Here is a world map showing you where Ushuaia is. Look how close we are to the Antarctic peninsula! |
| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
The sun rises at 4am in Ushuaia in December! It was only dark about 4 hours that night. Our b&b had sheer curtains so we didn't sleep very late. We were able to walk to town and leave our bags at the office of Cruceros Australis so we could explore Ushuaia that day before getting on the boat that night. I had planned on going Tierra del Fuego National Park or Estancia Harberton but it wasn't possible for various reasons, one being that it was Christmas Day. I was bit bummed that I had not planned our one day in Ushuaia better. I guess I had focused too much on the rest of the trip.
Every time we have traveled over Christmas we always find that we are so bored on Christmas day because not much is open. When will we learn? Maybe this year when we're in Portugal on Christmas day! We'll be visiting our friends LeeAnn and Ricardo (check out their blog) in Spain and then moving on to Portugal.
We made our way to the east end of town to the prison and maritime museum. Ushuaia was a penal colony from the late 1800's until 1947. The prisoners spent much of their time building a train, now known as Tren del Fin del Mundo or End of the World Train.
An old wooden ship in front of the old prison:
There were a lot of brightly colored flowers in Ushuaia which was surprising to us, given the cold and dreary nature of the city
I wished this was our destination
At one point we walked into a gift shop and there was a dog sleeping on at mat right inside the front door. The employees didn't seem to mind but it was so sad for us to see. It was a taste of what we would be seeing a lot of in Chile and Argentina: homeless dogs.
We had lunch at one of the few restaurants open in town which cost about US$60--where is this inexpensive food everyone talks about?
The Yamana museum was the only museum open in town that day. It was a very small but informative museum. The Yamana are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.
It was cold and drizzling in Ushuaia that day which made for an even worse experience in Ushuaia because we had no where to take cover. We were getting good use out of our cold rain gear but I was also sad because the mountains were fogged in this morning.
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
We made our way to the east end of town to the prison and maritime museum. Ushuaia was a penal colony from the late 1800's until 1947. The prisoners spent much of their time building a train, now known as Tren del Fin del Mundo or End of the World Train.
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
An old wooden ship in front of the old prison:
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
There were a lot of brightly colored flowers in Ushuaia which was surprising to us, given the cold and dreary nature of the city
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
I wished this was our destination
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
At one point we walked into a gift shop and there was a dog sleeping on at mat right inside the front door. The employees didn't seem to mind but it was so sad for us to see. It was a taste of what we would be seeing a lot of in Chile and Argentina: homeless dogs.
We had lunch at one of the few restaurants open in town which cost about US$60--where is this inexpensive food everyone talks about?
The Yamana museum was the only museum open in town that day. It was a very small but informative museum. The Yamana are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego.
With still a few hours to spare we found free wifi in the tourist office (I've never been in a tourist office in another country in my life) and skyped our family to wish them a Merry Christmas.
It was finally time to board the boat! Our boat is the tiny blue and white boat in front of the cruise ship
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
Finally!
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
As we started to pull away from Ushuaia the clouds started to clear
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
As soon as we left port in Ushuaia, Argentina we were in Chilean waters. We had to make a quick stop on Isla Navarino in Chile to get our passports stamped. In 1978 Chile and Argentina nearly came to war over border disputes in this part of Patagonia. War was avoided by intervention of Pope John Paul II.
Soon we were sailing the famous Beagle Channel on our way to Cape Horn!
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| From Patagonia Day 3--Ushuaia and Cruceros Australis |
