Tierra del Fuego & Ushuaia

After the Torres trek we decided to head south to Ushuaia to try and catch the very tail end of the season before everything starts to close down for the winter.  The bus journey from Puerto Natales took nearly 11 hours on 3 different buses, across the Straight of Magellan and bisecting the island of Tierra del Fuego before arriving in Ushuaia.  We arrived in Ushuaia a week too late to catch a boat to Antarctica but found a great deal on the very last cruise of the season from Usuhaia to Cape Horn and then up through the islands and fjords back to Punta Arenas (the nearest city to Puerto Natales), the only catch was we'd have to wait in Ushuaia for 6 days before the cruise departed.  Ushuaia is a pretty large town (by Patagonia standards) with 60,000 residents, but 6 days is a long time to stay occupied there. We made the most of it, spending a couple of days in Tierra del Fuego National Park, taking a day cruise to view sea lions and penguins, and visiting museums.  We had a lot of cool, rainy days but the sun came out during the the last few days and we were able to get some great pics!

This was our first bus from Puerto Natales....

but it left us here...thankfully the bus to TDF was right behind to pick us up!

Ferry across the Strait of Magellan to Tierra del Fuego.
Before the Panama Canal was built, but after ships incorporated engine power, this was the main shipping thoroughfare between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as it's much more sheltered than going around Cape Horn.  It's pretty wide (taking 20 mins by ferry to cross the narrowest part) but the winds can be strong and gusty making it difficult for wind powered ships to navigate.

Crossing into the Argentine side of TDF.  All of the land crossings to TDF are in Chile, but none of the roads on the Chilean side are paved and the vast majority of T-D-Feugians are Argentine. 

Northern TDF looks a lot like Wyoming!

Ushuaia

View from the water.  The weather here reminded me a lot of Seattle!

Malvinas = Falklands
Ushuaia is the capital of TDF and the Malvinas, according to Argentina.

"English pirate ships prohibited from mooring" at the entrance to the port.

Rainbow across the Beagle channel.  The land on the other side is Isla Navarino, in Chilean territory.

Island full of cormorants in the Beagle Channel

Imperial shag or blu-eyed cormorants (though they look like penguins)

Sea Lions

Fur seals (their fur looks black when wet)

Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse

Magellanic penguins.  Hundreds of penguins nest here each year but most had already started their migration.

Tony on the catamran

Chairlift up to Martial Glacier in the mountains above the city.

Looking back down toward the town.

Batman!

In Tierra del Fuego National Park.  The park is pretty small and you could hike all of the trails in 2 days, but we had a great time (even though we didn't hange our food high enough and most of it was eaten by a fox).  We had the park pretty much to ourselves and some beautiful weather!

Beaver damage

More beaver damage.  Beavers were introduced to the area in order to build a fur industry, but beaver hats went out of style and supposedly the meat tastes terrible so TDF is left with a scourge of beavers destroying the forests.

Cerro Condor

Mushrooms!  We saw no less than 11 types of mushrooms in a half-mile hike. These look like they's mess you up pretty good!

Mmmm....hot chocolate!  We had ate some great chocolate on our trip.  There's a drink called a submarino- hot milk with a chocolate bar melted in it & usually an extra one on the side so you can make your hot chocolate as chocolaty as you want it!

Seafood paella

One more shot from the pier

Up next...our cruise!