SA Cruise: Day 18

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Up early (6 am). In the night, the ship has entered the Beagle Channel from the east, and it docks in Ushuaia, Argentina about 7 pm. We are off the boat and on a bus tour by 8. Our destination is Tierra del Fuego National Park, about 15k away from the city. And once again we are blessed to have a gorgeous sunny day with light variable clouds, a rarity in these parts.

The park was created in 1960 to protect the area spanning the southern tip of the Andes Mountains. The mountains run east/west here; the Andes actually extend out eastward right into the ocean to form the Falklands, South Georgia and the other islands of the south Atlantic, and then swing around in an s-shape under the ocean to emerge as the backbone of Antarctica's Palmer Peninsula, which we have just visited.

The park is huge (63,000 hectares) and of course we only see a small sample in the limited time we have. But it is beautiful. The mountains immediately remind us of the Canadian Rockies, but the vegetation and soil are completely different. Most of the area we visit is dominated by peat moss, so everywhere there is a definite spring in your step. The trees are mostly tall deciduous beech and shorter so-called "evergreen beech," the latter of course being some kind of conifer resembling a cedar. The very moist but cool climate promotes parasitic plants like mistletoe, moss, a fungus named "Indian Bread" and even small orchids. Closer to the ground, there are several kinds of thorny bushes and brambles as well as delicate pink and white flowers. a most remarkable ecology.

We visit several beautiful lakes with cold, crystal-clear water with that slight green tinge that tells one it came from a glacier. We see quite a number of birds, including black-necked swans, flightless steamer ducks, a variety of finches, and kelp geese. The latter bird is the park's symbol and is interesting in that the male is completely white while the female and goslings are brown. The park is home to many other animals, too, of course, notably a plague of Canadian beavers. These were deliberately introduced years ago by the Argentinians to create a fur industry, but the experiment has gone horribly awry. The beavers do not develop salable fur because it is not cold enough, but they are devastating the fragile ecosystem by destroying trees and flooding peat bogs. We don't see any beavers, just the results of their activities, but we see (and feel) lots of another iconic Canadian beast—the mosquito.

Our last stop is a tourist information centre with interpretive displays and the requisite gift shop. There, among other things, you can learn about the indigenous people called the Yamana, whose fires spotted from sea led early European explorers to name the island Tierra del Fuego. Unfortunately, these people were completely exterminated (sensing a pattern here) and the only vestige of their existence is in place names like Ushuaia.

Returning to the city, we have only about 30 minutes before having to return to the ship. We stroll down the city's main street, San Martine. Ushuaia's basic story is shared by many of the cities and towns in this part of the world. It started out as a penal colony, gained importance as a port when trade between the west and east passed through this region, then declined in importance once the Panama Canal was opened. Ushuaia is proud to consider itself the world's most southerly city or, as they like to frame it, the "end of the world." And Argentines also consider Ushuaia to be the capital in exile of Islas Malvenas (aka the Falklands). We spot numerous signs attesting to both these distinctions. We visit some souvenir shops but more importantly a chocolate shop, where we buy a box of custom chocolates to indulge in later.

Back on board we have lunch and do laundry. The ship sets sail, traveling west along the Beagle Channel. This route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific was discovered by the HMS Beagle, the same ship that Charles Darwin famously travelled on during its second voyage to this same area.

Endless snow-capped mountains with hardly a sign of human intervention line both sides of the this natural passage. Just before 5 pm we enter an area of the Beagle Channel known as "Glacier Alley," where several large glaciers flow off the Andes highlands to the north into the channel. Violet and I venture onto the foresicle to get a first-hand view. It is very windy, but the glaciers and the cascading torrents they feed are magnificent. The demarcation lines between the fresh and salt water are clearly evident.

An excellent variety show tonight after dinner with the theme of Las Vegas' "rat pack" era. It's followed by a special presentation by the Indonesian staff. What they lack in talent and practice they more than make up for in enthusiasm, and everyone enjoys their songs and dances immensely. Late to bed.

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