Day #28…Friday, February 27, 2015

Ushuaia, Argentina

In 1833 Captain Robert FitzRoy arrived in the region of Ushuaia during a British missionary voyage.   He found the area inhabited by tribes of Indians and was on a mission to civilize the tribes.  Ferdinand Magellan named the area Tierra del Fuego or “Land of Fire” when he peered out on huge bonfires as he circumnavigated the tip of the continent.

Ushuaia is nestled in a U-shaped cove adjacent to the dazzling Beagle Channel.   The city of 70,000 people is situated on a bay off the Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego’s southern coast.  Argentina originally used Ushuaia as a penal colony bringing in aborigines, gold diggers, prisoners and castaways that led to an eclectic fusion of cultural heritage.  The city owes its existence to the prisoners who constructed the town’s railway, hospital and port.  The prison was open from 1896 until 1947.

Ushuaia experiences a sub-polar oceanic climate due to its high southern latitude.  For this reason, Antarctica plays a role in changing the daily weather patterns.  January is the warmest month, where temperatures can reach a high of 50° F and the duration of daylight extends to more than 17 hours.  July is the coolest month with average temperatures around 34° F and only 7 hours of daylight daily.

The language most spoken is Spanish and the currency is the Argentine Peso (ARS).

The city is gateway to a rugged wilderness emanating a starkly striking natural beauty.  When the prison closed its doors in 1947, the city had a population of only 3,000 inhabitants.  Steadily the city has grown and has quadrupled its size during the 70’s and 80’s. 

We awoke early this morning to meet our private tour group in the Piazza.  Our group of eighteen (18) passengers walked a long distance to the pier and boarded a van to take a city drive tour of Ushuaia and then head to the national forest area.

Traveling on the Pan American Highway, we journeyed to the “end of the world” with signage that shows the highway stretching from Alaska to the southern most end of South America.  The Andes Mountains give the area a beautiful snow-peaked picturesque backdrop.

We visited Ensenada Bay to get superb views of the Beagle Channel.  We gazed upon Nazarino and Hoste Islands, the nearest land to the Antarctic continent.  Our tour guide explained that half of the island is part of Argentina and the other half belongs to Chile.

We journeyed into Tierra del Fuego National Park and stopped at a hiking area to see the giant beaver dams in the area.  Evita Peron introduced the beavers to the island years ago when she had a desire to bring beaver fur trade to the area.  Now the area is infested with the damaging creatures with 300,000 estimated in the park.  The wilderness offers no predators for the beaver and thus the numbers continue to rise at an alarming rate.  Poachers are encouraged to kill the animals but are only given $5.00 per hide.

We were shown unique species of plant life in the forest area.  Lichen grows like moss on the trees and is used for medicinal purposes.  Trees were downed everywhere and not done by mankind.  The weather has such violent winds that the forest is covered with fallen timber.

We visited the post office at the “end of the world” and had postcards stamped and mailed home from there.  We stopped at the Ushuaia Café (deep in the wilderness) and tasted a local meat-filled pastry and sampled the local beers called Cape Horn and Beagle.

We walked from the café to Roca Lake where the locals swim in the summer with the water temperature only reaching 46° F.  We had temperatures in the 40’s today and could not imagine jumping in that cold, cold water.  We also had some occasional drizzle but the winds were calm.  We managed to stay fairly warm since we were instructed to dress in layers.

We arrived back in the town of Ushuaia and walked around searching for some souvenirs.  We returned to the ship empty-handed because about half the stores were closed for “siesta” and the others offered nothing of interest to us. 

Our ship was to leave the port at 4 P.M. but due to a medical emergency for 1 or 2 of our passengers, we did not leave until 5 P.M.  We could not imagine having to be ambulanced to the local hospital.  Even medical evacuation in this area would be alarming!  One could not be any further away from home!

We went to Bill and Stella’s cabin to view the glaciers as we exited the area.  Three large glaciers could be viewed.  The area was very foggy and so the glaciers were not as clear as we had hoped.  Cruising in the channel, the huge masses called Holland Glacier, Italia Glacier and Germany Glacier reminded us of the sites one sees in Alaska.

We then played euchre with Bill and Stella until bedtime.  We are heading to Punta Arenas, Chile and will arrive there in the A.M.  We plan to meet Judy and Frank and find a private tour or taxi to take us around the city.