Blogs from Tierra del Fuego National Park, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, South America - page 3

Eigentlich wollten wir den Segeltoern schon am 21.12.07 machen, da es aber zu windig war, war der Hafen fuer kleinere Boote geschlossen. Am 22.12.07 am Morgen um 09.30 Uhr war es dann soweit. Es weht zwar nicht der Hauch eines Lueftchens, doch zu unserem Glueck hat das Boot auch einen Motor und wir duerfen an Board. Der Weg fuehrt uns durch den Beagle-Canal zwischen ein paar Inseln hindurch nach H-Island, einem bis auf einen kleinen Leuchtturm unberuehrten und sehr schoenen Stueck Natur. Ein Stueck, wo Tiere und Pflanzen fast ungestoert ihrem Treiben nachgehen koennen. So werden wir auf der Insel mit Kraechzen und "wilden" Drohgebaerden darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass das wohl nicht unserer Territorium sei und wir baldmoeglichst den Heimweg anzutreten haben. Unbeeindruckt schauen wir uns von unserem Guide gefuehrt die Insel an, welche ihren Namen ... read more

As part of the Province of Tierra del Fuego the Argentine presence in the section began during the first decade of the 19th century; though some even affirm that it took place by the end of the previous century. However, navigators from other countries claimed the discovery of Antarctica for themselves. By the end of the 19th century the aid lent by Argentina to foreign expeditions, in particular that of Nordenskjöld, Gerlache and Charcot, was properly appreciated. This included the assignment of Argentine place names to Antarctic geographic features, such as the Argentine Islands, Uruguay Islands, General Roca, Quintana, and others. In 1904 the permanent occupation began with the opening of Orcadas Base on Laurie Island. Argentina WAS THE ONLY NATION to have an Antarctic base for 40 years until the British built a base ... read more

Now this was a journey and a half after a brief stop over in rio galego were were off to ushuaia the most southern tip of the world. Now it took us what felt like a million hours to get there as you have to exit argentina enter chile then lkeave chile and reenter argentina so lots of border crossing. We after about a 15 hour bus journey to the town and ofcourse like mourons didnt pre book accomadation and it is peak season...so there was 8 of us me, hannah,naiomi,moyo,gill,wes,lior and danny...it was 1am and no where to sleep the hostals were all full....luckily a nice lady who worked in one of the restraunts took pity on us and said we could all stay in her front room, so off we went. We were so ... read more

Well, we have been having some trouble exiting what we are now referring to as the "cursed south", it appears everyone else down here had the foresight to plan ahead, and manage a way back north. Add to that, its the end of all things pleasant for the area (each morning the snow on the mountains gets closer to town) and the mass exodus has thwarted our efforts to depart. We have been reduced to a 5:30AM day bus, and even then we had to wait two days to get tickets for it. In the meantime we have been keeping busy seeing some more sights, hanging out with the local animals. Yesterday we took a boat just off the coast of Ushuaia southeast into the "bahia de Ushuaia" past the Isles Bridges and further east to ... read more

Ushuaia seems to be a place almost impossible to leave...after my attempts to find a flight or bus out, i decided to get on a last minute cruise from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas. It was the second best thing at the time to actually going to Antarctica. Man was I shocked when i was gettin on the boat...i had a group of 70 year old grannies walking behind me... i started thinking- what the hell am i doing gettin on this granny cruise...it turns out that i was the second youngest on the boat...the youngest guy was 25...and he was there with his older brother...i thought that the trip was gonna suck, but mazingly things turned out really fun... Was put on a table for breakfast, lunch and dinner with these 6 spaniards who did not ... read more