Hola Amigos y Familia, Como estan? Translation: “Hello, Friends and family, how are you?”  We are currently in the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina. We left 90 degree weather in Buenos Aires a couple of days ago to enter maybe 50 degree weather, which is often windy, rainy, and cold.  It is definitely a “frontier” city of 70,000 people much like many we have visited in Alaska.  The city is framed by glaciers and high mountains.  It is located on the island called, “Tierra Del Fuego” and on the Beagle Channel. Tierra del Fuego means land of fire and as we gaze at the surrounding craggy mountains we see many former volcanoes.

Our hotel you can see here is high up on a mountain outside of town with amazing views of the city and the Beagle Channel. It is the most expensive hotel of our trip excluding the Antarctica cruise with a steep price tag of $360. US per night.  lBut... the spa is gorgeous and the gym overlooks the view as well. Here are some photos.

These last two photos are actually what we see from our picture window in our room. From here, we can see the expedition ships come into port and leave. Across the channel is Chile as the two countries share the Beagle channel.

Our first day in Ushuaia, we took a tour with a ride on the End of the world train and a tour into the Tierra Del Fuego National Park. The train was originally built by convicts where were sent here from all parts of Argentina.  This was sort of like Alcatraz since this is an island and pretty hard to escape from.  Not only is the water freezing but the land is hostile as well. The convicts were used to build the railroad and then transport lumber and supplies from the park to Ushuaia. The trains today have been specially adapted for tourists, but it was still fun to ride on the steam trains.  Very noisy!

Tierra Del Fuego National Park is wild, and very green with freezing lakes and a wickedly cold wind that blows down from the glaciers. The picture to the right shows the area where trees were cut down by the convicts for building material and fuel. These trees take 200 years to mature so their loss is felt today. Here are some photos of the park.

Downtown Ushuaia was busy with lots of cruisers.  This is the first city we have heard English spoken often. We had lunch in a former general store which had a French chef and the food was excellent as was the store with its artifacts a plenty.

We said that the owners must have eagerly cleaned out everyone’s attic. The toilet took the cake though and it was obvious which one was which!

We did find a great pub called The Ideal Pub, that has been in operation since 1951 and has great beer on tap and wonderful Argentinian Malbec. But the best dish was red King crab in Roquefort cheese.  Wow!

The End of the World Museum in town was really worth our visit. It chronicles the history of the native peoples and also the first explorers who established the city. The Beagle, was crewed by Darwin in 1832 and sailed in to Ushuaia. Magellan, Drake, Cook, all came here to name a few. In the museum there was an impressive figurehead found in the bay and several stuffed birds and animals. We learned about krill and found out that scientists believe that there is more krill on our planet than all the weight of the human beings here. Krill is a staple food for several species in the Antarctica. The museum has two buildings, the second one being the former Governor’s house filled with furniture and artifacts of shipwrecks. Is that Dad with a penguin?

Here is a photo of the red King Crab we feasted on a couple of times, delicious!

Ushuaia at night is all aglow in gold lights.  It is beautiful. The sun sets here about 10:15 pm and it rises at 4 am something.  It is “summer” here. Tomorrow we will board our ship, the Hebridean Sky, for a 20 day cruise.  We were told tonight that we will basically be “dark” meaning, no communication.  So what do you expect, we will be in the wilds of Antarctica. Meanwhile, consider Ushuaia as a travel destination.  It is a wild frontier town worth a visit. We will not be writing entries for a while, but when we return, you will get lots of Antarctica! Until then, remember to be good to yourselves.

Cheers,
Susan and Jim