1-6-20 - Beagle Channel & Tierra Del Fuego Nacional Parque
/It is our only full day to explore the End of the World, otherwise known as Ushuaia in Argentine Patagonia. We start off on a boat tour off the south coast to explore the Beagle Channel which sits just above Cape Horn where the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean meet forming the northern entrance to the fabled Drake Passage which marks the route will be taking to Antarctica tomorrow.
The Andes expose their gray and white sides to us in panoramic views from the boat. We see sea lions, puffins and birds on the floating rocks around the channel. We sail by the iconic red and white Ushuaia lighthouse. The boat stops on at an Island where exhibits and signs educate us about the Yamana people but were the indigenous peoples in the area dating back to 6,300 years ago and are now known as the boat-people at the end of the world.
The Yamana people survived mainly on seabirds and mammals by hunting, fishing and gathering. They moved around by canoes made of tree bark. Towards the end of the 19th Century, the indigenous population numbered around 3,000 people who inhabited the area which is now Ushuaia. Upon the first permanent settlements of Europeans and Argentines, they suffered a dramatic decrease in their population and a deep culture shock. The people dies out and today their descendants live in Ushuaia and Port Williams.
The Yamana people learned to survive the harsh climates of Ushuaia partly by carrying fire with them everywhere they went. They were famed for inventing a type of wooden canoe that allowed for fires in the canoe without burning the wooden canoe. This allowed them to keep warm while fishing out on the ocean. As the indigenous people died out or moved away, the secret of how they built the fireproof wooden canoes remains a mystery today despite many people spending decades researching and trying to figure it out.
The cruise is both peaceful and educational. Kyle read last night that the Antarctica cruise recommends taking binoculars to view the wildlife. Kyle had a pair but he left them back in Los Angeles after lugging them around for six months and not using them even one time during the first half. Noting that the boat leader has a sporting pair of binoculars, Leanne asks him for recommendations and advice and he tells Leanne that he highly recommended Bushnell 10 by 42. He even was kind enough to share the best place to purchase them in town. Lucky break there because the store Atlantic Sur also sold solar powered charges that Kyle, Corey and Justin will need during the four day Inca Trail hike to recharge their phones for pictures since there will be no electric power.
We pick up the rental car and head out for Tierra Del Fuego National Park, another gem of Patagonia. It’s a large national park surrounded by water ways. It’s clean and pristine offering us some of our last views without snow for a while. On the way, the road turns from paved to pure dirt. In order to fit seven people, we had to rent a rather small mini-van which is not the ideal choice for off roading. As we enter the park, the road turns into a mud swamp from yesterday’s rain. Kyle is wishing he had his big SUV from back home but manages to get us through the dicey parts without flipping the mini-van over.
The first of three recommended stops is the post office at the end of the world. Kyle is particularly excited about this southernmost post office in the world given his twenty year career in the Internet postage space. The post office building sits on the edge of the land overlooking the water. The post office is decorated with signs and labels outlining a colorful history. Kyle buys some postcards as memorial souvenirs from the postmaster who could be the oldest postmaster on Earth. The kids have a blast skipping stones on the water while Kyle records them in slow motion.
Next, we drive to the visitor center which has an exhibit with more information on the Yamana indigenous people. These people lived for thousands of years here in these inhospitable conditions wearing little more than a fur lined Speedo. They were never more than a few feet from fire which was their lifeblood. Culture shock, disease and other atrocities were culprits of their demise, but today’s Argentines do service to them remembering their existence.
We end the visit with an hour hike down to water in another part of the park. It is very picturesque and we see a lot of backpackers and people camping overnight. The park derives its name from Fernand Magellan who first discovered it in 1520. Seeing all the fires of the Yamana people burning, he named the place Tierra Del Fuego which means Land of Fire.
For our last dinner on solid land before our Antarctica cruise, the teens chose Hard Rock Cafe Ushuaia. Sense a theme here? Yes we cave in once again as it’s a clan favorite and their mission to eat as many Hard Rock Cafes as we can. This is our 6th one along with Sydney, Munich, Buenos Aires, Cambodia and Singapore. Frankly, Kyle is surprised the somewhat small city of Ushuaia even has one as it appears to be the only commercialized chain restaurant in the town.
John makes the argument that this one is so far south; we can count it as Antarctica so we can say we went to Hard Rock Cafes on all seven continents. That is, unless there is a Hard Rock run by penguins in the South Pole. No matter, we make the 20 minute walk into town to the Hard Rock and are rewarded with another solid meal and great family conversation. We bop along to the 80s and 90s music.
Tomorrow we will board the Hondius cruise ship headed for Antarctica.
