I went to prison today...

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This morning we flew down from Calafate to Ushuaia, which is the southernmost city in the entire world. It is beautiful here, for me more beautiful than the area surrounding Calafate. There it was too flat, there were too few trees, and everything appeared to be too dry. Here it is completely different. The town is ringed with mountains, their peaks covered with snow and their slopes covered with trees. The town juts up against a bay that is part of the Beagle Channel, the water is beautiful and there is wildlife everywhere the minute that you hit the edge of town. After we got here today we took a trip to the old prison that used to house some of the most dangerous criminals from across the country. After the 1950's or so the prison was closed down, later to be adopted by the naval military to house their officers. Because of that most of the wings had been altered. We had a tour of one of the halls that had been used by the military, and were given a general history by the tour guide. Some of teh stories were really striking. One of the criminals in particular was extremely disturbing and kind of haunting. His story was just so sick that I couldn't resist wanting to know more about the whole situation. So much so that I ended up getting a book about his whole life story. I don't know why, but those creepy stories always seem to be the most interesting for me. Go figure, I'm attracted by the occult and bizarre just like most other Americans. After the tour we had time to wander around on our own, and a group of us decided to wander into the only hall that had been left intact after the military had taken the place over. It was definitely creepy. There was very little light and there was just a feel about the place like bad things had been going on there. The prison is also famous for the number of unnecessary prison deaths that occured there, due mostly to punishments from the guards, as well as malnutrition and generally poor living conditions. Life was hard and short in that prison. Later on I wandered around the town by myself for a bit, acting like a tourist and just getting a feel for the town. It's definitely more lively than Calafate, but I can't help but wonder what percentage of those people are tourists like us? Either way, this trip has been one of the most rewarding experiences that I've had in South America, right up alongside Mendoza, just in a different sort of way.

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Photos

Prison Cell Reality
This is what the original prison section looked like. I definitely didn't want to be spending any more time than I had to there, and I was seriously creeped out!

Randi was Pissed!
This was the most infamous of the inmates at the prison. He was known for killing children, and was arrested for the first time when he was 16 years old. Sick.

Renovated
This portion of the prison had been renovated for use by the military and was the main portion where tours were given.