It's the End of the World and You Know It!

Ushuaia (Oosh-WHY-uh) - Fin del Mundo!  The end of the world!  The southernmost city in the Americas - unless you ask Puerto Williams, Chile.  The places are about 50 km (about 30 miles) apart by ferry.  That's mostly east to west.  North to south?  More like 20 km (12 miles).  Ushuaia is on the northern shore of the Beagle Channel.  Puerto Williams is on the southern shore of the Beagle Channel.  So why does Ushuaia (population about 75,000) get to call itself Fin del Mundo?  Population.  The argument is that Puerto Williams (population about 3000) isn't big enough to be called city!  Puerto Williams is trying to catch up, though, so this could change in another century or so!  Stay tuned for more things I probably will not be updating in future!

Don't let the population fool you.  Once you've strolled San Martin and Maipu streets, you've pretty much seen the town.  There are lots of hikes, but I'm not much of a trekker, so...  I wanted to ride the dog sleds, but they only do that in southern hemisphere winter (northern hemisphere summer), so that was out.

So, I spent the first day getting settled in and hanging with friends from the cruise that were waiting for their flights out.  The next day, I strolled through town and made arrangements for my bus to El Calafate.

The walk along Maipu is chocked full of statuary, monuments, and parks.  Definitely intended for the tourists.  Many of them are applicable to Argentina as a whole, such as General San Martin, whose statue also stands in multiple places in Buenos Aires.

Some are very local, such as this statute memorializing Gunther Pluschow, the first person to fly an airplane into Ushuaia, on December 3, 1928.

There is what seems to be the obligatory monument to the Malvinas.  I was a bit of a jerk while taking this one.  I was waiting on the other corner to take this shot while a guy was taking a number of selfies in the area.  I had no problem with it, as I tend to take a lot of shots myself.  Since most people just take one or two and move along, if I see someone waiting, I'll usually step out of the way and come back when they're finished.  This guy looked at me, seeing me standing waiting, and kept on taking his shots, moving to different places in the frame.  I stood and waited for over five minutes.  When he finally finished and moved out of the frame, I got a few shots from across the street and moved in for the closer ones.  He crossed the street to where I was.  Almost immediately upon getting to the spot, he yelled over asking me to move out of the way.  Of course, given the fact that he didn't clear for me, that meant I had to stay there for the rest of my life!

Ushuaia's monument to the Malvinas isn't just a statue or a plaque.  It is a whole park with multiple statuary and monuments to the islands.  Since Ushuaia is the capital of the island of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica (the part claimed by Argentina, but not controlled because of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959), and the South Atlantic Islands, Ushuaia is also considered by Argentina to be the capital of Las Malvinas.  Obviously, the British and most of the rest of the world don't see it quite the same. This is a monument to those who lost their lives in the 1982 conflict.  The fire continued burning even during the rain.

I don't have a clue what this head represents.  It reminds me of Easter Island, but Easter Island is part of Chile, and as far as I can tell, there is no claim to the island by Argentina. It is lovely, though, especially with all the tulips in bloom and the harbor in the background!

Notice the map of Las Malvinas (the Falkland Islands) to the right of the letters.

This is the side and top of the Secretariate of Women.  I frequently saw children playing on this building when the sun was out.  It's hard to see in the picture, but atop the building is a relief of Eva Peron.

In the bay is the remains of the San Cristobal, which ran aground in 1957.  She was built in the US, bought by Great Britain, and used in World War II before being sold and used for commercial purposes.

I do love the bright colors on the beaks and feet of the gulls here!

While you can find travel agents for excursions all along Avenida San Martin and others, just past the port is a whole little village area where the agencies have their own little shelters.  It is here, also, that you find the moderately famous "End of the World" sign.

While most of the buildings are typical South American construction and design, there is a definite, clear German influence on many.

My day taking pictures of town was great because it there were no ships scheduled to dock or disembark that day, so I was able to take pictures without the crowds of people that come here for the Antarctic cruises.  For my last day in town, I had difficulty deciding between the Martial Glacier, Lago Esmerelda, or Tierra del Fuego National Park with the train.  (The penguin and sea lion trips just didn't excite after the awesomeness that I experienced in Antarctica.)  Knowing that my next stop included the Perito Moreno Glacier, this one lost.  I have heard very wonderful things about Lago Esmerelda, but ultimately, I chose the train.  I had to go to Western Union first, so I wasn't able to catch the first train.  I got the noon train into the park.  

Like a hop-on/hop-off bus, the train had an audio component that talked about the history and landscape of the city and the park.  The city was settled as a prison colony.  This was based largely on European penal colonies, except the prisoners that were sent actually continued to be incarcerated upon arrival to the colony.  We had "prisoners" along our voyage for pictures.  I would have loved to have purchased mine, as it was a very good shot of me holding one by the shirt front and him leaning back while the other was trying to snatch my bag with my fist doubled up ready to smash into his face.  I really liked it, but they only offered it in print, not digital, and I know it would be destroyed by the time I got home.

The trains run on steam, but they do not use coal to heat it.  They use some type of combustible liquid, which they did not name.  It is supposedly ecologically friendly.  Here is a video of a train coming back while my train was also stopped for a bit.

There were wild horses in the park.  The train didn't phase them any little bit.

The prison labor was used for services, initially for cutting firewood and later exploited by a lumber company.  The prisoners would be transported by this train into the valleys to chop down trees without any concern for the environment or the health/safety of the prisoners.  Hardened criminals, such as mass murderers, were chained along with petty criminals.  Children were cautioned not to go close to their incarcerated parents because of who might be chained next to them, so they would wave from afar.  While it's difficult to see from this picture, this is part of what is called the "tree graveyard".  You can tell what season each tree was felled based on the size of the stump.  The taller the stump, the higher the snow was.  Those cut at ground level were cut in the southern hemisphere summer.  Sometimes, the prisoners were required to remain overnight in the forests, and would often have to climb trees in the winter while still chained together.  The prison was finally closed by Juan Peron because of severe human rights abuses.

At the end of the line, you have an option to either remain on the train and go back to the station or get off the train and spend some time in the park.  The last train back to the station leaves at 4:00 p.m.  I decided to explore the park a bit since it was only 1:00.  So I walked a bit until I found a road and sign that told me the visitor's center was approximately 6 km away from the sign.  At this point, I felt like I could go to the visitor's center and take a taxi back.  There was a lake at the visitor's center and an interactive area along with a restaurant.  So I headed out.  It was a lovely walk, and the lake was beautiful, but this was a mistake.  Once you got to the visitor's center, the interactive area was up a long staircase, which my legs just weren't going to handle after that 3-mile hike.  And there was no taxi stand.  There was an information desk, so I inquired about a taxi there.  The man at the desk told me that he would be happy to call me a taxi.  It would be 7000 pesos to take me to my hotel in Ushuaia.  I asked him how much it would cost for the taxi to take me to the train station in the park.  He said that would also cost 7000 pesos, and the taxi would wait for me at the other station and take me to my hotel in Ushuaia.  I asked him how much it would cost for the taxi to take me to the train station in the park and not meet me at the station at the other end to take me back to Ushuaia because I could get a taxi to Ushuaia for 1300 pesos.  He said that would also cost 7000 pesos.  So basically, if you find yourself at the visitor's center without time or energy to walk back to the train, it will cost you 7000 pesos to get out.  Be forewarned.  Other than that, it's a lovely ride and a nice history lesson, and I would recommend it.  You can get off the train and take some of the short hikes in the area so long as you have the time and energy to get back to the train station by 4:00 for the last train out of the park.  The food in the restaurant looked and smelled delicious, but I couldn't eat at that time, having just walked about 3 miles.  They did have grapefruit juice and water.  My water was running low, so I got one of each and rehydrated.  My taxi arrived just as I was getting recharged, so I went home and had a sandwich from the cold cuts I had gotten from the mercado on the corner.

This fungus is very prevalent on the trees in the forest on the mountains.

Many of the views are breathtaking, especially with those clouds hanging heavy.

This is the lake at the visitor's center.

My overpriced taxi driver was kind enough to almost stop at this roundabout so I could get this picture.

I slept well that night.  I woke the next morning and showered, packed, and made some cheese sandwiches to eat on my way to my next destination - El Calaphate and hiking on the Perito Moreno Glacier!

Final Excursions and News of a Serious Accident

Our last day of excursions.  We're planning to go to Carcass Island to see more magellanic penguins, some striated caracara (falcon-type birds), and other local birds.  We had options for zodiac groups based on how we wanted to see the island instead of by color group this time.  There were the fast walkers, who wanted to walk along the coast to the settlement; the bird walkers, who wanted to have a guide to help them find the wildlife; the slow walkers, who just wanted to meander along the coastline to the settlement; and the settlement group, who didn't want to bother with the coastline and just wanted to go straight to the settlement from the ship.  I chose the bird walkers.  Maybe I should have reconsidered, but it turned out to be the best option.

Ab and Yeti were leading the bird walkers.  They have this tendency to take the long way around, through the toughest terrain.  In their defense, that's where the birds are nesting, so that's where you have to walk if you're going to see them.  I knew that, and yet, I chose the bird walker group.  I did get some lovely shots of oyster catchers, a Cobb's wren, meadowlark, and an open nesting magellanic penguin.  I got a shot of the striated caracara, but it wasn't a good one.  As I heard in the bird group, “A bad picture is better than no picture,” but I won't subject you guys to it!  We had gotten back around to where the trail started, and I was beat from hiking through the tussac grass, up steep inclines, climbing over sheer rocks, and was beginning to have some difficulty breathing.  Suddenly, Guil appeared walking toward us.  I tried to hurry to catch up to him to ask if it was too late to change my mind and go to the settlement group because I had come to the conclusion that I couldn't make it.  He said they had canceled the excursion and everyone was going back to the ship.  So, I got to see the best of the birds, hit my peak abilities, and got to go back without completely admitting defeat!!  Yay, me!!  The best of both worlds!

Oystercatcher

A plant very similar to what we call lamb's ear in the southern US.

Cobb's wren

Oystercatcher family (the baby blends in with the rocks)

Magellanic penguin

Meadowlark

Now for the serious part.  I feel confident that I am not the only one appreciating Phil's and Cpt Jeremy's caution even though it has kept us from seeing some things we were planning to see (like adelie penguins and doing the polar plunge).  When I went to the mud room, there were people talking about an incident that happened two days ago on Elephant Island, a landing we called off because of winds.  On Nov 15, an expedition ship with Quark had a landing scheduled on Elephant Island.  On our zodiac, we asked Neill, who happened to be our driver, what he knew about it.  He said from what they understood at this time, the seas were relatively calm with an experienced crew and an experienced zodiac driver when a rogue wave came out of nowhere and flipped the zodiac.  Two passengers perished in the Antarctic waters.  He did try to reassure us that these were the first passenger fatalities from accident that he had heard of in his eight years of Antarctic expeditions and reminded us that there is risk in everything we do.  It seems to have been just a freak accident, but there will be a full investigation.

Today, we embarked at winds of about 25 knots.  According to Kevin, our driver coming back, the winds were consistently 40 knots, meaning that gusts were higher, potentially over 50, and that is dangerous.  I, for one, thoroughly appreciate Cpt Jeremy and Phil pulling us in early when conditions deteriorated and keeping us on the ship when conditions are not right for a landing or zodiac cruise at all.  Yes, I'm bummed that I didn't get to see the adelie penguins.  I'll probably never get another opportunity to see them.  If we don't make this afternoon's landing and see the rock hoppers, I'll also be bummed.  Rock hoppers live elsewhere, though, and I'll probably have the opportunity to see them again.  I am thankful to our ship leadership for considering safety when deciding whether an excursion will go forward or if plan B, C, or D (and in some cases, we have seemed to go to plan ZZ) will have to suffice.  In fact, I believe it was a plan ZZ or somewhere close to that where we got to see the emperor penguins.  I am also thankful that, if my family reads about the incident before I get back to Ushuaia, that I was able to make contact with them by text message on Stanley yesterday, the day AFTER the incident on Elephant Island.  That way, they will know I was alive the day AFTER that incident and will know I'm okay.

Our second excursion for today was also canceled.  We only did a drive by of the Devil's nose.  You could see a huge amount of white dots all over the hillside, but even with my binoculars, I couldn't discern what was a black-browed albatross nest and what was a rock hopper penguin.  Albatross, shag, and gulls flew around the ship, and the dolphins played around the port-side bow, but the wind was blowing so strong and the ship was rocking so hard that it was impossible for me to get a good shot of any of them.  Thus ends the last expedition day.  Phil let us know that because of cutting Carcass Island short and driving by the Devil's Nose instead of hiking across Westport to the colonies, we will be arriving in Ushuaia earlier than expected.  The benefit is that we will be navigating the Beagle Channel during daylight.  This may save me an excursion in town. We're allowed to exit the ship for the evening if we want, but I think I'll stay on, eat my last meal on board, pack, and just catch up on things that have happened since I've been gone.  

We also got to do a tour of the bridge.

After the briefing and recap, one of our group had reserved the Panorama Restaurant for the group for a hot rocks dinner.  Again, I forgot my camera.  We went out on the bridge for sunset pix, too.  I still didn't have my camera.  We never got the spectacular sunsets, so I didn't bother going back down two flights of stairs to get it.  I also didn't have my coat.  It was windy, but not really that cold, so I stayed out for a while.  I've been out without it so much that one of our group noticed that I really do have an aversion to coats!

Then we went down to the lecture room for Antarctic trivia night.  I figured if I caught something in that soup of people in the lecture room, it is the last night, and there are no more excursions to miss.  When I got there, I found that I probably could have been going down for the game nights all along.  The coughing and hacking people weren't there and there was plenty of space between people.  Oh well.  We won (by virtue of the team with more points than us being disqualified for cheating with expedition staff!), and I have a patch of the Antarctic continent.  Now, I just need to find a sharpie and a map so I can mark the spot where I disembarked on the peninsula!  Next stop, Ushuaia (again) - the end of the world!

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

Ah, a day at sea!  I woke and opened my curtains.  We are outside the South Georgia area, so I don't have to close them again!  (South Georgia regulation is to close curtains to avoid bird strikes.)  It was a beautiful morning.  Birds flying by the window – more petrels.    No wandering albatross that I could see.  So after a few morning ministrations, back to bed I went, having woken just in time for a nap!  One giant petrel seemed to hover by my window for a bit longer than necessary, almost as if looking to see if I was a meal he could scavenge! I was suddenly brought to an awakened state by Ab, the ornithologist guide, announcing that wandering albatross were around the ship.  So, up I jumped, dressed, grabbed my camera and door key, and out the door I went.  Out the back door where nobody had seen it.  Up to the 8th floor observation deck where Adam said there were three of them, but they were gone now.  Adam is one of the heads for the Rock Jumper birding group, and he has been really nice to me (and everybody else who was interested in learning about birds).  He said you have to be on deck when they get there because they only hang around for seconds, then they're gone.  So, it looks like I'm NOT going to get a picture of the wandering albatross.  I need the rest.  I really don't have the strength and energy to stand out on the deck in the driving wind.  If one flies past my balcony, I'll probably see it (unless I'm asleep), but that's going to be my extent.  I hate it, but that just has to be okay.  I tried to get a few more of the prion that were flying around because I don't have many of those (and no good ones).  I failed miserably.  Those little suckers are FAST!

On the second day at sea, Hard-Core Sanna gave a lecture about her trip skiing to the South Pole.  Turns out, she “warmed up” by skiing across Greenland!  She is soooo hard core!  As if any of the guides on this cruise is a slouch!  Any one of them would be considered hard core by normal standards, but Hard-Core Sanna is a hard core stand-out among even this group!

We pulled in to Port Stanley about 7:00 a.m. with a pod of 3 little black and white dolphins playing at our side.  I was in the dining room having breakfast and did not have my camera.  By the time I got back to my stateroom and my camera, we had docked.  Without any wake, the dolphins moved on.  I'm hoping they'll trail us while pulling out tonight so I can get some shots.  They were adorable!

And speaking of adorable, we went to Gypsy Cove where some magellanic penguins nest in burrows. They are adorable!  There was a group of people that was going to walk all the way around the cove and back to the ship and there was the rest of us.  The rest of us walked around part of the cove and then went back to the busses to take us back to the ship.  It's a difference of about 4 miles, and Ab always seems to underestimate!  So, I caught the bus for people who weren't doing the long walk out to the cove, which was right behind the long walkers' bus.  We all started out together.  Ab was the leader and pointed out the black crested night heron that was nesting with the shags on the wall.  We found the burrowing penguin on our own as well as the other penguins on the beach and all the geese.  I probably shouldn't have gone as far as I did to see the shags and heron, but plenty of people helped me over the big rocks and stuff.  After that, though, I decided it was time to turn back.  Ab, our guide, said we could go as far as the canons and just go back over the hill, but I'm glad I decided to turn around and retrace my path.  There were more penguins on the beach (2 going up; 4 coming back) and many of them were coming and going from their burrows.  They sound a lot like the black footed South African penguin, which is also called the “jackass” penguin because of their bray.

The buildings in Stanley are colorful, mainly by the different roof colors.  Notice that the only trees are in town.  They don't grow naturally on the island.

This is an empty burrow

A family of geese

The night heron

Magellanic penguin in burrow

Megellanic penguin walking through the ferns going back to his burrow

Once back in the parking lot, the driver said he'd leave if we got about 20 on the bus that wanted to go back early.  When we met that quota, he started off.  He was supposed to take us back to the ship, where we could pick up a shuttle to town.  The shuttles are small and only run at designated times, so most people were encouraged to walk from the ship to town.  Somebody mentioned that maybe we could just go all the way to town.  The driver pulled over and tried to call his boss, but couldn't get an answer, so he brought us to town anyway!  That actually saved a couple of hours because we would have needed to wait over an hour for the shuttle to town.  That's assuming we all would be able to get on that shuttle!

With rest stops, I walked from the visitor's center out to the memorial to the Battle of the Falklands in World War I, the solar system monument, and the Jhelum shipwreck from WWI. Then I slowly made my way back, stopping to take pictures of the horses in the yards in front of Government House; checking out the Liberation Monument to those lost in the 1982 Falkland War, the Margaret Thatcher bust on Thatcher Drive, the Penguin News (local paper), the Dockyard Museum and Antarctic Monument, the post office/town hall, the police station, the Victory Green, and finally stopped for a snack at the WestStore Supermarket, where I had a baked potato and beans.  I then continued on to the Whalebone Arch which is beside the Christ Church Cathedral (which was closed but did have a memorial veterans display), the botanical gardens at Jubilee Villas and back to the Jetty Visitor Center where I caught a shuttle back to the ship.  It was a very nice walk, about 3 miles.  With the stops and actual sightseeing, it took about 2 or 3 hours.  A lot of folks wanted to do the pubs and have fish and chips and a pint.  That's not my scene any longer, so I just came back to the ship where my feet could use a rest, my body would like a shower and a nap, and my mind knew there was nothing left to do in Stanley!  It's a nice place, but there isn't much to see.  The weather was a nice, sunny, windy day in the 50s, and I had to take my jacket off, just wearing my thermal shirt and fleece leggings.

Jubilee Villas with the botanical garden on the left

Pale Maiden, the national flower of the Falkland Islands

Memorial display in front of the church

Whalebone Arch

Police station

Town Hall and Post Office

Local paper

Bust of Margaret Thatcher

1982 Falkland War Memorial

Horses in front of the garden of Government House

Falkland Island shag.  Note the RED feathers around the pretty brown eyes.  The Antarctic shags had blue feathers.

WWI Falkland War Monument

Shipwreck of Jhelum, WWI ship

Solar system model.  I'm sure it was more in-depth, but I didn't walk down the hill to see.

Dockyard Museum and Antarctic Monument

Victory Green

Church

With my T-Mobile plan, I was able to text home to let Bruce and Chrissy know I was okay and having a wonderful time, but I didn't have any data, so no calling.  I wasn't even able to send pictures through!  But, I'll be in Ushuaia in just a few days and all the messages I've been “sending” and posts I've been “posting” to Facebook will go through!

Tomorrow is the last excursions.  Rock Hopper penguins and nesting brown browed albatross at Carcass and Westpoint in the West Falklands.  Then a day at sea before docking in Ushuaia the following morning.