📍Ushuaia, Argentina

After a 5:00 am wake-up call, we headed by bus back to Santiago airport for leg three of getting to Patagonia. We boarded our flight to Ushuaia, Argentina, the world's Southernmost city. It's a location I went from not knowing how to pronounce to at this point talking about so much that it feels a little surreal being here. Argentinians call it “Fin del Mundo” – the end of the world. Did I mention our flight took us over stunning Patagonia 😍

Left 📸: Volcano in the Andes mountains seen from the sky

This was by far the best three-and-a-half-hour flight of my life. We saw mountains and not just any mountains but the Andes mountains. Let me just say they compare nothing to the Appalachians or even the Rockies. They have very much left me curious about the Himalayas. Luckily for us, it was a private charter flight so everyone was back and forth all flight between both sides of the plane making sure to get the best shots. There were multiple times during the flight when I was mid-conversation, we’d both look out the window and just stop speaking, the views literally made us speechless.

After landing at the Ushuaia airport, we made it through customs again given we had just traveled from Chile to Argentina. We started with exploring Tierra del Fuego National Park. We again saw stunning views of the Andes mountains, learned about the lack of “dry season” in this region, and saw the beech trees (plus lots lots more). The longest highway in the world, the Pan American Highway runs from Alaska to Argentina so today we stood at the end of Route 3 which is literally the end of the road.

From left to right: 📸1: Tierra del Fuego National sign 📸 2: The end of the Pan-American Highway

Lucky for us the weather was spectacular so we were able to enjoy lunch on a catamaran cruise while viewing the amazing Andes mountains rising out of the Beagle Channel (sensing a theme for the day?). We headed out to the Lighthouse at the End of the World, not the one based on Jules Verne's novel but more on that when I have more time.

From left to right: 📸1: Tierra del Fuego National Park 📸 2: Lighthouse at the end of the world 📸 3: Sailing through the Beagle Channel

Prior to boarding the catamaran, we spotted Calafate berry flowers, something I was excited to see in Patagonia, followed by enjoying some Calafate berry ice cream. Legend says if you eat Calafate berries in Patagonia you are destined to come back. One can only dream.

From left to right: 📸1: Calafate ice cream-yum! 📸 2: Port City of Ushuaia 📸 3: Ushuaua "Fin del Mundo" Sign meaning "the end of the world"

This was all followed by exploring the colorful port city of Ushuaia. Again I have no words for the spectacular Andes that lay behind this port town. Fun fact: In Ushuaia the Andes actually run west to east meaning they span the whole backdrop of Ushuaia. An interesting part of our exploration was visiting the Ushuaia prison which reminded me of Alcatraz. I enjoyed speaking with some locals and learning about what living in this part of Patagonia is really like.

Finally, just before midnight, we were able to board the National Geographic Explorer, our expedition ship for the next two weeks. We are dealing with some troubling weather which has caused the delay so we will see what tomorrow brings.

National Geographic Explorer, my home and classroom for the next two weeks.