Tierra Del Fuego - Part Two

Sunday 22nd January 2012

Next day is one we’ll talk about for ever – a fantastic helicopter ride over the mountains to the East.  It wasn’t the best of days, but dry and fairly bright, however a massive forest fire in one of the back valleys was spreading smoke all over and down across Ushuaia. It didn’t spoil our enjoyment at all but it did affect the photos, as you will see.

We flew over snowy mountains and glaciers, extraordinary lakes - green, turquoise and sapphire blue, and along the valleys

Glacier with diddy icebergs

	Smoke from the fire

Then a quick stop (very dramatic!) on top of a flattish mountain overlooking Ushuaia and the Beagle channel

On top of the world!

then back over the town to the heliport. A terrific experience, even though I didn’t see any real icebergs (on my wish-list!).

 

 

 

After that we decided to work off some of the emapanadas (meat pasties), lamb BBQs and fabulous seafood we’ve enjoyed on a trek up to the Martial glacier, on the mountains up behind Ushuaia. We cheated by taking a chair-lift part-way, but the final assault was a lot tougher, steeper and more scary than the pix show, and the downhill was so dodgy in places I took to my bum, but glad to say my blue jeans held out!!  The glacier itself was a tad underwhelming, as the snow cover was black with dusty soil blown off the mountains in the strong winds that blow most of the time, but I’m promised better glaciers in our next stop, El Calafate.

The hike back down to town was really lovely as we found a mountain-bike trail through some really pretty woods

 Have a good hick!

Our final day in T del F involved a mini-bus tour of the National Park, which reminded us in turn of Scotland, the Alps and Lantau!   The most majestic peaks were all in Chile.  We started with a ride on the Tren del Fin du Mondo – an old steam train that runs along the tracks laid by the convicts to get wood back to the city from the surrounding forest, now part of the National Park. It was horribly touristy though, and they make the big mistake of letting us all off mid-way to admire the view. As our guide said later – the Germans come back 10 mins early, the Brits and Yanks are on time and the South Americans saunter back when they feel like it!!

The park guide was very informative about the history and geography of the area and some of the scenery and bird-life were excellent.  As it was a Sunday, the locals all had their families out for an asador – a BBQ to us. But the Argie Barbie is composed of the hugest slabs of meat we’d ever seen! Tongs in one hand and a cerveza (beer) or glass of red wine in the other and the asadores /papas are the happiest they’ve been all week.



 

The local Ibis            Black necked            swans

The last part of the tour was to the Post Office in Puerto Ara, the furthest south PO in the world, where for a mere 10 pesos, they stamp your passport to show you’ve been to El Fin Du Mondo.

That’s the PO, built on the pier!
On the morning before we flew out, we went for a bracing (!) walk along the foreshore in front of the hotel. It was a bit wet and windy, but really enjoyable. We have loved our time in Ushuaia and wish we could stay longer, but we are looking forward to what we will find in El Calafate.

Tierra Del Fuego - Part One

Thursday 19th January - Saturday 21st Jamuary 2012 

 JT -It’s about 50 years since I drew the map of  Tierra del Fuego in geography class and decided that one day I had to visit the Land of Fire myself, and I am happy to say it has lived up to all my romantic expectations. The pointed mountains do look like the flames of a fire despite their snow-capped peaks; the air is so crisp and clean, and the light is amazing. It’s not dark till 11pm and light again by about 3.30am, though the sun doesn’t rise till later, so plenty of time to enjoy the shifting clouds and varying shadows on the landscape

We’re staying in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, or El Fin du Mondo, as they like to market it.  The hotel is sweet and right on a small beach, a bit out of Ushuaia main town – a long sprawling conurbation that has grown in a higgledy-piggledy way since the small outpost at the end of the world that Darwin found as he travelled there in the Beagle in the mid-1800s.

At the turn of the century the government in BA decided to make it the penal exile for all its more serious offenders, a bit like Oz to the Brits, and since then it has expanded steadily.

It’s a funny town, but we’ve grown very fond of it, having found an excellent pub, the Placeres Patagonicos, with good wi-fi – the things we judge by these days! The beer, wine and music are also good and they  show British footie on the tele, so Mick’s happy!

Great seafood… and Patagonian wine…

Our first expedition was a boat trip on a fast ship, as we wanted to go to the further islands, where there is a penguin colony. Here is a small selection of the several hundred photos we took that day:

Sea-lions a la Happy Feet 2, so as the two bulls had an argie-bargie in front of us! Nearby some daft Imperial Cormorants, who really don’t look built to fly at all.

And then the penguins – we could have watched them for hours! A visiting King penguin stole the show from the resident Magellans and Gentoo. Loved them all! Yes, quite chilly!

After this we landed at the Haverton Estancia (ranch), for a taste of life here from 1886 to current times, as the ranch is still run by the great, great, great grandson of the original Britsh settler – it’s a long story but really interesting.  Unfortunately since a devastating cold winter in 1995 they now herd only tourists, as 90% of their stock died that year.  As well as a wonderful collection of antiquated household and farming machinery, they also have a research station and museum with a fascinating collection and display of skeletons of all manner of local whales, dolphins and porpoises.

This is the lab where they boil off the flesh of the washed-up dead sealife to reduce it to its skeleton – the smell was SO awful I cannot describe it - we didn’t stay long!!

It was a pretty cloudy day, and cold although it didn't rainat all, occassional bright patches too. But there were some moments when the light was just magical, as we've tried to capture in these shots:

At which point we’ll post this – come back in a couple of days for Ushuaia Part 2!