Ushuaia, Argentina

The first thing to learn about Ushuaia is how to pronounce its name, which is much easier than it looks…oo-shoo-AYE-ah.  It is a Yahgan Indian word meaning “a bay penetrating westward.”  It was born a mission town, then became an Argentine naval base, then a convict settlement, and today is a busy city of about 80,000 people that rightly claims to be the southernmost city on earth.

 

The city is the main jumping-off point for tourists and international scientists heading for Antarctica.  A group of 33 people left the ship for their flight to Antarctica today (it was a spendy tour, like $1000 or so per person someone said).  There’s always the possibility that they can’t even land.

 

We had a private tour today for just 4 of us (our neighbors from Colorado were with us).  We arranged for a taxi/tour guide through a recommendation from Tripadvisor.com.  We expected to be able to walk off the ship as soon as it was cleared through immigration.  But the Captain came on the speaker and said the Pilot captain said no way would this ship be able to dock due to tides or something….we would have to tender in.  Well, nobody, including the crew was prepared for this so instead of meeting our guide shortly after 7 am, we finally connected with him around 8:30 am.  Then off we went.



View of Ushuaia from the ship

 

Ushuaia is in a beautiful setting overlooking the Beagle Channel, named for the ship that carried Charles Darwin on his voyage of discovery in 1831-36.  The backdrop of snow-capped, densely forested peaks was stunning with the morning sun on them. 

 

Many of the houses are wood with gingerbread decorations.  They lend a vaguely Russian appearance to the town that many say reminds them of Sitka, Alaska.

 

Our driver, Charlie, headed for Hidden Lake and Fagnano Lake for the morning portion of our tour.

Chairlifts on the southernmost Ski Hill

 

 

Then we headed to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park, which again resembles the terrain of the Alaskan panhandle.  The park and the panhandle lie at about the same latitude (about 55 degrees North and South) and in many respects are mirror images of one another.  The weather is rainy and foggy for most of the year and has created dense rainforests that grow to the edge of the sea. Glaciers are common and fiords are deep and long and rugged mountains jut up several thousand feet directly from the sea.

The end of the PanAmerican Highway

 

 

The end of the PanAmerican Highway is in the park at the end of a narrow, dirt road.  Of course we had to have our picture taken by the sign marking the end.  It’s only about 18,000 km from Alaska!

The post office at the end of the world!

 

This certainly was a beautiful day around the southernmost city on earth.