December 2019 itinerary link
We flew to Ushuaia(population: 56,900) located on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (Big Island of the Land of Fire) in 80 minutes from El Calafate. We imagined a more isolated rustic place since it billed itself as the world’s southernmost city, but it was much bigger and more urban than expected.
One unusual thing to note for car rentals: there was no rental car booths or offices at the airport. You are greeted by your rental agency’s representative who was wearing a jacket/shirt with the company logo on. We could not find ours, Sixt. Someone else said our guy was helping someone else outside. So we waited. He came in and apologized. He took us outside and led us to our car, which was parked curbside.
Our HomeExchange house was in a residential area away from downtown.
The house was quite spacious and artfully decorated.
Our house was in the area left side of this map. Downtown is marked with darker color of brown. San Martin street is their main street where most of the shops and restaurants are. All the north-south streets are on the steep hill.
One warning we had from our host: their downtown area is on a steep hillside, and the cars on the streets that go up and down the hill have the right of the way. We soon appreciated the rule as we drove into downtown. Parking was not easy to find, but we did manage to find a spot on a hilly side street.
When we asked about restaurants, the host said locals don’t go to downtown because it’s overrun by the tourists and that jacked up the prices. Then where do you go to eat? “So we stay home,” she said. She mentioned this restaurant as a good seafood place, and she was right. Very fresh and delicious! Things did seem to cost more here than the places we’d been thus far in Chile and Argentina, but it was not surprising considering how remote this place was from agricultural/manufacturing regions.
So who are all these tourists? Cruise lines go back and forth between Brazil and Chile and stop in Ushuaia from December to May each year, and that brings over 100,000 visitors. Then 90% of cruises to Antarctica start and end in Ushuaia, and 45,000 people visit Antarctica each year. (Check out Bill’s experience in our Antarctica section.) On top of that, there are people like us who wander in from other parts of Patagonia. And hikers and backpackers and adventure seekers come. During their winter time, skiers and other winter sports people come in to Ushuaia.
San Martin Street in pictures above and below. We found a wonderful bakery, Ana & Juana, on this street, and the breads and pastries we bought from this bakery sustained us for a couple of days.
We went to the Prison Museum. There are actually 4 different museums(Maritime, Prison, Art, Antarctic) housed in old prison & one ticket gets you into all.
Ushuaia was founded informally by British missionaries in early 1800’s, but it became part of Argentina later on & was first used as a penal colony. The prison life is recreated in the Prison Museum.
An art exhibition. The main art collection area was under renovation when we were there. Other museums were not too interesting. We thought 4 in 1 ticket was a bargain, but, in the end, it was not. There wasn’t a whole lot to see. Still, you learn something about the town and people.
We walked down to the port area and bought tickets for the boat trip out to the Beagle Channel the next day. That will be a separate write up.
On our last day in Ushuaia, we decided to venture out of town. Basically head east on Route 3, and it becomes a mountain highway. Our host had mentioned Tierra Mayor restaurant at exit #4 might be a good lunch spot, but it was closed.
We drove on, and there were more mountains all around. Too bad that it rained so we could not get clear photos. At Exit #7(maybe an hour driving from downtown,) we found a grill restaurant that seemed to be very popular. Grilled lamb is a specialty of Ushuaia region, and big fire pits are set up at these grill restaurants like the one below.
Well, we got rain and wind, but we did enjoy ourselves.
The restaurant was pretty big, but an indoor fire pit in the middle of the room made it very cozy and warm. The big kettle on the edge of the fire pit is a special drink described below. Help yourself to it & get warmed up.
We didn’t fully understand how it worked, but, it seemed you pay a price for an all you can eat lunch that included a salad bar and drinks. About $20-25 per person. The meat was very tender, and we could not eat more than the first round.
On the way back, we stopped at a tiny bakery that was sort of hiding behind a pretty unassuming store front right before we entered the city, and what a find that was! Delicious bread and pastries at very reasonable prices.
One thing we all quickly agreed: this town never had a city planning. It just grew organically, and people built whatever they wanted. Outside of downtown, streets are often crooked and meandering. We got lost more than once going through these mazes.
Some building owners had good sense of humor, too. No, that’s not a real person. I would not call it beautiful or charming, but this city was, somehow, appealing to me. It was liberating to be far, far away from it all, yet, I did not feel isolated. Well, we were there for only 3 days, so how would I really know what it would be like living in a place like that. I may never find out.
Some street arts captured by Bill.
We figured there had to be some kind of eateries outside of downtown. We checked out Google Map, and, sure enough! There were some possibilities closer to home. So we ventured out looking for dinner. Mr. Google(had to be a male for the moment – it was giving us trouble) sent us on a dirt road leading to a new development area. No restaurants! We ended up at a tiny burger joint closer to our house.
Before heading out to the airport the next day, we were determined to have a nice lunch & found it at Los Cauquenes Resort on the shores of the Beagle Channel.
A killer view, great food, nice service – what more could we ask? We ordered a seafood sampler appetizer plate, and that was big enough to feed the two of us.
We arrived at the airport, and, sure enough! There was a lady wearing an orange Sixt jacket waiting by the entrance. We handed her the key, she checked the gas and did a once around, and we were good to go.
Our journey: Puelo -> Puerto Varas -> Puerto Natales -> Torres del Paine National Park –> El Calafate –> Perito Moreno Glacier –> Ushuaia –> the Beagle Channel –> Buenos Aires
Small Wide World 
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