Tierra del Fuego National Park

Ah vacation has begun, always a fun and exciting time. Our first full day in Ushuaia (pronounced “ew-shway-ah”) we decided to venture into Tierra del Fuego National Park. A bit of background… Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) is the southernmost province of Argentina, home to the city of Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. The area gets its name from Ferdinand Magellan’s 1520 expedition to the region when he saw smoke and fire from his ship. He thought there were large numbers of natives waiting for him in ambush, so he did not set foot on land. The area was disputed between Chile and Argentina on and off, but since a treaty in 1881 the area has been divided pretty much evenly between the two countries.

Back to the important bit: the national park. A whopping 150,000 acres, only a small portion of the park is open to the public. This includes the southern portion of the park along the Beagle Channel and the end of Argentina’s National Route 3, which begins 3,000 kilometers (1,850 miles) away in Buenos Aires. We took a bus into the park that ended at Bahia Lapataia (pictured above, right). We hiked around for a few hours, stopping often to enjoy the birds and gorgeous snow capped Andes mountains (most of which are actually in Chile). We managed to find a spot sheltered from the wind and enjoy a picnic lunch. After a bit more hiking we decided to catch the bus to our next destination… but that will have to wait for my next post.

Details:
Bus: Called the ‘Linea Regular’, this is a strictly tourist service for going in and out of the park, no locals. The whole thing is very informal. The cost is 70 Argentine pesos per person round trip. Many of the drivers don’t speak English, so you’ll need at least rudimentary Spanish here. The buses go into the park approximately every hour and leave the park every two hours at 1pm, 3pm, 5pm and 7pm.

Tierra del Fuego National Park: With a good network of hiking trails and campsites, this is a very nice facility. There are some services within the park, a restaurant and restrooms. Entrance to the park is 65 Argentine pesos per person per day. I heard and read good things about Lago Roca and the hiking trails in that area.