11/23: Back from Sea & Tour to Tierra del Fuego National Park

I mentioned at the end of the previous post how much we'd loved our ten-day cruise to Antarctica which ended at 8 am when we arrived back in the port of Ushuaia in southernmost Argentina. Much as we enjoyed discovering our last continent, it was great seeing, and then landing on, terra firma again. Neither of us had spent that much time at sea before so it took us the rest of that day and the next before our legs didn't feel wobbly.

If you look really closely, the sign just above the water says "Ushuaia: Capital of the Malvinas." The Malvinas were how the Chileans referred to the Falkland Islands, the group of islands that were the subject of a skirmish between Chile and Britain about a dozen years ago. 

Murals in Ushuaia covered many walls and fences. These designs were from the indigenous Selk'am tribe.

The mural represented the white scarf worn by mothers and grandmothers who protested weekly those loved ones who had 'disappeared' and were presumed killed by the Argentine police during the revolutionary period.

The small waterfront park in Ushuaia was dedicated to Evita Peron, the wife and political ally of President Peron who commanded a loyal following throughout Argentina before dying early from cancer.

In the afternoon, we started a tour to Tierra del Fuego National Park we'd reserved before we left on the cruise to Antarctica. Since we were leaving the next afternoon for a four-day cruise through part of the Chilean section of Patagonia, this would be our only opportunity to see the park. We traveled on Route 3 that began 3,073 kilometers away in the capital city of Buenos Aires!

Our guide said the temperature was a very warm 22 degrees Celsius, which was unusually warm for the beginning of their spring. It was 'always' windy and chilly in the park so we very lucky, she said. Believe me, we weren't complaining! We followed the scenic Rio Pipo.

Tierra del Fuego translates to Land of Fire which was how early explorers described the land they saw, not realizing initially the fires were due to the indigenous people's fires used for warmth and cooking.

Elena, our guide who was a native of Buenos Aires, said she came to Ushuaia every year from October to April to work because she preferred the wide open spaces compared to life in the hectic capital so far north. She stated out the most dangerous prisoners from the town's prison were asked to cut down trees in the forests outside of Ushuaia for firewood and construction until 1945. 

On the way to the park located further south of the town, we stopped for several minutes to see the End of the World Train Station where we saw a steam locomotive that looked more than a little like Thomas the Tank Engine!

About eighty percent of the three types of trees in the park were linga trees.

There used to be a beaver dam here. She told us that the beavers had been introduced from Canada for their pelts but their fur didn't grow as expected. As there were no predators, the number of beavers was now at ten thousand! The animals could be hunted but there was little incentive as there was no reward. 

The 3,000 year old peat bog grew just one centimeter a year.

She pointed out the upland goose ducks in the grass. The male is more beautiful in order to attract the female who must remain invisible when laying eggs.

The water in the pretty Laguna Verde was green because of a specific organism.

 Behind the lake was Condor Mountain.

The distance marker indicated the number of kilometers from Buenos Aires.

If you click on the photo to make it larger, you'll notice that Alaska was 17,848 kilometers away at the other end of the Pan American Highway!

Lapatia Bay:

You can see how very strong the wind was by the way my hair looked!

I know it looks like we walked by a bed of beautiful blooming spring-blooming flowers by Royal Table Mountain but they were simply dandelions! As I mentioned about a dozen posts ago, Steven and I were surprised about the huge dandelions we saw growing in the southern hemisphere.

A bumper sticker on a van in the parking lot showed the number of countries and kilometers on the Pan American Highway. I didn't know why it indicated the distance to Alaska listed on the sticker was almost twice that marked on the park sign.

Elena told us that a disease had caused this tree to die from the inside out.

 The 'tumor' growing on the outside of the tree was nature's way to get rid of the fungus inside the tree, according to Elena.

She stated that the old man's beard plant can only grow when the air was pure.

What we thought were beehives was actually fake mistletoe, a parasite that grows on trees. It turns to brown after it takes a long time to kill the branch. Then, it dies too.

In the background were the snow-capped Andes in Chile and the entrance to the Beagle Channel we'd just traveled through yesterday as we returned from the Drake Passage.

After being on the ship for so long, it was especially appealing being back on land amid such beautiful views in the national park.

Elena indicated the upland geese were always here in pairs for the summer before they move on to Brazil.

The path took us past many more trees with old man's beard on them.

What we thought looked like pretty amazing mountains across the lake were in fact just islands. It was only when we looked at a sign that it was apparent that some were in Argentina and others in Chile.

Isla Redonda was in the Argentinian portion of Patagonia but 

Isla Hoste was located in Chile.

 Elena suggested we next go for a walk along the Senda Costanera or Waterfront Path which we agreed to quickly.

The southernmost post office in the world was located at the end of the dock!

Elena mentioned that the indigenous people ate the fungus but there were no calories in it.

These apricot-looking things were called Indian bread and were very common throughout Patagonia. Our guide mentioned, though, the 'bread' sold for a small fortune in northern Argentina as they were considered such a delicacy.

The water was crystal clear. It's hard to tell from this photo but the rocks on the shoreline were a pale shade of green.

I think this was the only evergreen tree we spotted while in the park.

We wouldn't have known but Elena said this bush would be producing wild strawberries in the near future.

After enjoying a snack by the water, we wandered down to the shore to look at the southernmost post office more closely.

Steven was pointing to the New York listing on the sign at the End of the World Post Office! Too bad I didn't have any post cards to drop in the box.

Having the opportunity to visit and get out and hike in several sections of the vast national park for a few hours was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon after being on a ship for so long.

Next post: On another cruise, albeit a short one, through part of the Chilean section of Patagonia to Punta Arenas. That seemed so much more exciting than taking a twelve-hour bus ride from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas.

Posted on December 29th, 2019, from a way too quiet home in Littleton, Colorado, after the last of our three older children and their spouses left this morning after coming 'home' for the holidays.