Hello from the frozen South! We are now in Ushuaia, in the Tierra del Fuego, and just 1100km from Antartica! And you can tell actually, because despite being summer it is really very cold! Partly because its we're not here very long, and partly because its too cold to stand around, we have been very busy since we got here! We got here on Saturday afternoon, and after our long flight down from Santiago were really too tired to do much, so we organised our tickets out of here (they get booked up quickly) and booked ourselves on a boat trip along the Beagle Channel for the next morning. Our next stop is going to be El Calafate, which is the stop off point for the Perito Moreno Glacier (apparently the most spectacular around here) and we were planning to go by bus but it goes at 5.30am, takes 12 hours to Rio Gallegos, then 3 hours waiting there and another 4 hours to El Calafate! So we decided to treat ourselves, spend an extra twenty quid and fly - just an hour! Think it will definitely be worth it, and it gives us more time here too! Despite the cold, I am very taken with Ushuaia. Its a bit bleak, but it has awesome scenery, and amazing wildlife. Our hostel is up a very steep hill (the walk warms us up!) and the views over the Beagle Channel and up to the mountains and the Martial Glacier are stunning. The weather here is completely unpredictable, and it changes every 10 minutes, so one minute you can see for miles and the next all the mountains are covered in clouds! As I said, we'd booked ourselves on a Beagle Channel boat for Sunday morning. But it had rained very heavily overnight, and when we got there it was still overcast, so they told us to come back for the 3pm boat instead. While we were standing around pondering what to do next, we got accosted by a man offering transport to the Tierra del Fuego National Park - and as we'd got nothing better to do we decided to go! It rained all the way up there, and all the way back, but apart from the first 10 minutes or so, was beautiful the whole time we were there. It was great to be out in the (very) fresh air, and getting some exercise, although the trip was marred by one thing......I picked up my first traveller war wounds!!! Thankfully they came from a nice wholesome traveller activity (hiking) and not from one of the less respectable ones (drinking!). We'd decided to go on one of their intermediate walks, which went through the forest all along the bluest, clearest lake I have ever seen. It was absolutely stunning, even if at times I felt like we could have just been in St Leonards Forest! It was 4km there, and 4 back - a shame to walk back the way we came but it all looked pretty different the other way anyway! I was in front, and therefore trying to find the safe pathway, as the paths were covered with tree roots, and quite steep at times. As I'd been expecting to be on a boat, and not walking, I was wearing my old trainers not my nice new hiking shoes, and they weren't exactly non slip! The tree roots were damp, and a bit slimy, and unfortunately I stood on one and just slid down it, landed in a painful and undignifed manner at the bottom! Am a bit bruised and stiff today for it, and I even drew blood on my elbow....poor me! Still, I think it was worth it despite my injuries - so brave, I know!! In the afternoon we went back to do the boat trip, but it was raining again by then and they told us to wait until the next morning. But half an hour later the sun was blazing and the sky was blue, so we decided to go back, but change to a bigger boat as the sea looked a bit choppy and we didn't really fancy our chances in the teeny little fishing boat! And it was definitely worth it, because the bigger boat went right out to the penguin island, Isla Martillo. It was amazing, the boat landed right on the beach, and the penguins aren't bothered at all, so they just carried on as though we weren't there! We weren't allowed to get off, but we were so close anyway it didn't really matter! We saw two types - Magellan and Gentoo, the Magellans were my favourites. Their funny little waddly walk looks so inefficient on land, but they're so graceful in the water! We also saw sea lions, fur seals, cormorants and albatrosses up close, it was amazing. Unfortunately, on the way back the boat was literally bouncing off the waves (Mum, you would have died!) and I was feeling distinctly green about the gills! Lots of people were though, and crew are obviously used to it! They tried to get me to go outside where they were sending all the other sickies, but outside I felt sick AND cold, so I preferred to just sit there, close my eyes and hope for the best! By the time we got back I wasn't feeling too bad, and even if I had been, it would still have been worth it for the penguins!! Needless to say, after all that fresh air we were pretty exhausted, and in need of an early night! I would say we all slept like logs, but poor Sarah had a bit of a fright....the hostel has a cat, and it must have snuck into our room in the middle of the night cos she woke up to find it sleeping on top of her! Scared her half to death! This morning we went up to the Martial Glacier, which is nice to see, but good god was it freezing! We decided to get the chair lift up to where you start hiking, but I think that was a mistake...sitting there for 20 minutes in the perishing wind without being able to move around to warm yourself up.....bad idea, very bad idea! By the time we were up there, we were too cold to do much in the way of walking, we certainly didn't fancy going right up to the glacier! We went for a quick half hour spin round to the Punto Panoramico instead.....lovely views, not too strenuous, back down in the warmth again much quicker! It was nice to see, but to be honest, to me it just looked like snow on a mountain - I think the Moreno glacier in El Calafate will be much more spectacular. We spent this afternoon in the Maritime and Penal Museum, and are now taking advantage of the free heat of the internet cafes! Our flight isn't until 4 tomorrow, so we're considering a trip to the lakes in the morning. Our Argentine room mates are doing the lakes today, so we'll ask them if its worth it this evening! Alternatively, we may just spend the morning shopping for some thermals......