Bucket List Antarctica (during an eclipse): On the Road in Tierra del Fuego

 “For the one who
writes it . . . a story is like a mirror.”

― Sylvia Iparraguirre, Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego (Land of the Fire named by Magellan) is a large island separated from the South American continent by the Straits of Magellan. What you see in green is Argentine and the rest belongs to Chile. We are located at the tip of the red arrow

We spent the better part of Sunday getting here! The flight is about four hours long from Buenos Aires, but is mostly over ocean and partly over the Andes. It's one of my favorite parts of flying---looking down and seeing the Pampas and rivers and finally, shortly before we landed, just barely below us, the sharp peaks of the Andes covered in snow. Really breathtaking!

We found a nice Airbnb prior to leaving the USA and are making it our home for the next few days. The town of Ushuaia (a native word that means a bay that faces the west) is located on a fairly steep hillside with a flat portion down near the harbor. This is the view from our apartment:

The town of Ushuaia located on a slope coming down from the coastal Andes on the Beagle Channel

Ushuaia is home to about 80,000 people but until the Argentine government started to encourage and subsidize people coming here in the mid-1970s, it was home to only about 3000 people, mostly military and fisherman. 

We took a nice walk around the area.  The military has a big base here at the end of the world. There is an airport and many touristy spots, but it was pretty quiet. The tourist trade has been fairly silent since COVID with the country only opening for foreigners November 1, 2021. We weren't sure we would be allowed to make this very longed for trip. 

Our first dinner with local Jeremy Buttons gin on the Beagle Channel It is light until 10:30pm.

Paul stands at the end of the world. (as we know it) 

This aircraft flew missions to Antarctica and is on display near the Naval Base. 

The Andes descend onto the Beagle Channel with wondrous views of Ushuaia. If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes. We experienced a snowstorm with 30mph winds and sunny skies and 45 degrees on the same day. 

A gull wanders amongst the molllusks at low tide 

A memorial on the waterfront to the dead from the Guerra Malvinas (also known as the Falklands War.) The Falklands (malvinas) have a very complex history including Margaret Thatcher trying to give them back to Argentina just a year prior to the conflict But don't try to TAKE them??? It's a sore spot!

An eternal flame and the names of more than 660 war deaths from Argentina, many from Tierra del Fuego. 

The ever present lapwing

The lovely wine we enjoyed at dinner for about $15 from Neuquen province. 

Pizza for dinner? NO surprise there!

Sunrise Ushuaia 4:52 AM

Even with a map and photos, it is hard to describe the topography of the area. The South American plate meets the Scotia plate and that is what separates Argentina from Chile. We got a good idea about it today as we drove around the area between the coast and toward the interior of Tierra del Fuego. 

The Andes, only about 3000 feet in the coast and running east and west instead of north and south here (due to tectonic plate movements) , are located in Chile. We took the photo from the Scotia plate=Argentina Tierra del Fuego.  The Rio Olivas with its peat bogs and red sphagnum moss separates the plates and the countries. 

We visited Lago Fagnano, one of the largest lakes in Argentina. It is 75 miles long, 5 miles wide and roughly the same size as the Beagle Channel. 

Looking down south on the Lake Fagnano

Looking North on Lake Fagnano

There are many signs of beavers in the area----gnawed wood and dams. We didn't see any beavers, although guide books said they "roamed the streets." Beavers were brought in to exploit as part of the fur trade, so that went south literally and figuratively. Argentina, like the USA and many other countries, has practiced numerous harebrained ideas about introducing non-native species. One idea was literally harebrained---they brought in rabbits for food. The sailors carried them on ships because they taste good and reproduce...well, like rabbits. These are now wild and have been a big problem at times. Then they brought in grey foxes to eat the rabbits, but they prefer other rodents, so now they have too many grey foxes which compete with the native red fox. They don't have a lot of wildlife--no deer, elk, bears, etc. Just guanaco, mara and a few other native species. What they do have is birds. We saw these specimens out and about today:

Ashy-headed goose

Chimango caracara--An "opportunist" bird according to our guide. He says opportunistic people also get called "chimangos"

Upland geese: Male and Female

Along the way for our birding and geography tour, we stopped at some very local spots: a training camp for mushing dogs (they had 135 Siberian and Alaskan huskies on site and walked all 135 at once! ) and came back for lunch at their parilla where they roasted a buttload of meat. We had one dinner and it was more than we could eat! It's been a tough year and a half for the tourism industry and the dog mushing business has been low, but they are optimistic .. and they LOVE LOVE LOVE dogs!

Each dog is cared for like family and has its own home. 

135 dogs grace this facility. I wish you could have heard them howling! It was like a doggie choir!

Doggieland has a side gig as the only restaurant in a forever distance. They serve parilla with lamb, beef , chicken and potatoes. 1 order will MORE than serve two people our age. 

So far, we have really enjoyed our time at THE END OF THE WORLD. The vistas cannot be beat. The people are friendly. The dogs are a bit loud, but okay... We enjoyed the local meal including a world class dinner tonight at Kaupe. If you are here, you MUST go there. It's very inexpensive, up on a hill so you can enjoy the Beagle Channel and the lower coastal Andes, and the food is local, outstanding and about 25% the cost of a similar meal in the USA.  

We can't say enough wonderful things about Tierra del Fuego de Argentina and look forward to the national park tomorrow. 

The South American tectonic plate and the Andes. 

Perfectly cooked sea bass from the Antarctic shelf (caught at 1000 meters and "the real sea bass" per the chef who quoted the scientific name and told us that a lot of "seabass" is cooked by liars!)

" A bad review is even less important than whether or not it is raining in Patagonia."

---Iris Murdoch

Paul's Ponderings:  What an incredible area Patagonia is.....the weather really does change about ever 10 minutes as a start!    We landed and it was quite cold and breezy and that continued into the next day.  Quite a change from 90 degrees in Buenos Aires!    That said, it is massively scenic here as the end of the world warrants.   We've been to the tip of Africa, but this is even further south.    And unlike South Africa, it's like Scandinavia here, relatively speaking.

Ushuaia is quite scenic.....we walked around town and it is a combo of rustic and modern.    It's quite unusual for Argentina in general and Chile is just across the Beagle channel.   Amazingly, Charles Darwin came through here as did Magellan!    Quite the history in general.....after Magellan came through it was 300+ years before this area was "discovered".    Magellan called it "Tierra del Fuego" due to seeing the native fires and the name stuck.   And here we area in 2021.   

So far we've had great food, great scenery, a hundred weather changes, and massive good time.  And besides the cost of getting here, it's very affordable.   More to come!