Galeazzi- Basily B&B- Gobernador Valdez 323, Ushuaia

Hello from the end of the world!

We are in Ushuaia which is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego and is the southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. We arrived yesterday after a stunning flight which stopped off at Calafate airport where the earth looked like you imagine the moon surface to- barren land with craters and no plants. When we came into land in Ushuaia we flew over the most spectacular mountain ranges which are incomprehensively huge- uninhabited snowy peak after snowy peak for hundreds of miles. It was one of those landings where you can´t quite work out where they´re going to put the plane down until the wheels touch the floor about a metre away from water!

I thought I had booked into a bed and breakfast but it turns out that we are actually staying in the spare room of a family´s house! A bit weird- I am writing this in their living room as they are watching TV with their friends round but they are really friendly and I really appreciated being lent a warm jacket this morning as it is 2 degrees here and we hadn´t really packed for a ski resort!

Although Anglican missionaries settled there in 1871 and managed to kill off the natives, Ushuaia was little known until 1902, when the government of Argentina established a prison there to house the country's most dangerous and notorious criminals. The idea was a penal colony based on the British one in Australia and as the conditions here are so harsh and cold there were very few escapes! The prison remained in operation until 1947; it's now a museum so that is where we went today. In all honesty it is pretty similar to HMP Wandsworth except a lot quieter without the shouting...the cells are the same size and in a similar condition although it is a lot colder. It is also the same design with 5 spurs from a central rotunda and the plastic guard figures do a similar amount to the officers in Wanno. The prisoner´s families even came with them to live in the surrounding area and many political inmates were allowed to live in the village or log cabins. The inmates built a railway into the forest to get wood to keep them warm and it is still running- we hope to get that tomorrow.

The exhibitions were interesting as it also doubles as the naval museum with models of ships that passed around Cape Horn and information about Antarctic missions. I kept expecting to see a picture of my cousin Giles who used to work for British Antarctic Survey but they seem to have missed this key figure in history so I will print one out and return to stick it on the wall...!

It is a bank holiday today and lots of things are closed so after returning into the freezing air we decided to go and enjoy a ´submarino´- hot milk with chocolate dropped in it and then had a stomp around the port area where boats leave for the Falklands (by a sign that says Isla Malvinas will always be Argentinian) or the Antarctic. We will wrap up warm and go on a boat trip to see the sea lions and cormorants tomorrow but sadly no penguins or flamingos as they´ve all gone on holiday to Brazil and Ecuador...