We left Punta Arenas at 5:30 p.m. to wend our way, again at night – so no sightseeing – through the islands and passageways to our next stop, Ushuaia, Argentina, self-proclaimed “End of the World.” Punta Arenas lies just off the top left of this map, about where the “n” would be in “Magellan.” As you can see, this would again have been spectacular close-quarters sailing had we been able to see it. This is where we actually did pass a glacier that came down to the water. The captain said we would pass it about 4:00 a.m. and that he would turn on his spotlights to illuminate the ice. We were warned, however, that we would see very little. We opted to stay in bed, and from reports by other passengers we made the right call. They just saw a white blotch in the darkness. Ushuaia is marked in orange. This map also shows our next leg, from Ushuaia down to Cape Horn, which actually is an island by that name.
When we did get up, just prior to our arrival in Ushuaia, we looked back to see the snowy mountains that towered over the passage we had come through in the pre-dawn.
When the ship swung out a bit in this channel (actually, the Beagle Canal), we got a better view of the two biggest.
These are part of the Andes range, just before it plunges beneath the ocean on its way to Antarctica, 750 miles away. [Note: that’s how Argentina lays claim to a big pie-shaped wedge of Antarctica. They reason that it’s just an extension of the Andes range that has come back up from under the sea. So far, no firm agreement from the rest of the world.] We haven’t been to Alaska, but I imagine there are views like this up there. It’s like plunking Everest and K2 down by the seashore.
To get to Ushuaia going west to east, we first had to pass it by for a few miles until we could round a buoy placed on some small rock islands, then turn back up the inner bay to get to the city. This is its setting:
What a beautiful site/sight. Ushuaia was founded in the mid 1800’s by a British missionary, Waite Hockin Stirling, to minister to the indigenous people, the Yaganes, who called this area Ushuaia. The Yaganes were extremely primitive, and had survived in this climate with no clothing for thousands of years! A shivering yikes! When Darwin went through here in 1832, he was stunned at the primal conditions in which the locals lived. All of that survival sturdiness was for naught. Within a generation of the arrival of the missionaries, the tribes of Tierra del Fuego were virtually driven into extinction from disease. In 1884, Argentina built a series of prisons around Ushuaia, and it remained mainly a penal colony until the mid-twentieth century. What the convicts were sentenced to is now a tourist attraction. From the ship, it is a beautiful setting.
In the left picture, you can see a jumble of houses extending up into the forest. When the area turned from prisons to other industries, the Argentine government encouraged immigration rather too successfully. Few zoning or building restrictions were in place, people simply built their own shack/homes willy nilly, and that area is really a hodgepodge of no-code housing. The rest of the city has a bit more order. We will see that blue-tailed ship that is docked in the right photo later when we get to Cape Horn.
Ushuaia is the gateway to the Tierra del Fuego National Park, which straddles the Chile/Argentina border. We took one of the ship-sponsored tours to see the park. If you’re on a ship-organized land tour, the boat waits for you if your tour is delayed getting back. If you arrange your own tour and are late, you can just wave bye-bye to your belongings as they sail away. It’s your responsibility to make your way (at your expense) to the next port of call to rejoin the ship. One private tour did have their bus get stuck, but it got free just in time. Anyway, we bussed our way west out of town, over a couple of passes, and we were there in about 20 kilometers. It costs 85 Argentine pesos to enter the park, about $20 at the current exchange rate. We’re finding that there are precious few bargains in South America. The prices for food are comparable to U.S. prices, even a little more. Durable goods cost a lot more. Of course, that might be because we’re in remote locations. We’ll see what happens when we get to Buenos Aires.
Despite our bundled up look, the weather actually was pretty nice. Wind was the main irritant, but even it wasn’t constant. The scenery was just fine, much like what we saw on our last RV trip through Wyoming.
We stopped at a number of places in the park with different views. The sign marks the end of the Pan-American highway which stretches from Alaska to, well, here! It’s called Route No. 3 in Tierra del Fuego. Ah, yes, the “land of fire,” so named by Magellan as he traversed the Strait and noticed all the fires lit by the natives along the shore. Damn right they had a lot of fires --- they were naked!
Done with the Park, we retraced our route back to Ushuaia. We decided to walk around a bit before going back to the ship. There’s not a whole lot to see; there’s really only one main drag with most of the shops along it. It did have at least one essential shop.
The bus is one that takes tourists out to the former prisons, hence the convict suit poster on the rear. I didn’t notice until I was reviewing this shot that the guy in front of the bus is wearing one of these getups. Guess he was the guide or driver.
If this was graffiti, it was the most artistic we have seen. Since Loni got to pose by the sign that marked the end of the highway, I get the end of the world. I guess Antarctica doesn’t count.
We’d had enough walking, and bathroom and late lunch was calling, so we headed back to the ship, moored amongst the small fry.
It’s even bigger close up.
Did I say lunch? Actually, high tea! Shameless; simply shameless. Urp.
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