Another beautiful day in Tierra del Fuego gave us a chance to make an excursion into the mountains to see a different region of what has been described as the "uttermost place on Earth". We drove up into the mountains and traveled over the rather subdued crest of the Andes at Girabaldi Pass in order to reach Lago Escondido (Hidden Lake).
It was a wonderful ride, and once at the lake we were able to walk a little bit along its shoreline and into the southern beech forest. The Cordillera Darwin, the southern-most extension of the Andes Mountains, displays a very low and obvious treeline. At this high latitude, about 55º S, it is only about 2,300 feet (700 meters) above sea level. It makes for a very dramatic sight, especially with the recent dusting of snow on the exposed peaks just above.
By early afternoon, we reached Las Cotorras (meaning the parrots), and to our great delight we did see a few cotorras flying about in the nearby beech trees. These are medium-sized parrots with colorful red breasts. The highlight, however, was the local restaurant where we enjoyed what some people claimed was the best roasted lamb and fresh stream trout they had ever tasted. It was prepared by the traditional Gaucho barbecue method. We washed it down with some Argentinean red wine, and then enjoyed some potent coffee and sweet callafata ice cream. We eventually waddled out as a very pleased and satiated group of travelers and returned to Ushuaia via the same highway. Many people got off in town to enjoy the rest of the afternoon in the duty free shops and museums.
