A flight of about three and a half hours separates Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, from Ushuaia, also known as the city at the “end of the world”. The title is disputed with the Chilean community of Puerto Williams, a village that grew up on the other side of the Beagle Channel, but the pendenga in no way detracts from the charm of the Argentine destination.
Among the alternative —and creative— tours in Ushuaia is the Ruta da Centolla (in Portuguese, the crab route), accessible by car about an hour and a half further south, in the community of Puerto Almaza.
The route passes through Lagoa Vitória and through a landscape that combines mountains and flag trees, which take this name because they grow bent due to the strong wind, all mixed with the snow and the icy sea of the channel.
About 50 families live in Puerto Almaza and seek their livelihood in artisanal fishing and tourism. It is one of the few places in the world where you can still eat wild salmon, crab and southern hake.
José Luis Raipan, 45, owner of Onas Restaurante, was named after the local native peoples. He grew up in the region, following his fisherman father.
“Here there was nothing, we lived camping from island to island, going in search of where the fish were”, he recalls.
Two months before the pandemic, he and his wife opened the small wooden house turned into a restaurant to the public. “We only worked for one season and then everything closed down, but we survived”, he says.
During the period, they reached 1,500 people, “all Argentines”, he says. Currently, José already has reservations for the entire season of Europeans passing through the region on cruises.
The public is almost always looking for thecentolla, a delicacy that usually costs four times as much in any restaurant in Ushuaia.
“The centella is worth 30,000 pesos in Ushuaia and here it costs 8,000. In Europe and the United States it is much more expensive”, defends José.
The most successful dishes are the crab in butter and gratin, and the crab empanadas. All are made by José’s wife, who continues to fish when the weather permits, from March to October, collecting almost 300 kg per month.
“I don’t like this so-called gourmet cuisine. I’ve been to restaurants that have a lot of color and no flavor, you have to eat and pay what it’s worth”, he evaluates.
In addition to the centella route, Ushuaia offers beautiful walks in a landscape preserved by cold and longitude. The city is looking for ways to invest in sustainable tourism to unite development with nature preservation.
There are attractions such as the Arakur hotel, located in the Cerro Alarkén Natural Reserve and with intelligent architecture for the preservation of the area. There you can schedule ecological tours.
It was there, by the way, that Leonardo DiCaprio stayed when, in search of snow, he moved the location of the film “The Revenant” from Canada to the Argentine south. The hotel has a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the mountains and a great restaurant open to the public.
In the city there is also the End of the World Train, a charming ride that tells a lot about how the southern city was created. His story is connected to the prison created in 1986 — it was to him that the most dangerous criminals in the country were initially sent.
The jail once housed 600 inmates. Today, it houses a museum that describes what life was like for prisoners, as well as a Maritime Museum.
Tourists cannot miss the tour of the Beagle Channel to admire sea lions and the imperial cormorant, a species that looks a lot like penguins, on the island of the lighthouse, or the tour of the Tierra del Fuego National Park.
Frequented by those who want to practice outdoor sports, such as trekking and long walks, the park is also home to the only Argentine postal unit, the Fim do Mundo postal unit, in the bay of Zaratiegui.
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