Goodbye Ushuaia

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A visit to the Yamana Museo in Ushuaia provided us with a little insight into the life of the four indigenous peoples of the surrounding area; the Yamana, Ona, Hausch, and Alacalufe. The two things which stood out for us was one group of people who lived almost entirely on their tree bark canoes which included building fires in their canoes to cook with and to keep warm by. Another group wore no clothes and in order to keep warm and “dry” from the torrential rain they covered their bodies in animal fat. This would make sense to me if the winter temperatures did not dip below 15 degrees (Leigh says 25 degrees!) but the average temperatures range from 1.6 °C in the winter to 10.4 °C in the summer. Amazing!

The afternoon boat trip into the Beagle Channel gave us an up close view of some of the local wildlife on our last day in Ushuaia. We saw fur seals, sea lions, birds and a Minke whale on a beautifully sunny and calm day. After the boat trip we decided to spoil ourselves and eat out.

In New Zealand we had seen many reality shows about the King Crab fishermen in Alaska so there was only one choice for dinner in this southern most city, King Crab.

On our previous trips through town we noticed a restaurant with live king crabs in a tank, La Cantina Fueguina de Freddy. After some discussion about the cost per kilogram, the likely size of the smallest in the tank, and how the budget could be stretched, we walked in and greeted the waiter. In our best Spanish, we explained we wanted the smallest crab in the tank and he smiled and indicated he understood. He brought a plastic tray for the creature and everyone in the restaurant walked to the tank to watch us make our selection. He pointed, we pointed, then his arm went into the water and he pulled out the first crab. Cameras flashed but he shook his head and went in for another. This second crab was smaller at only two kilos. We took turns holding it for photos. It was surprisingly quiet, unlike a large crayfish, and so it was quite easy to hold despite the prickly shell.

Once we were appropriately dressed in large bibs, and the condiments and utensils were delivered, the cooked crab was returned to us. Tender, tasty, sweet, delicious and moreish were some of the adjectives we used to describe this special meal in a special place.

Feeling full and satisfied we headed home to bed for an early night to prepare for an early bus ride onto Punta Arenas. Goodbye Ushuaia.

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