Ushuaia and Regina

On Monday it snowed. Bear in mind this is mid-summer. It does not get any warmer than this throughout the year. I am wearing several layers and am keeping warm. A girl who was next to me on the plane and is in the same hotel, brought three summer dresses and immediately went shopping! A lttle research pays off, especially as everything is expensive here.
Residents here love the winter, the tourists have gone, but it gets down to -15 regularly and for long periods. I could not cope with not having a summer as I understand summer, even in the UK. However there are plenty of flowers out, lupins all over the place, roses and pansies. Maybe more but I have exhausted my flower knowledge. I suppose they react to length of day and ignore the temperature which I can't do!
My hotel is Los Lagos, 3*, clean, warm and comfortable. Regina flew in the day after me to Hotel Albatross, the other end of town, large and magnificent with a restaurant which is too expensive.

We have joked for ages about going to the end of the earth to meet up. This does feel like the end of the Earth. It is hemmed in by super jagged mountains (eat your heart out Queenstown, NZ!) which were almost bare of snow on Day 1, a dusting on day 2, and significant amounts on Day 3. That is when flurries reached us at sea level. The weather changes rapidly but nearly always there is an icy wind. So strong was the wind one day that the port was closed and our separate exursions on the Beagle Channel were postponed. Regina and I used that time as it was a bright day to walk towards the glacier. We had superb views back to Ushuaia and the panorama of mountains was very special. We climbed up 300m, were walking for 4 hours but did not quite get to that glacier! As you walk away from the coast the roads are very steep, levelling out for the cross roads, San Francisco style, but 3 streets back and it all looks quite poor. It surprised me that we were quite a bit south of the Malvinas, yes Malvinas.