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Published: March 25th 2007
Lapataja Bay
The view accross the bay from the coastal track.
The World's Southernmost City
Ushuaia was a convict settlement set up by the Argentinean government to resist the Chileans claiming this strategic land at the bottom of the continent. The Beagle conflict fought between the two nations was a series of skirmishes which resulted in the borderline being drawn down the centre of the Beagle Channel then following the geological features of the Southern Andes. The informative museum display in Ushuaiax00s gaol documented that the settlement was actually based on Australiax00s Port Arthur penal settlement in Tasmania. The similarities between the two colonies on opposite sides of the Southern-hemisphere are many, including the extreme conditions, harsh treatment of inmates and the stories of notorious characters that were sent there. Sadly, colonists also wiped-out the indigenous Yamana people from this land, a tragedy accelerated by introduced diseases and government sponsored bounty incentives - much like our Tasmania.
After disembarking our ship from Antarctica, we had a few days to relax and explore the port-town of Ushuaia, capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego and the world's southernmost city. Standing on terra firma once again took some getting used to as the buildings seemed to sway around us.
Ice Caving - Ushuaia
"I hold this bit up incase it falls in on us." This effect could be suitably counter-acted by meeting up with fellow voyagers in the Dublin bar and sampling the three varieties of Beagle micro-brewery draught beers. In fact, four of our shipmates were also joining us on the Penguino tour through Patagonia.
Before joining our tour, we filled one of our spare day ice-caving with Dominique, Dan, Sarah and Andrew, trekking three hours to have lunch underneath a glacier in the mountains behind Ushuaia. The day was cold and it poured rain, so our time underneath the glacier was fascinating but short. Our digital camera completely filled with water despite being carried in the pocket of a gortex jacket. We looked forward hot showers before meeting up with the rest of the Penguino tour group that evening - the Dublin bar was an appropriate venue.
The first day of the tour was a day spent in the nearby Tierra del Fuego National Park. Walking along the coastal track on a clear, sunny and calm day (quite the rarity for this area in March), we had clear views of the snow-capped Cordón Piramide mountain in Chile as we watched Imperial Cormorants fly low across the calm Lapataja bay waters,
diving for Fuegiun Sardine.
The wind blew across the Beagle Channel at 30 knots the next day for a short tourist-cruise and it quickly brought back the uneasy feelings of rough, Antarctic seas. Glad to return to land, it felt like time to make our escape from the colony. We boarded the tour truck and drove not far from Ushuaia to have our first Peggy lunch. x00Peggyx00 was the name of our tour truck and a x00Peggy lunchx00 quickly became a highlight of any travel day aboard her. It was usually our best chance to have our fill fresh fruit and vegetables - not so easy to do in South America. Rio Grande services Argentinean military base from where they launched their offensive in the Falklands war. Being close to the 25th Anniversary of this war, tonight was a good night to be an Australian in Argentina. After spending the night in this town we were finally heading into Patagonia.
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NB: Our tour was with Tucan Travel and was named x00Penguinox00 which we later extended to do the x00Morenox00 tour all the way to Bariloche after our planned Navimag Ferry trip was cancelled due to a
Lapataja Bay Waters
The clear, cool water on a calm, sunny day - rare. break down.
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Stephen Paul
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Great Blog!
Awesome blog and great pictures. I can see the Argentinian slant to the post though! The island of Tierra del Fuego is over 60% Chilean though, if anything it should be "Tierra del Fuego=Argentina/Chile". :) And the claim of "the world's southernmost city" techinically belongs to Ushuaia, Puerto Williams which lays just across the channel from Ushuaia is the "southernmost URBAN CENTER in the World" because Puerto Williams isnt big enough to be a city by the definition of the word. Thanks for the post, look forward to more!