functional.

The morning I’m planning to leave I run in to a friend named Katie who is from Chicago and is planning the same hike for the day so we decide to head out on an easy walk to the outskirts of Ushuaia and try our hand at hitchhiking.  Laguna Esmeralda is just 40 minutes or so from Ushuaia, so especially considering the incredible friendliness of Patagonian people, it really shouldn’t be that hard.

Sure enough our prediction is right and after about three minutes of Katie standing with her thumb out (she’s probably more a draw for a pickup than me) a car stops and we climb in.  The friendly driver works in Antarctica and at a Chilean military school and offers to help Katie and I with work in Ushuaia should we ever want it before dropping us off at the police check point at the very edge of town.  It’s as far as he’s going but here we don’t even have to wait three minutes this time as a pair of other hitch hikers who are climbing into the cab of a big truck beckon to us and we join them, the driver happy to take all four of us lined up behind the seats sitting on his bed.

We try to start a conversation with him but the man doesn’t seem to want to be social.  I still don’t understand why he picked us up,but he was perfectly pleasant in his silence.  though I will say it’s lucky I’ve been to laguna Esmeralda before as the driver has no idea where to let the four of us off.  I point it out and we’re let off a few hundred meters past the trailhead. Katie and I say a quick goodbye to our other hitchhiking friends who are doing a multi-day back country trek and then head down into the forest at the beginning of the trail.

The verdant green forest seems even more beautiful than last time I walked through it with Henrike and David but that’s probably just because I’ve just got back from a month without much plant life in Antarctica.  Eventually we get out of the forest to the stunning views of green fields, glacial streams,and incredible mountains all around us.

Chatting as we go we start the uphill climb.  Katie is heading on much the same path as me towards Torres Del Paine but as is often the case my excess of time means she’ll get there well before me and I work on getting my feet (not to mention the rest of my body)  up to a multi day hike carrying my own gear.  We walk up along the rushing little glacial river and though I’ve been here before I’m still amazed by the incredible beauty of this place.  It gets me excited for the next month and a half in Patagonia.

We hurry up the multiple false fronts of the hike and soon enough we’re at the lake, though frustratingly my feet are more than a little sore.  But there;s nothing to do but keep going and the pain is temporarily wiped away as I look down at this stunning glacial lake where last time I went for a nice swim with David and Henrike taking photos. I could come here again and again and the beauty would still shock me. We take some photos together up above the turquoise waters before eventually heading down closer to the lake.

Since we hitchhiked we have no strict time limit and so head to our left climbing over the river and heading around to the far side of the lake closer to the imposing mountains.  There we find a small group of beautiful kelp geese who aren’t exactly rare on Tierra del Fuego, but they’re gradient plumage still gets me every time I see them.  We watch the group of parents and young interact with each other for a good long while before eventually saying goodbye to them.

Glad of the amazing weather we wander slowly back along the trail on the other side of the lake opting not to hike the extra hour up the the small glacier above the lake as we’re both kind of tired and my feet aren’t getting any better. We do stop for tons of photos along the way though.

After spending a little time eating a spartan lunch alongside the lake we head back along the trail down towards the road talking as we go about travel, life back home which feels so strange and distant to me by now, and just life in general.  It really is one of the best things of Travel which I’m getting back to enjoying more frequently, meeting new and different people all with different stories, perspectives and experiences to share.

As we get back to the very end of the trail we pass by what was just a few hours ago a felled tree blocking the path, somehow already cut up into nice pieces of firewood.  Apparently they take there trails seriously here in Tierra Del Fuego.

As we enjoy the last few minutes of the walk I am once again drawn in by the incredible greens of the forest which seem so foreign to me after just a month away. I can’t decide which is the bigger culture shock, the people in the city or the incredible green of the forests of Tierra Del Fuego.

We get back to the road and can’t believe our luck when the first car to pass, (actually a tourism van with some paying tourists in it)  Pick Katie, myself and another girl up and take us all the way back to town making life easier and easier. I really should have hitchhiked more in my trip so far, especially when the weather’s good. In Patagonian summer it really is a fairly simple thing to do.

At any rate Katie and I walk back to the hostel thrilled with a beautiful day spent together,but the sun is still shining so brightly I decide to head down to the boardwalk along the beagle in Ushuaia and hop a fence finding a place to lie down on the grass and read.  Simple pleasures but sometimes they’re the best ones. Antarctica was incredible, but Patagonia, It’s good to be back.