The end of the world: Argentine Patagonia

Arriving at the end of the world

The plane touched down in Ushuaia in a light drizzle, the mountains still dusted with snow in the middle of January. The first thing I learned is that in Patagonia all four seasons fit into a single afternoon: I left the hostel in a T-shirt and came back wearing three layers.

The town is small, colourful and full of people on their way to or from Antarctica. At the port, expedition ships share the docks with little boats fishing for centolla — the giant king crab that became my favourite dinner of the trip.

The Beagle Channel

I took the boat trip out to Les Éclaireurs Lighthouse, the one everyone calls the "lighthouse at the end of the world". Along the way: islets covered in sea lions and cormorants. The wind was so strong that every photo came out crooked, and I didn't mind one bit.

In Patagonia you don't plan your day: you negotiate it with the wind.

Perito Moreno and El Chaltén

From Ushuaia I flew to El Calafate just to see the Perito Moreno Glacier. Nothing prepares you for the sound: the ice cracks like thunder and, every now and then, a block the size of a building crashes into Lago Argentino.

The last days were in El Chaltén, Argentina's "national trekking capital". I hiked up to Laguna de los Tres before dawn to watch the sunrise over Fitz Roy. Twenty kilometres there and back, my legs complained for three days, and it was the most beautiful sunrise of my life.