Fin del Mundo (End of the Earth)

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What an exhausting day... not that I´m complaining! I awoke at 4am, as my room mate forgot to change the time on her alarm clock, and set it 3 hours early! Breakfast at 7.45 (worse than being at work), then out the door by 8.30am, down to the port.

It´s currently summer here in the Southern hemisphere, and today felt very much like a typical English summer day. It was raining, the sky was a definite grey colour, and although not quite cold, the weather wasn´t exactly warm, and I was extremely glad that I decided to pack my waterproof overtrousers at the last minute.

However, this morning we went on an amazing boat journey into the Beagle Channel, where good old Darwin came in his famous boat, and made some observations, wrote a book, etc etc. Not the good bit. The good bit was the wild life we saw from our boat (imagine a 1940´s train carriage, with tables, lamps and wooden parquet flooring, then put that into a rusty metal boat). We were motored up to see islands covered in comorants (Cormorant Island), sealions (Sea Lion Island) - sea lions smell up close, and make a horrendous noise. The females are pregnat for 11mths, give birth, then are pregnant again a week later. No breast feeding til the age of 7 for them! And finally, we saw Fur Seals (Seal Island). seals are brilliant, they play about in the water, without a care in the world, literally flapping their tails, play fighting, and tumbling over each other. Impossible not to laugh out loud whilst watching them.
I was hoping to have photos to add, but still haven´t figured that out, and as I leave civilisation early tomorrow, I doubt it will be soon. You´ll just have to use your imagination!

So this afternoon, a quiet stroll in the woods sounded ideal. The woods being the forest in the Tierra del Fuego National Park. The quiet stroll being a guided tour by a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic Argentinian named Marcello, who´s voice was not exactly ´quiet´! We´ve learnt all about the different types of Beech trees (not REAL beech, just that Darwin bloke thought they looked similar), identified Chimango birds - a small bird of prey, learnt the damage Beaver´s dams do to the forest, saw a carpet of carnivorous plants (tiny), and still managed to cover a 15km odd, see the the most southernmost Post office in the world (WOW!), and get some stunning photos. Tierra del Fuego is a series of mountains and islands right at the tip of Chile and Argentina. We were lucky enough to arrive in the rain, and sit eating a packed luch on a beach overlooking the part of the sea with only islands in view. During the afternoon, the weather cleared, and the sun came out, lighting the stunning ice topped mountains behind. Really beautiful. Reminiscent of the Lakes back home. Only differences being

a) Lakes has fewer trees and more villages
b) There are no sheep on Tierra del Fuego
c) Tierra del Fuego has better footpaths and trails, no Ordanance map and compass required!
d) You don´t need to take 3 flights to reach the Lakes.

So I´m now shattered, walked around town, and I´m ready for a shower and bed (It´s gone 9pm, and I´ve an early morning tomorrow). Flying again tomorrow -been a whole day not on plane, so it´s about time. Will write again in a few days when I return to civilisation!

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Photos

Tierra del Fuego
Graciella (group leader), Renato, Louisa (my room mate) & I, looking out onto Tierra del Fuego islands

Comments

[maria]

WOW
hi anna just catching up with your travels, cant wait to see the photos, sounds like your having great fun and youve not even been gone a week, it seems weird to think that you are actually now on the other side of the world! Take care have fun love maz xx

[Tansy]

Seals
So jealous re the seals! (and the post office obviously)

[caroline]

i cant believe you're not lost yet