Dia De Los Perros

One of the first things to jump off the pages of the Ushuaia guide book was the availability of dog sled rides. As we're all missing our puppies, it seemed only appropriate that we find some other heads to squish and ears to bite.

We had originally planned to do our mushing adventure on Monday, but the only trip available was an evening adventure where they took you out into the middle of the forest and fed you dinner and hot chocolate, whilst serenading you with a guitar.

Now, that might sound good to most folks, but no... when we could wait until the next day and learn to drive the sleds ourselves, with our own team of dogs? That's a no-brainer with this crew. Little did we know that there's a reason that dog sledding is called a sport.

We were picked up at 9:30 and quickly shuttled out to Tierra Major, the wide valley that we'd skied through two days prior. We were the only folks who wanted to drive the sleds ourselves, so our private "instructor" Sebastien had lots of time for each of us. I say "instructor" not because he didn't know his stuff, or because he didn't tell us anything, but more because the bulk of the instruction comes to this:

Rule 1 -- Never let go of the dog sled.
Rule 2 -- Never run over your dogs.
Rule 3 -- Shout whatever you want at the dogs, it won't matter much. If they're stopped, they'll be trying to run. If they're running, see Rule 1.

In truth, these animals are pretty amazing. Most were either Siberian or Alaskan Huskies, but a few had some German Wire Hair Pointer, and all of them were powerful working dogs. I'd pay real money to watch somebody take one of them around Green Lake on rollerblades.

We were out for about an hour and a half, including a short stop for hot chocolate (they pampered us after all). It being Patagonia, we'd all bundled up pretty good, anticipating an icy wind slicing through our Gore-Tex as the dogs whipped us along. The reality had Anastasia dumping her down coat and all of us toasty warm, since you're frequently hopping off the sled to run along with it, to lighten the dogs' load on the hills. I guess the last time I did this I weighed about 70 pounds, so my expectations may have been skewed.

Having done it again 20 (25?) years later, I'm happy to report that it is equally exhilarating and a fantastic way to work with the dogs. Hopi and Tundra have a long winter ahead of them.

And of course, more pictures...
Excited pup on the way to the leads
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Our line on Bonéte, off the right skyline
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Anastasia's dog team, with Roni and Luna out front
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Anastasia and her perros
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Andy and Anastasia's perros
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Marcus and Cara, giving chin-nibbles
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