After spending
Christmas in the summer of South America, with temperatures in the 90’s and no
air conditioning, it was time to head farther south to more winter-like
temperatures. We departed the morning of
December 26th to Ushuaia, in the southern-most province of
Argentina, Tierra del Fuego. This was a
trip Matt and I had been anticipating for quite some time – Matt has always
wanted to take a fishing trip to Patagonia (though there would be no fishing on
this vacation, he was happy to see the place and plan a future trip) and I had
a more personal interest, as my mother had lived in Ushuaia as a very young
child with my grandparents. My
grandfather, Abuelo Raul, was in the Argentine Navy, when my mom was a baby and
they spent three years living on the Naval Base in Ushuaia. The boys did not really know what to expect
out of this trip, other than the fact that we would be seeing penguins and
glaciers – and until you actually see the glaciers, it’s hard to imagine anything
exciting about seeing a bunch of ice – we definitely weren’t prepared for the
spectacle of nature we would witness.
After another
long day of travel (i.e. waiting in airports) we arrived in Ushuaia in the
early evening. Flying over the Andes and
seeing a bird’s-eye-view of the “cordillera” – the boundary between Argentina
and Chile – was an amazing sight in and of itself. The capital of Tierra del Fuego (which
translate, means “Land of Fire”), Ushuaia is also known as the southern-most
city in the world, or the “city at the end of the world”. The airport, which resembles a ski lodge,
sits on an island that was created specifically for this function – upon our
arrival we were greeted by our tour company representatives and taken to our
hotel in town. It was much cooler than
when we left Cordoba earlier that morning, so we had to pull out the jackets
and gloves to keep warm. After getting
settled in our little apartment, we took a couple of hours to rest and research
our options for excursions. At this time
of year, the sun is up from about 4:30AM until almost 11:00PM – so we had
plenty of daylight left to walk to dinner and check out the town.
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| Our hotel, with snow-capped mountains in the background. |
Our hotel sat
about five blocks north of the center of town, at the edge of the
mountains. Being summer, we were
surprised to still see snow-capped mountains all around us. Ushuaia’s landscape is truly breathtaking,
with the Beagle Channel creating its southern border, and the Andes surrounding
the rest of the city. The main street in
town, offering the most options for shopping and dining, was called San Martin
Street – even though I have never been to Switzerland, it made me imagine a
picturesque ski town in the middle of the Alps.
Our first evening there, we wandered up and down several blocks,
admiring the quaint storefronts until we decided on a restaurant and hungrily
ate a late dinner. It felt quite
bizarre, walking back to the hotel at 10:30 at night, and the sun was only
beginning to set. We closed the blinds
to help block out the light, as we had to be up early the next morning for our
first excursion and tour.
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| San Martin Street |
Our tour company,
“Tiempo Libre”, was excellent – they arrived on time for every outing, and were
efficient and informative – if you’ve ever traveled in South America, you know
that this is rare and truly something to appreciate. Our first morning in Ushuaia began bright and
early, and the bus picked us up for a full day of sight-seeing along the
Andes. Traversing the Garibaldi Pass, the
southernmost road to cross the mountainous border between Chile and Argentina,
we visited two lakes – Lago Fagnano and Lago Escondido. Both were beautiful sights to see, nestled in
the mountains. We were especially lucky
to get excellent views of Lago Escondido, which literally means “Hidden Lake” –
according to our guides, 60 percent of the time the lake is not even visible
due to heavy fog.
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| Lago Escondido with Lago Fagnano in background |
The kids had a great
time skipping rocks into the lakes and climbing on old twisted tree trunks, and
we all enjoyed the crisp (thankfully not too cold), clean, fresh mountain
air. After visiting the lakes, we
stopped at a rustic restaurant (in the middle of nowhere) known for its
Patagonian lamb. The food was abundant
and delicious – the lamb did not disappoint – with full bellies we boarded the
bus (just as it began to rain) for the long ride back to the city. Later that afternoon, while the boys rested
and watched a movie in our room, Matt and I walked around the town and along
the Beagle Channel until we reached the Naval Base – here, I was able to see
the homes and the hospital where my grandfather had worked as a nurse during
his time in the Navy.
For our second
full day in Ushuaia, we had two different excursions scheduled. The first outing for the day included a ride
on an old prison train (Train to the End of the World) into the Tierra del
Fuego National Park. While on the train,
we learned of the history of the city of Ushuaia and the story of the prisoners
who built it. I borrowed this
information from Wikipedia: “During the first half of the 20th century,
the city centered around a prison built by the Argentine government to increase
the Argentine population here and to ensure Argentine sovereignty over Tierra
del Fuego.
The prison was
intended for repeat offenders and serious criminals…who spent much of their
time building the town with timber from the forest around the prison.”
The prisoners also built the railway that led
into the forests, which are now part of the national park.
In another history lesson, we learned that
Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) got its name from British missionaries who
arrived there in the early 1800’s.
From
their ships they could see smoke rising from canoes and dwellings dotting the
landscape, giving the appearance of the land being on fire.
These fires were kept burning constantly (for
warmth and cooking) by the Yamana Indians, who inhabited the land for thousands
of years before the arrival of the Europeans.
Unfortunately, together
with
the settlers came diseases, and the Yamana population dwindled and virutally
disappeared by the first decade of the 20th century.
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| Train to the End of the World |
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| Skipping rocks in the park |
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Inside the Tierra
del Fuego National Park, we appreciated the beautiful scenery of the forest
graveyards, evidence of the logging still visible, horses grazing in the
valleys, waterfalls, and another lake which is divided between Argentina and
Chile. The boys didn’t miss the
opportunity to skip more rocks into the lake and climb on old tree trunks that
had fallen. We hiked along meadows and
saw the place where the international Route 3, which stretches 17,848 KM
(11,155 miles) to Alaska, ends. And we
made it to the spot claimed to be “the end of the world” – of course, there is
always Antarctica if you cross the icy waters and continue to head south for
another 1000 KM (625 miles). At one
point, while sitting at the end of the trail of wooden walkways, I looked over
and saw Alex without shoes. When I asked
him what he was doing, his simple reply was, “I’m relaxing”! I thought to myself, how lucky is this kid,
getting to “relax at the end of the world”?!
One more stop along the way at Bahia Ensenada, a salt-water bay inside
the park, and it was time to return to the city for lunch and a break before
our afternoon excursion.
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| Where Rt. 3 ends - head north and you'll reach Alaska! |
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| Alex - relaxing at the "end of the world" |
The afternoon
turned cloudy and drizzly, and we were getting tired, but we were looking
forward to our afternoon boat ride on the Beagle Channel, which connects the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. We were
sailing as far as the “Lighthouse at the End of the World”, opting not to go an
extra 2 hours to visit the penguins.
Unfortunately, the boat we were supposed to board was having technical
difficulties, so we were delayed for an hour while the crew readied another
vessel for our excursion. Because of his
problems with sea-sickness, Matt had taken a Dramamine and by the time we
finally got underway, he was feeling very drowsy – he fell asleep almost as
soon as he sat down. Ian and Alex had
fun wandering up and down the steps on the boat, trying to find the best views
of the channel and of the sea lions and cormorants we were going to see. After a short time, we arrived at the first
grouping of rocks and were able to get up close and personal with the sea lions
that live there – too close for my comfort – those animals stink! I did manage to snap some quick pictures of
the smelly creatures, along with cormorants – birds that look like penguins,
but with the advantage of being able to fly.
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| Cormorants and smelly sea lions |
Aside from being very cold outside, the stench was unbearable and sent
me back to the warmer, less offensive interior of the boat. Once we reached the lighthouse, our boat
turned back for the city – after our long day, we were ready for dinner and our
beds! The following morning we had time
for a brief visit to the old prison museum and lunch before leaving Ushuaia for
El Calafate – our last stop on our Argentinian holiday vacation.
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| Lighthouse at the "end of the world" |
