Ushuaia Dec 10 - 14

The bus journey from Rio Gallegos is scheduled to take 12 hours, but ends up taking 15, thanks to no less than 6 passport checks throughout the day. We have one before leaving Rio Gallegos, another 20 minutes later on the road, and then we have to cross into Chile for a few hours, before crossing back in to Argentina. Oh how the land squabbles make for travel "fun".

We cross the Straits of Magellan at its narrowest point, toward the east, and the current here has to be seen to be believed. We watch the ferry before us leave and it heads upstream absolutely parallel with the shoreline, for quite some time, before finally turning and heading across the Strait and allowing the current to take its effect.

We have to wait the best part of an hour for the next ferry to arrive, and then be thoroughly hosed down, for some reason not apparent to us. Steve and I take the opportunity to lark around (just once) on the slide put there to no doubt entertain bored kids whilst they wait. We fit that bill.

The crossing itself takes around 30 minutes, during which time we see quite a few dolphins of a small black and white variety. We land in Tierra del Fuego and still have plenty of kilometres to cover, a substantial amount of it being on gravelled roads.

There is much more evidence of farming here. Rainfall would seem to be so slightly higher, and there is slightly more of a pick for the sheep here. Although I have not been down it, I imagine it is what the Molesworth road is like. We pass many estancias - large farms that we would call "stations".

We arrive in Ushuaia at midnight, so don't really get a chance to admire what would seem to be some beautiful mountain and lake scenes as we get closer. The next day we take a chairlift, and then an hour walk, up to the Glacier Martial, behind the town. The guidebook had warned that after Perito Moreno it would appear to be an "ice-cube", but we felt that even that was an overstatement, with "melted ice" or "once was a glacier here" being a better description.

The highlight of the trek, though, is the very rewarding views down the glacial valley to Ushuaia, and then right down the Beagle Channel. This, like the Straits of Magellan, is another waterway leading all the way from the Pacific to the Atlantic, meaning that across the other side of the channel from Ushuaia is effectively all islands.

On the way back we walk though the woods. It is incredible that absolutely ALL of the trees in this extended region (hundreds of square kilometres) are from the same species - a type of beech. They range from forests populated entirely with smalller specimens - ones you could wrap two hands around (keep your smutty innuendo to yourself please) through to forests with fewer specimens, but much larger and a couple of hundred years old each.

This photo is for you Graham - not the prettiest waterfall I"ll ever discover, but proof I am gradually finding my way photographically !

Tierra del Fuego ("Land of Fire") is the name given the area south of the Straits of Magellan, and this area is shared between Argentina and Chile. Once you cross the Beagle Channel it is all Chilean, as is the western half of the channel itself.

The name Tierra del Fuego is not derived from anything to do with the Pacific ring of fire, but is instead the name given by the first explorers to the area. Upon sailing into the Beagle Channel, they saw hundreds of fires lit along its shoreline. These were lit by the aboriginal people - the Yamana.

These people were nomadic, using their canoes to move around the coastline in search of shelter and food. Because the weather was so wet, and cold, they preferred not to wear clothes because these became too difficult to dry. So they went nude instead, and huddled round fires to keep warm.

There was 3000 Yamana left in 1880, but colonial settlers brought with them diseases that the Yamana had no resistance to. Additionally, the burgeoning naval and army bases here were given permission to shoot them, for practice. By 1890 the Yamana population was 1000, and by 1900 it was 100. There is now one full blooded Yamana person left - a woman in her 80s. Sound familiar Australia ?

Ushuaia is very much a city - although more in terms of population rather than "seeming huge". It has 70,000 residents now, up tenfold from 25 years ago. It is the primary base for tourist excursions to Antarctica - at 1,000 kilometres away it is far closer than many other places. Stewart Island, for example, is 2,200 kilometres away.

The next day Steve and I meet Mum at the airport, and we grab a hire car for 24 hours and are able to check out some of the scenery nearby. First we retrace our steps on the road into Ushuaia so we can see again some of the fine scenes we caught glimpses of on the way here during the night. First we visit Lago Escondida ("Hidden Lake" - though not too sure why it is deemed to be hidden).

We also visit the tiny fishing hamlet of Puerto Almanza.

We also come across evidence of beavers, but alas, we are unable to see a live one, meaning that we singularly fail in our quest to deliver that cheesy yet epic line from "Naked Gun".

In the evening we take Mum out for a fancy birthday dinner at Kaupe which had won the best restaurant in Argentina award in 2005. We had the best table in the place, with a fantastic view down the channel, and the service was highly polished. While there was nothing wrong with meal itself, it didnt really set any new boundaries or achieve any superlative level of accomplishment.

The meal did give us the chance, however, to once again lay eyes on one of the strangest individuals you are ever likely to see. Human decency (and lack of opportunity, lets be honest) prevents me from showing you a photo of definitively the most ineffective transvestite I have ever seen. Steve and I first clocked ´her´when we went to pick up Mum at the airport. ´She´(not Mum) was wearing a fetching orange cardy, heavy brown stockings, and a mid-brown skirt with a long slit up it. If the facial appearance was not enough of a clue, the gait and the baritone like voice were dead giveaways. To see this person once again, on the table next to us at a top class restaurant was quite bizarre, and Steve and I both wondered thought the maitre ´de was incedibly well polished when he smoothly answered the tranny´s question "Where are the toilets please". (he was directed to the ladies). This was the maginalised human at its very best. How cruel we all are.

On our final day before embarkation we take a bit of a practice cruise along the Beagle Channel. Here we see sea-lions, cormorants, and some Magellanic penguins.

So that was Ushuaia. As I write this our ship is waiting in the port, and we embark in an hour or so. It is a Russian registered ice-breaker which was once a research vessel. From all accounts it is nicely fitted out on board, and the service is top class. I don´t imagine I´ll be going for too many runs on my 7th continent (only just realised that), so I will have to be very careful that meal times don´t get quite the focus they otherwise threaten to do.

One thing I am looking forward to trying is roast penguin on Christmas Day ! I have been told it is a bit of a cross between chicken and fish (funny that) and apparently the flippers get scored and salted and comes out a bit like pork crackling. Sounds intriguing.

All the best for Christmas, I am back in NZ on Dec 30. The Antarctic blog will follow in early January.

Love, Ed x