18/01/2019 - Tierra del Fuego, Argentina

We had a bit of a later start to the day, and a nice relaxed breakfast in the hotel. We got ready slowly and then left for the national park, Tierra del Fuego. Our first obstacle was a road blockade due to a car crash, but our tour guide (mum) saved the day and navigated us through the hilly roads. Driving here appears a bit of a challenge, there are no road markings and there seems to be no rhyme nor reason as to who should give way to whom. For example, Josh stopped to let someone across a pedestrian crossing and got beeped by a taxi behind him! After a brief mirador near the golf course, we arrived. Dad paid for us all to enter the park and mum navigated us to the post office at the end of the world! We went into the tiny cabin overlooking the beagle channel, and chose some postcards, bought some stamps, and we all got our passports stamped. The guy stamping our passports has his own picture on the sticker that takes up over a quarter of a passport page, and he reminded me of Captain Birdseye! He told us he had been working there for over 30 years. Plus another 30+++ I reckon! The date of the sticker was wrong, it said 21 January, which amused us as we could only imagine how many people have the wrong date stamped on their passport by now! None of us wanted to tell him so we kept our laughter quiet! We posed with the British looking post box and posted the cards. Then we had a look around the area before getting into the car and driving to a few different viewpoints. The national park is really green and has some beautiful views. We took lots of photos, and we all had a go at posing ‘insta style’ which cracked me up! It was definitely beneficial to have the hire car as it meant we got to see so much of the park. We stopped at the restaurant for a tortilla and empanada lunch and coffee, and looked in the gift shop. Then we drove to the car park to start our walk. Mum and dad had chosen the Hito XXIV trail. This route took us along the bank of Roca lake up to the Argentina/Chile border. After being absolutely frozen yesterday we all had leggings or tights under trousers and every other piece of warm clothing on us. Because of that, the sun shone and we were peeling off layers as much as possible during the 3-hour hike. It was a lovely walk, and was very green with lots of ferns. It felt almost like a beautiful autumn day at home in the countryside. We ended up at the end of the trail where there was a signpost to mark the border with Chile, we of course all had to have a picture with it and make jokes about being in different countries! After a few photos we sat on a log next to the lake and had some snacks. It cools down quickly when you stop moving, so it wasn’t long until we turned back and made our way back to the car. We drove on to another little car park and walked the short way up to see the waterfalls and the white water. After this we drove back to the hotel. We had showers and mum and dad used their huge Jacuzzi bath! For dinner at the hotel we had French onion soup and steak, followed by dulce de leche crepes, (as usual!) Josh had a flan for dessert, which is mums worst nightmare and I got the giggles as Josh unknowingly tried to encourage mum to try some! Mum straightened my hair with GHDs after dinner, first time in ages. I ended up keeping the straighteners and helped dad order mum a new pair for when she returns home!