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With our mission accomplished of going to Antarctica, a trip five years in the making, we had a few more days in Ushuaia. Since my brother and I didn't want to lose two more vacation days, we decided to rent another Airbnb until the weekend that we could work remotely from. This Airbnb was less centrally located than the other one, but was a bit more modern. The wireless internet struggled to keep up with both, my brother and I, on Zoom all day long, but we survived and saved a few vacation days for other adventures later this year!
When we got back to the port, we grabbed our bags and took them to the Airbnb. My Dad and brother volunteered to lug our heavy suitcases up the hill two blocks as our accommodations appeared to be 2 blocks away, but I had the wrong intersection in the map and it was actually more like a 10 block walk. Despite the extra walk, we were able to drop our bags off relatively quickly. Since the apartment was still being cleaned, we decided to head back towards the main street of the town to grab a bite to eat before our afternoon tour commenced.
The final tour we booked through Tiera del Fuego Aventura was a highly recommended 4x4 off roading tour through some of the lakes near Ushuaia - it did not disappoint! After lunch, we met a driver at the tour office and hopped in our own Jeep with a private driver who took us out of the town. After about 20 minutes, we met up with another Jeep that was driving a French family around. Since the tour was offered in both languages, there were two cars with a driver that spoke each language.
Once we got out of Ushuaia, we began to see the beauty that is Patagonia. The stunning scenery of snow capped mountains complimented by calm, still lakes is some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. We made a quick pit stop for restrooms at a motorcycle themed distillery which had some of the coolest, old motorcycles I will ever see.
After a quick taste of the schnapps (not a huge fan), we were off to take in the beauty that is Patagonia. Our first stop was an overlook of Lake Escondido.
We then descended a windy road towards the lake passing a dam created by a beaver along the way - we even saw the beaver. Our guide said that, unfortunately, the beavers are destroying the natural habitat by cutting down thousands of trees. They were not native to the land, but were introduced by someone that wanted to be able to hunt beavers for their pelts. Their population got out of control, unfortunately, and the local government is rewarding people who kill beavers as this is the only way to try to maintain the natural environment.
After a short drive, we arrived at the side of the lake where we explored an abandoned hotel and cabin area. It was so beautiful down there and we were surprised that it ever was abandoned, but it is very difficult to bring supplies down there given the conditions of the road.
We continued along our route and passed a very curious fox that came to check us out before dashing back into the woods.
As we drove, we saw some beautiful scenes and came across a logging camp.
We also passed another area that, unfortunately, was destroyed by beavers. The magnitude was very easy to see.
We then stopped along the shore of Lake Fagnano to watch the sunset which, of course, was gorgeous. We couldn't have had a more perfect day to see it.
As the sun finished setting, we left to head to our dinner stop which had a nice local flair. Located near a place called Rancho Hambre, the restaurant was a small, humble place with only our group there. Fresh food was cooked over the fire and the entire group enjoyed it! We eventually made it back to our accommodation, very satisfied and happy that we spent the afternoon taking the tour,
The rest of our time in Ushuaia was pretty uneventful as my brother and I worked remotely for four days before hopping on a plane to go back to the USA. Instead of losing a vacation day due to travel, we figured it would be better to work remotely. Unfortunately, we didn't have a WiFi connection that was reliable enough to support both of us and our multiple video calls, but we made it through.
On Friday evening, we had dinner at the same restaurant we had dinner at the first night of our arrival - Maria Lola Resto. The best meals of our trip in Ushuaia were both at the restaurant and I would highly recommend it!
We woke up on Saturday morning and headed for the airport to bid adieu to Ushuaia. We had a layover in Buenos Aires and needed to switch airports from the mainly domestic one to the international one, so we took a bus which was very easy to do and took less than an hour. Once we were at the other airport, we headed to the Amex Centurion Lounge where we waited a few hours for our overnight flight to board. We landed in Atlanta, had a brief layover and took a flight back to NYC.
Our three weeks away were a huge success. Not only did I set foot on my seventh continent, but I did it alongside my Dad and brother. It was great to accomplish my goal of joining the seven continent club alongside them. My mission is accomplished, delayed over three years, and I am now ready for the next challenge and milestone in my life!