Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, closest to the Antarctic Peninsula, and capital of the province of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. The population went from 7100 in 1975 to 57,000 today, due to government tax incentives given to boost the economy. Tourism has continued to flourish, which has contributed to the area's prosperity.
Temperatures can range from 50 degrees in the summer to -4 degrees in winter. Summer days have 17 hours of sunlight, while winter has only 7 hours. The forests have several varieties of beech trees and shrubs called coihue, an evergreen. Penguins and albatross can be spotted in the channels, and condors, eagles, and upland geese can be seen in the interior. Guancos, a type of llama, and foxes roam freely in the National Park, while dolphins, seals, sea lions, and occasional whales can be seen in the Beagle Channel.
Until the mid-1900's, Argentina ran a penal colony for their most hardened criminals in Ushuaia. Today a museum is located in the former prison.
After spending the evening docked here, we realized our day would be quite short here. The all aboard time was 1:30pm, and even though the sun did peek out off and on, the highest temperatures would not go beyond 45 degrees.
We had our usual breakfast in the dining room, and as you might expect, it was not too busy. Our waiter Gan mentioned he and his buddies had gone off the ship last night, and found a Hard Rock Café there. With the internet not operable, we did not even think to look for one of those restaurants here. But then, looking outside, we realized how much this place has grown in eight years. The crew members sure appreciated getting off last night, mostly because they made good use of the free WIFI.
So today many of the guests took tours that were from 2 ½ to 5 ½ hours for scenic sight-seeing and museums. There were several types of drives through Fuego National Park with forests, rivers, lakes, and peat bogs. That is the one we took 10 years ago. You can also see it by taking a vintage train ride. One unique excursion included a visit to a local family's home for a crab lunch. This adventure included a boat ride where they casted nets to catch fish, shellfish, and crabs for instance.
Before we left the ship, we made a visit to the internet manager, and did get some helpful hints for sending emails. Henk is still trying to work with the IT guru to fix this issue.
We went off the ship by 10am to discover that three small expedition ships were in the process of taking on ample supplies for their Antarctic sailings. There were two fishing boats, two container ships, and several ferries docked here. With the Amsterdam tied up on the end slip, this was one very busy dock area.
We walked through the narrow terminal building, then past a row of souvenir shops selling t-shirts, knit caps, sweatshirts, scarves, and a large variety of figurines made with local polished rock of pink, green, or black. The majority of the pieces were penguin-related, and fairly expensive.
Locating San Martin Avenue, by going up 25 de Mayo Street, we remembered that was where the majority of the shops, pubs, and restaurants were located. There were also wine and cheese shops, ice cream stores, and chocolate shops. A common treasure to purchase here are mate cups made from small gourds with a metal straw called "bombillas". Mate is a type of South American tea which is jammed tight into the cup, then hot water is added. When you empty the tea, more hot water is available in most of the cafes and restaurants. If you think about it, the Argentinians were ahead of their time. The gourd is a type of vegetable, so they are organic. The straws are metal, therefore, re-usable. And when the tea has lost its flavor, it can be used as compost in the garden. How about that?
We hiked as far as the military area, uphill all the way. Ending up at one of the highest hillside streets, we made our way back down. Believe this – it is far easier to climb uphill, than go downhill. Just took a little longer to get there, especially with the condition of the streets and sidewalks. It was obvious that the winter snow and ice does a number on the concrete and asphalt. We had to mind every step we took on these side streets.
Back on the main drag, we ran into Susie, Ellen, and Barb, who was celebrating her birthday today. She got big hugs from us of course. They were off to do some shopping, then later finding a good spot for a king crab lunch. The aroma of wood-fired grilled lamb filled the air, and it did smell really good. These large barbeques were made with the wood fires on the floor of the restaurants with skewered half lambs facing the flames in a circle. A chimney is located directly overhead to vent the smoke outside. Not only do they cook the savory meat, but they heat up the restaurant up at the same time.
We continued with window-shopping and perusing the street vendor trinkets, some of which were rather nice silver jewelry sets. We came across the Hard Rock Café, where we did purchase two city t-shirts. For us, it was still too early for lunch, although we did see that our favorite haystack salad was on their menu. Had the ship stayed later in this port, we would have enjoyed lunch there.
The dock was even more hectic with containers being loaded on trucks with heavy equipment. Other containers contained frozen boxed fish products, and were also being transferred to the waiting exploration ships. We had to stop more than once so we did not get run over by the big rigs. That was one thing we did notice. The car traffic was horrendous in town today. Crosswalks for pedestrians did not mean the locals will stop for you. They preferred to beep their horns, and cut you off, insisting on the right-of-way. Good thing there were a few traffic lights working here and there. As in many villages turned into cities, the streets were never meant for this type of traffic.
Back on the ship, we had Dive In Grill food in the form of a cheeseburger and one hot dog and fries. The sail away was held in the Crow's Nest, so we went to the bow once again to watch the ship pull out of the harbor. Scenic sailing of the Beagle Channel began around 3:30pm, which led into more scenic sailing of Glacier Alley at 4:30pm more or less. For some of the trip through the Beagle Channel, we stayed on the lower promenade deck, going back and forth across the front. Then when the scenery got really impressive, one of us went back up to the bow, and the other stayed in the shelter of deck three.
The rewards were great for both of us, as we spotted two whales while in the Channel. They must be a smaller breed like the minke whale, since the diving revealed much smaller tails. Once we began to see the string of glaciers, we knew we were in for some awesome sights. The names of these glaciers were Holanda, Italia, Francia, Rongaglia Alemania, Romanche, and Espana, with Picos Azules in the distance. More whales were lazily feeding on the shoreline near the glaciers. The weather turned out to be fantastic, although cold, the sun had come out and we did have plenty of blue sky to give much-needed color to the photos. A little bit of high fog added to the majestic peaks that appeared from behind it.
We stayed until 6:30pm, taking too many pictures. Now the work to catch up on these last couple of days will keep us busy.
It was birthday party time for Barb tonight at dinner. Ellen, her longtime friend, joined us, making Barb's day even more special. The theme for this evening was "Dinner with Darwin" with the menus printed with descriptions of the local cuisine, dating back to Darwin's days of his specialized work on evolution. Even the wait staff dressed for the occasion with brown woolen vests and sport's jackets to match. Both of us ordered the tuna entrée, but thoroughly cooked. For us, it was much better that way. Dessert was a huge carrot cake, which Barb really ordered for the rest of us, since she knows we like it best. Not a sweet eater, she only had one bite of it. Our waiters were more than happy to polish off the rest of it with their dinner later on.
The entertainer tonight was Ruben Vilagrand, a comedian with musical magic and impossible escapes. Not sure what that means, but Greg and Heo will let us know tomorrow. The rest of us were too bushed to attend, as it had been one very long and active day.
Punta Arenas will be our stop early tomorrow.
Bill & Mary Ann
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Report #91 Ushuaia, Argentina & Scenic Sailing Glacier Alley February 5, 2020 Wednesday Partly sunny & 42 degrees
