Unforgettable Ushuaia, Day 1

I had seen photos of Ushuaia but there was no way that they could do it justice, I felt in a way that I had gone home again with the snowcapped mountains in view.  We had what turned out to be a very full day ahead of us after our arrival, I logged over 17,000 steps or over 6 miles, Karl had at least 4 miles, which for his still sore knee was a stretch.

Not sure how you could find a prettier setting for for a city, not nearly as desolate as "the end of the earth" of "fin del mundo" sounds, with a location on the Beagle Channel that has forests, mountains, and sea all within sight.

Another reason I knew I'd love this city is that one of this first things I saw was lupine, a flower that I love, in colors I had never seen before.  Originally we were going to tender to port here but thankfully we were able to dock, after a week at sea we were pretty happy to be on dry land once again, even if we had to walk a half mile pier to get there.  

Ushuaia is the capital of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and Southern Atlantic Islands Province, what a mouthful!  If you weren’t aware already, the words Tierra del Fuego mean “Land of Fire’, so named because of all the smoke the first European explorers saw rising from the land, not realizing it came from the native’s fires.  The Martial Mountains rise behind Ushuaia, unique in that unlike the rest of the Andes range, these run east/west rather than north/south.  It was just one more reason they reminded me of my beloved Uintah Mountains!  

We had a tour planned to Tierra del Fuego National Park for the first part of our day, an area that wasn't far from Ushuaia.  The park was created in 1960 and covers 69,000 hectares, over 170,000 acres, containing both recreational and restricted areas.  The weather was pleasant but our guide, Stephania, assured us it is possible to experience all four season in just one day in this part of the world.  One thing to also note is that this island is shared by two countries, both Argentina and Chile.  Multiple times we were in a lovely Argentine setting with Chilean mountains in the background.  

Our first stop was this small wooden building on the edge of Ensenada Bay, the world's southernmost post office where people stand in line, like I did, to mail a postcard or two, or seven.

In honor of Mom and Dad and all their years working for the U.S. Postal Service I felt like I needed a picture of myself here.  My friend Jane took this quick one as we waited in line in the rain.

Inside it was warm and dry but a super long line.  Stephania suggested that we get our postcards and be writing on them as we waited in order to be ready send them once we reached the counter.  Eventually I got close enough to get cards, hurriedly scribbled a quick note and addresses on them and waited for my turn to pay for the cards and stamps.  Luckily for me Cecilia had more cash on hand than I did because I had to borrow $20 from her to have enough to pay for what I had asked for, plus half a dozen extra stamps I got charged for that I didn't need.  It was too crowded and we were too rushed for me to deal with getting money back so I just passed the stamps on to other cruise friends.

Here's the cancellation stamp we were all looking for from Puerto Guarani!  It may take three weeks for postcards to arrive, more or less, if they ever do!  Time will tell.  Funny story though, my favorite conversation between a husband and wife that I overheard as I waited in line went something like this:  Wife: "You didn't put the address on the postcard."  Husband: "I don't know the address"  Wife: "Well then how do you expect it to get delivered?" Husband: "I don't know." 🤣

While it rained some more and made visibility out the bus windows difficult we traveled on to Lago Roca, where it drizzled just a bit before stopping completely.  Stephania showed us on the map just where we were.

We found out that you can fish in the national park if you have a license but it is only catch and release, you can't keep anything in this protected area. 

We found several of these weird tan colored spheres on the pebbly shores of the lake and didn't want to touch one since we had no idea what they were.  Jane managed to pick one up with a couple of sticks and we took it over to Stephania who told us it was something called "Indian Bread" that grew on the nearby trees and used to be something that people ate, hence the name.  Once they fall from the trees they eventually turn black and hard.  This one must have fallen recently since it was spongy and a little slimy.  Not something I think I'd want to eat.

Most of the trees in the national park, which has been in existence since 1960, are beech trees.  Two of the varieties are deciduous and lose all their leaves while one is an evergreen beech.  You see these balls of greenery, called Chinese Lanterns, growing in trees all over the island.  They are a semi-parasite that attach themselves but don't damage the host in any way.  Eventually they just turn brown, die, and fall off.

We made a stop at the Visitor's Center to get a little more info on the area and also about the people who were the original inhabitants.  The Yaghan, or Yámana, were the native people who inhabited the area along the shores of the Beagle Channel to Cabo de Hornos, traveling and hunting in family-size canoes made of tree bark.  Inside one you’d find Dad with his harpoon in hand, Mom doing the paddling and the kids taking care of the fire that was always burning in the boat on a base of earth and stones, I know, it seems counterintuitive to have flames going in a wooden boat, but they had to keep warm somehow, especially since they all wore little to no clothing, something hard to fathom in this climate.  There are still descendants of the Yaghan who live in Ushuaia today, although most of the native population was decimated by disease when the Europeanst arrived to hunt the sea lions, which were also the Yaghan's main source of food.

Jane to another picture for me when I couldn't find Karl so we could take one together.  She does nice work!

The top photo here was taken when we went into the visitor's center and it was still overcast with a tiny drizzle, the lower one was after I came out and the sun was trying to come through.  Even a little light can change the scene here on the Lapataia River.

The calm waters here made for lovely reflections of the mountains in the water.

Our final tour stop was at the end of the world, the end of the road, the very last stop on Highway 3, Lapataia Bay.

This is a beautiful spot it's one that thousands come to visit each year, especially as Ushuaia has become a cruise destination for both South American and Antarctic cruising.  It is closer to the latter than it is to Buenos Aires.

Hard to tell what this bird was as he sat at the top of the tree but Stephania said it's called a Chimango.  He blended in with the starkness of the light in the cloud cover and looks pretty solitary up there.

And I can't do a post without a little more of the flora of the area.  There were clusters of the little white flowers growing all around, as well as this colorful grass.

There it is, Lapataia Bay, the place where the world ends, or as the locals like to say, the beginning of everything, you just have to change your perspective and turn the world upside down. 

Here we are, we made it to the end of the world, or fin del mundo!  Karl wanted a photo while holding his 360 camera but I asked he hand it off to our friend Fred Karl, out of the photo on the right.  Fred was standing there grinning while he held the camera before I cropped him out of the picture.

Just a pretty stream that was making its way to the bay, adding to the beautiful setting.

This wouldn't be a camping trip for the faint hearted, there are many hiking trails and very primitive camp spots here in the park.  Bringing your own supplies would be a necessity.

I loved seeing how people were willing to make their way here.  Driving from the continent onto Tierra del Fuego requires taking a ferry that can delay you for hours or days depending on the winds and weather, as well as what are called "frontier crossings".  To get from mainland Argentina you have to cross that border into Chile, then once you're on the island you eventually reach another bordering crossing from Chile back into Argentina to get to the end of the world.

Just before we left the park we saw these two standing like statues along the side of the road, at first I thought they actually were made of stone.

Once we got back into Ushuaia we were on the hunt for a barber shop as Karl was more than ready for a trim.  Our friend LeaAnn had brought a pair of rechargeable clippers and a haircutting apron to catch hair and I was willing to give Karl a cut but he opted to be adventurous.

The cut turned out pretty well, a little shorter in back than he anticipated but overall good, definitely different though.  The only issue was having enough dollars to pay for it since they wouldn't take a credit card and we hadn't gotten any Argentine pesos.  We thought I was going to have to be held hostage at the barber shop while Karl went to an ATM but he unexpectedly found a couple more dollars in his wallet and we were on our way.

Since Ushuaia is known for its king crab we were hopeful to try some.  Our guide had recommended a restaurant called Tia Elvira that was near the port, and serendipitously the barber shop as well.  Only problem was they were out of crabs, the waitress told us that the weather had been bad and the fishermen hadn't been able to go out for a couple of days.

Instead we opted for some delicious scallops in a parmesan sauce.  I don't think I've ever had such a generous serving of scallops and that sauce was so good I could have licked the bowl clean.

Since we couldn't get the fresh version we ordered the Patagonian king crab, Al Natural style, served cold and which was supposed to have the best flavor.  It did not disappoint and was absolutely delicious!

All these tables were full when we arrived for lunch but cleared out before we left so I could get a nice shot of Serenade through the window.

I blew it here, I didn't get a picture of the shop itself, but as we went in search of a market to replenish our snack supply we came across a tempting chocolate shop, there were at least a dozen such establishments on Av. San Martin,  the main street for shops and the heart of town. 

Laguna Negra was totally tempting and we succumbed to another chocolate fix of the Argentine chocolates below, plus some alfajores, a dulce de leche sandwich cookie, the quintessential treat in Argentina.  These alfajores came individually wrapped because they are covered in chocolate as well.  

I also neglected to note the name of the chocolates themselves, pieces that have three layers, chocolate, a flavored filling layer and then more chocolate.  Yum!  Everything is decadent and delicious!

As we kept wandering to find the market I saw this massive poster in the window and had to take a picture, Taylor's even famous at the fin del mundo.

There were quite a few dogs just roaming the street and I saw a few places where food and water had been left out for them.  I thought this one was the most unique and would keep the food from spoiling when it rained.

After walking at least a mile, literally, we found a nice market and spent more than we thought we would to  procure these totally unhealthy snacks, plus a few more, stuffing them into our bag of chocolate and another smaller one that had a t-shirt I'd bought in it.  They didn't hand out bags at the grocery.  It was also interesting that I had to show ID to use my credit card, made sense though for security reasons.

We hadn't planned to take pictures at the Ushuaia sign in the postcard but it ended up being only a couple of blocks from the market so we figured why not.  I also found more lupine there as well as this interesting tree that looked half evergreen and half cactus. 

We've seen "love locks" on bridges like the ones on this railing, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out why there were these colorful knitted and crocheted wraps along the top rail.  With no one around to ask I remain baffled.

We figured someone could have gotten this fixer upper boat for pretty cheap, it made for an interesting picture.

You can see we had quite a walk from the Ushuaia sign to get back to Serenade, I'm guessing it was a mile and a half.  It became slow going as "the knee" began to hurt more.

I also found it interesting that they had this really nice playground in the wide median between two major streets.  Everyone there looked like they were having a grand time but the only way to get to it was crossing over one street or another.

I took one last photo before we got to the ship of this beautiful Kelp Goose, hanging out on the rocks near the pier.  We were definitely glad to get back and put our feet up to rest and happily overnight in Ushuaia so we could explore again the next day!