Well, here we are at the end of the world, or so Ushuaia claims. Ushuaia bills itself as both the Southernmost city in the world and also the ¨city at the end of the world¨ although it is really neither. The small settlement of Puerto Williams, Chile is slightly farther South, and the land keeps going for quite some time before become sea, and then, of course Antarctica. Still, at a latitude of 54 degrees South and with tour agencies advertising getaways to Antarctica (only 1000km away!) all around, Ushuaia definitely feels very far away.
Tierra del Fuego has been an adventure from the start. We were told to book both our hostel and our bus tickets well ahead of time because during high season (now) it´s hard to find places to stay and easy to get stranded. That being said, our plans were rather up in the air for awhile because we didn´t know what was going on with Torres del Paine, and because we couldn´t get tickets from El Calafate to Punta Arenas like we had planned. So, we decided to come to Ushuaia instead, and quickly booked two nights hostel and a bus ticket to Rio Gallegos, only to find that bus tickets were sold out from Rio Gallegos to Ushuaia. So, we called the hostel and they said they could move our reservation forward a day, and we booked tickets for the following day from Rio Gallegos.
My first indication that this was going to be an interesting bus ride was when I looked at our tickets and a map. We were to leave Rio Gallegos at 9am and get in at 9:30pm, and yet travel a distance of only 600km. Hmm. Well, there were three major factors that the bus company failed to mention when we booked our tickets: 1) You have to cross into Chile and back into Argentina in order to get to Ushuaia. This is the world´s biggest pain because Chilean customs is very strict. It took us over an hour to cross into Chile, just to drive for a few hours and not pass a single settlement (or anywhere that any sane person would want to get off) and cross right back into Argentina. It also meant no fresh food for the bus ride, since Chile confiscates it all. It also means that I already have 11 stamps (and counting) in my Passport from Argentina and Chile alone! 2) We had to cross the Straight of Magellan. We probably should have known that, since Tierra del Fuego is an island. Also, the ferry ride was really cool. Not only were we crossing the Straigh of Magellan (¡), but dolphins decided to escort our ferry across and do tricks for us in the wáter. It was really neat, but definitely took time. 3) Finally, Tierra del Fuego is pretty remote. We spent most of the bus ride on a one lane dirt road with only sheep and the occasional guanaco for company. Large signs informed us that the road is ONLY passable in the summer. Yikes.
We arrived in Ushuaia at 11pm (the ticket did say 9:30pm APPROX). It was dark, cold, and raining. When we got to the hostel we had a room for the night (thank goodness!), but only until 10am the next morning because they hadn´t moved our reservation forward. We went to bed worried.
Luckily our hostel was very nice, and the next morning they were able to find us a place for 3 more nights, since we had decided to concentrate on Ushuaia instead of trying to travel all around Tierra del Fuego.
So, with that adventure behind us, we looked around to find ourselves in a pleasant, if touristy, city on the Beagle Channel, surrounded by mountains. What´s more, it was a beautiful sunny day which, by the looks on the faces of the locals, you could tell was not the norm. So, we went down to the pier to explore our options for the day. We decided on a sailboat cruise on the Beagle Channel, stopping to see wildlife, and for a hike on Isla H, a protected reserve that only that company had permission to land on. Our luck continued when we boarded the boat. The tour was normal for 10 people, but a group of 5 had canceled last minute, and so there were only five of us and two crew. Our guide was the son of the owner of the company, who was instrumental in creating the reserve on Isla H. So, soon we found ourselves pulling away from the Habour and into the Beagle Channel, watching Ushuaia sink into the distance and sipping mate with an Argentine couple on the tour (who were impressed that we drink mate every day ). On our way to Isla H we saw many cormorants (fake penguins… they look just like them, but they can fly), sea lions (including a giant male and a five day old pup!), skua´s (birds that eat penguins and cormorants), and a swimming penguin. Once on the island we saw many more birds, and also learned about the Yanamá culture, the first Fueguians. The Yanamá were pretty incredible. They were nomads who lived basically out of their canoes in and around what are considered some of the most dangerous waters in the world, and they were naked. That´s right- they did not use clothes. Instead they adapted to have a much faster metabolism- thus they consumed 6,000-7,000 calories a day and burned it all off to keep warm. Also, they rubbed sea lion fat on their bodies, which acted like modern day gortex. To give you some context, our guide said that if a healthy person fell into the Channel during our tour, it would be so cold that he/she could survive for about 8 minutes before succoming to hypothermia. Back on the boat, we warmed up with coffee sweetened with dulce de leche liquer, and happily headed back to Ushuaia.
Yesterday we decided to visit the penguins. Again, there is only one tour operator with permission to land on the penguin island (PiraTour- the Isla H one is Tres Marías, in case you´re interested). We took a bus out to Estancia Halberton, the first Estancia in the región, and from there took a speedboat over to the island. I thought that maybe we would see a few dozen penguins and get to get decently close to them. I was wrong. There were 15,000 peguins living on the island! We were practically tripping over them! (Although our guide made sure that we did not stress out or scare them). We saw penguins sleeping, standing, waddling, playing, fighting, calling, swimming, and looking at us strangely. We say molting penguins, adults, adolescents, and chicks. We saw 33 pairs of Papua penguins (1.5 or 2 feet tall with orange beaks and feet), one King penguin (almost identical to an Emperor penguin, only smaller), and the rest were Magellanic penguins (cute little black and white guys). It was great. I was very happy to spend some time observing the penguins doing there thing. Plus, it made me a little less sad that I´m not continuing on to Antarctica.
Today we were going to go hiking in the nearby National Park, but the day dawned cloudy, rainy, and REALLY COLD. So, we opted instead to visit the Maritime Musuem. Ushuaia was originally founded as a penal colony (much like Australia), and the museum is housed in the old jail. We saw exhibits about various shipwrecks in the area and old time boats, the prison itself and some of its inmates, Antarctic expeditions, and Darwin. I learned quite a bit and enjoyed in thoroughly.
So, that completes our time at the end of the world. Tomorrow we will travel back to Rio Gallegos (ugh) and then continue on through the night to Puerto Madryn (doublé ugh). The silver lining is that by February we we have a whole new city to explore!