Disaster yesterday--I left my electrical adaptor behind somewhere, and iPad and iPhone have been about dead, camera batteries hanging on for dear life. We tried find one in Ushuaia today but stores open late and then close midday for 3 hours, so I´ve been out of luck. Our proprientor is obliging me tonight with charger and house computer.
We awoke to sunrise with only a rough plan of what to do, but the day turned out fabulously again. We spent the morning in the Tierra del Fuego National Park, hiking the woods, initially in sunshine, then in some drizzle. We found rather than hiring a car and driver that we could take a "combi," or group van, to the trailheads in the park and then get picked up again from the tourist info lodge later., where we found wonderful empanadas and a good museum on the local flora, flauna, and natives that were so thoroughly rubbed out by 1900.
Our main objective here was to get on a boat through the Beagle Canal. We have been reading lots in anticipation--including Darwin´s diaries of his voyage on the Beagle in this area. We had to sort through more than half a dozen boat tours on the waterfront, but thanks to our previous boat experience in Bariloche and El Calafate, we decided on a bigger, more stable catamaran, considering the potentail for a storm and rough waters, and a 5 1/2-ride out the canal toward the Atlantic (Argentine rather than Chilean waters). Why so long, you might ask. To see the penguins, of course!!
And see them we did! Three different kinds, all cute little fellows, many who will be leaving for Brazil once the weather gets cold. The boat slides right up on the beach of this particular island some three hours out of Ushuaia, and we were stunned to see literally 1000s of penguins. They walk right up to the boat, so curious, so we get loads of pictures during our 30 minutes or so of oogling. We do not disembark, nor do we talk much so as not to disturb them.
We also idle by islands filled with fur seals and sea lions, and loads of sea birds, including three types of albatross: All along we keep thinking about Darwin, and of all the earlier explorers who came here, and their crews who died here, and of the various native peoples who lived subsistence lives here before the Europeans arrived, wearing next to nothing, living in huts, hunting down whatever they could to eat, which wasn-t much here. Chris Moss writes well of these precursors on this land, improving on Vruce Chatwick´s book on same. The wind blows strong, there´s intermiteent drizzle, and the sea is choppy and once again we wear every bit of cold.weather clothing we have brought, and are thankful to have a stable boat. The boat is only half full so there is plenty of room, it is very comfortable, the guide is great, and the tea plentiful.
We´ve packed the day full because we leave tomorrow for Mendoza. So arriving back in port at 9-30 pm we head for a fish restaurant we´ve heard of and dine on the local delicacy of king crab. The main street of Ushuaia is hopping--full of high end stores selling souvenirs and everything else from camping equipment to European toilets. And of course chocolate. It doesn´t feel like the end of the world, and noone here that we talk to seems unhappy to live here. Ushuaia has had its troubles in the past with get'rich'quickers, but it´s now attracting people who like the wilderness and the pace of life here--and who can handle the weather!
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