Last stop, Ushuaia and home

Ushuaia, pronounced something like oo-schway-a, is the southernmost city in the world and the only city south of the South American Andes mountain range.  It’s located in southern Patagonia, at the extreme south of Argentina, close to the border with Chile and not far from Cape Horn.  It’s known as ‘Fin del Mundo’ or the city ‘At The World’s End’ and can be exposed to some grim weather.  Happily for us, the weather was kind (most of the time) and we enjoyed some sunny, cool days.  With a population of only 60,000 the city is hardly large, but with regular visitors from cruise ships in the summer months and avid skiers in the winter, it has developed a thriving and lively tourist trade.  Founded in 1884 by one Augusto Lasserre, its small port is well positioned in the deep water of a wide bay forming part of the Beagle Channel, named after the ship HMS Beagle, during its first hydrographic survey of the area between 1826 and 1830.  On its second voyage, 1831 to 1836, the young graduate Charles Darwin was aboard.  The publication of his journal The Voyage of the Beagle resulted in fame that established him as a writer.  He also started to develop his theories that would eventually be published in his work On the Origin of Species.

That’s all good stuff but as the Stella Australis nudged the dockside with the slightest of bumps, we slept soundly.  Well, it was midnight.  Disembarking after another good breakfast and checking into the Arakur Hotel brought our voyage of discovery to a close and opened the final chapter of our holiday adventure.  Perched on top of its own small mountain, the hotel overlooks the town and the Beagle Channel.  We chose a mountain view, having watched the sea and glaciers for the last four days, and were not disappointed.  Anyway, the sea view is right there, from the bar.

  

The town sprawls along the waterfront, extending into valleys between the mountains.  It’s busy with traffic and nearly all the roads are narrow and one way, so there’s quite a lot of driving around blocks to get to any given destination.  Parking seems to be a big issue but controlled by wardens who issue tickets, not for fines, but for parking duration fees.  

Dogs are everywhere.  Big ones, small ones, in-between ones.  They all seem completely unconcerned by traffic and pedestrians.  They stretch out asleep wherever they want and the people step around them.  The population of Ushuaia do seem to be a very laid back group.  Perhaps that’s where the dogs learn to be the same.  

We took the opportunity to relax a little before the journey back to Australia.  We did visit the old prison, which is the reason the town grew from a few huts in the first place, and the memorial to those who died in the Falklands war in 1982.  We found it interesting reading the way that events were portrayed, presenting the British as the aggressors with no mention of the initial Argentinian occupation of the islands.  Our main form of relaxation is to check out the local food and drink, not that we’ve missed out on those delights so far.  The Patagonia climate is cool and the waters are cold and in our experience those conditions result in additional flavour, particularly in seafood.  We were not disappointed.  A speciality is king crab.  These are monstrous fellows, two to three feet across with big strong legs and a solid body.  Caught fresh and very clean from the sea they are pink on top and white underneath.  The colour does not change when they are cooked and the flavour is subtle and delicious.  It became necessary to return to the Volver Restaurant, just to be sure that our first impressions were correct.  I’m happy to report that they were.  Sea bass is another local speciality and we found it equally delicious.

 

Now good food requires a good drink and we’ve already reported on Malbec, that goes down just as well with fish as it does with meat.  But sometimes a beer fits the bill and there’s some good ones.  The Patagonia range is flavoursome but we preferred Beagle, and not for the dog connection.  The Golden Ale is hoppy, similar to an IPA, whilst the dark stout parallels a Mackeson (readers located in England will understand).  For everyone else, the beers are not the usual bland lager, but nutty, rich and a full mouthful.  Cheers.

Have I mentioned that we’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather?  Changeable is an understatement and we’ve been privileged with days of clear skies and sunshine.  On our last evening nature put on a spectacular show, turning the sky red as the sun dipped below the mountains.  As the old adage goes ‘Red sky at night . . .  Surely the shepherds would be delighted.  However, the proverb appears to not apply in these southern latitudes. The following morning we were greeted with cloud down to ground level and rain.  Or as the driver who took us to the airport put it “this is the usual Ushuaia weather”.  At least we can claim to have experienced it.  The cloud remained constant throughout the day reducing visibility to a few metres.  No photos, there’s nothing to see apart from grey mist.

So our time in Ushuaia came to an end. The journey back was not without some tension.  Our flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires was delayed for three hours due to the weather.  However, the Buenos Aires domestic airport is on the opposite side of the city to the international airport.  Fortunately a car was ready to collect us, although I think our luggage was almost one of the last to appear on the conveyor.  The traffic was dreadful but we made the flight to Aukland with about 20 minutes to spare and then on to Brisbane without further hassle.  Total travelling time was about 30 hours.

It's not possible to single out a special moment; there were so many of them.  Each day was different and each day was a delight.  I’ll just add this last photo which for me sums up Patagonia.  A clear blue sky, snow capped mountains, glacier filled lakes and . . .  where have those guanacos gone?

A final last word.  If you’re a vegan, don’t go to Argentina, you’ll starve!

The Stella Australis

What can I say about the Stella Australis?  Yes, it was built in Chile in 2010, is 89 metres long, 14.5 metres wide, has a draft of 3.45 metres and displaces about 4,500 tonnes.  62 crew look after a maximum of 210 passengers in 100 cabins.  There were only 160 on our trip so plenty of room.  It was designed and built to navigate the specific geography of Tierra del Fuego, being both shallow draft and capable of handling the severe storms that frequent the latitude.  For us it was four days of adventure and luxury living.

 

Boarding at six in the evening, we quickly settled into our cabin.  That’s us, the second large window behind the bridge, high up, just below the general social area (read bar) on the top deck.  A welcoming cocktail party and safety briefing set the scene that would be our life on board for the next few days - wine and lifejackets.  Each trip ashore in the Zodiacs required full scale dressing, layer upon layer of warm clothing, then waterproofs, finally the life jacket.  We didn’t need an evacuation drill, we did it twice a day as a matter of course.

Meals were varied and excellent, drinks were plentiful and the crew, all of them, were knowledgeable and eager to make our adventure something very special.  Each trip ashore was led by a guide and the different nationalities on board, fourteen of them, were catered for in three primary languages; Spanish, English and German.  We learned about the natural flora that grew low down in response to the winds that would otherwise rip them from the ground.  Trekking inland we entered forests of slow growing lenga trees (a variety of beech) that somehow stood up to the weather conditions and were draped with lichens.  We saw the beginnings of autumn colours and rocks draped with centuries old mosses.

At Tuckers Islet, the Magellanic penguins were in the process of their annual moult.  Many had left the rookery after raising their chick and the remaining few looked as though they were waiting for a bus to come along.  By comparison, cormorants filled every available nook with their nests and skuas flew overhead looking for any opportunity to steal eggs or chicks.  Nature even provided a rainbow.  Beautiful.

The choppy water flew into exhilarating spray as our Zodiac headed towards a landing spo,t where lifejackets were piled in heaps and we trekked to the Pia Glacier and then climbed higher to view it from above.  By the time we returned, pack ice had formed around the landing place and the Zodiacs had difficulty in finding a way though back to the ship.  But hot chocolate laced with a slug of scotch whiskey kept us warm until we were safely back on board.

 

   

Cruising through what is known as ‘Glacier Alley’, we passed the German, French, Italian and Holland glaciers, each named after the country that first identified them.  Each was celebrated with suitable canapes and drinks of the country.  The bar staff worked hard to keep up as we worked hard to consume the offerings before the next arrived.  Tough life!

As I said a few blogs back, sixty odd years ago, when I was a teenager, I had an aspiration to visit Cape Horn.  Don’t ask me why, I’ve long forgotten, but the aspiration remained and at long last that dream was fulfilled.  The weather was as perfect as it can be in these far south latitudes and we were able to go ashore on Cape Horn.  By the way, Cape Horn not a cape at all, but a small island with a population of four – the lighthouse keeper, his wife and two daughters, and it is part of Chile.  We tramped our way up hundreds of steps to visit the lighthouse and the beautiful albatross memorial to the many lives that have been lost at sea in the region.  It was a humbling experience.  However, we’d made it.  A highlight of the adventure and a great big tick on the bucket list.

   

On board, our dinner table of six included us two Aussies and four Americans, Ed, Patty, Bill and Sarah.  The conversation was varied, intelligent and great fun with lots of laughs.  Mainly thanks to Bill, our table won the voyage trivia quiz on the last night and were awarded with badges as prizes. 

We were privileged to visit the bridge, engine room, auxiliary machinery room and osmosis plant for creating potable water from sea water.  I was particularly taken with the engineer’s workshop that was immaculate in its layout. 

All too soon, in the middle of the night, and so gently we never woke, the ship berthed at Ushuaia, the most southerly city in the world, known as the World’s End.  Early morning, after a final breakfast we disembarked, bidding a fond farewell to the Stella Australis.