Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world

We arrived here on Saturday and man was it cold!  It felt like winter and yet it's the middle of summer!  We got to our place, a nice Bed & Breakfast run by a friendly couple whose boys are all grown up.  We were exhausted from our 13 hour bus trip from Rio Gallegos.  Rio Gallegos isn't really that far away but Ushuaia is on an island and the quickest and cheapest way onto the island is a ferry, which is controlled by Chile.  The process of crossing into Chile (for a travel time of only one hour) took at least three!

After relaxing on Sunday we went to a couple of museums, the coolest of which was the old prison that was here.  Argentina had tried to turn this place into a penal-colony a la Australia but in the end just put a prison down here.  People didn't really try to escape because there was nowhere to run.  Overall the museum was very good, and hopefully the pictures and videos we took are enjoyable.

Suzanne is going to finish this one for me since I'm lazy. :)  ~Michael

So let's see. . .yes we filmed a little video in the old wing of the prison that you should check out if you have the time.  The crazy thing about the prison was how much of a difference they made to the city of Ushuaia.  The prisoners were responsible for building roads, the train line to the forest, laid electrical lines, and built many of the cities civic buildings.  Some of the prisoners were transferred to this prison because they had special skills (mechanics, engineers, etc.), others were brought here because they were literally insane (mass murderer that killed many children under 6 years old), or political prisoners (who oftentimes were just forced to stay in the city of Ushuaia but were not in the prison or under house arrest).  It is amazing how much good the prison brought to the town.  We were contemplating how this could work elsewhere.  One thing that Ushuaia really had going for it is that if people escaped they usually returned to the prison rather than die of starvation and cold.  Only those that had good behavior were allowed to work outside the prison and these were guarded by one or two people.  Regardless, it was very informative about the history of the town during the time the prison was open from 1902 to 1947.

We also went to another museum the Museo Fin del Mundo where we learned more about the maritime history, the native Yamana people, and saw the animals of the region (stuffed).  There were so many shipwrecks around Ushuaia that it is hard to even show them on a map.  The basic history of the Beagle Channel is that it was discovered by Colonel Fitz Roy in 1830 and he returned with Darwin in 1832.  Once sail boats were replaced by powered boats they believe that some shipping companies would stage crashes in this region to get insurance money which they would use to modernize their fleets.  Since accidents were so common in this region it was hard for insurance companies to dispute the accidents as real.  Nowadays most cruise ships bound for Antarctica stop in Ushuaia.  There are 5 ports to visit Antarctica but Ushuaia is the closest being only 1000 km away (the others are Christchurch in New Zealand, Punta Arenas in Chile, Capetown in South Africa, and Tasmania in Australia).  Most boats too big for the Panama Canal go through the Strait of Magellan and stop in Punta Arenas but there are some cargo ships here as well.  The entire city of Ushuaia is tax free to encourage commerce.  Michael was strongly contemplating buying some duty free scotch but in the end decided maybe it would be difficult to carry.

My favorite day in Ushuaia was the day we took two tours!  It was a very sunny day so we decided to book both a boat tour and penguin tour.  The boat was very small so we could get very close to see the sea lions, birds, and the lighthouse at the end of the world.  Much of the boat path was on the border between Argentina and Chile.  There was some dispute on this border but it was resolved without war in 1984 (we learned that the Pope helped with this peace and also that Argentina didn't want another war after the Falkland Islands).  It was the perfect day to be on a boat.  The climax of the day for me was walking amongst the penguins.  My only complaint would be that the hour on the island went by too quickly for me.  There were three kinds of penguins there.  We saw Gentoo penguins, Magellanic penguins, and one lost King penguin that would stay until it had finished molting.  They were all mating so they were very loud.  It was so fun to watch them walk around you and swim.  The key thing was for us to walk slowly and sometimes kneel down so we didn't tower over them.  I also think it would be fun to go back and see them in October or November when they have their chicks.  By now the babies are nearly as big as their parents so it was hard to tell them apart.  The best part of seeing animals in the wild is it reminds you of the unique habitat you are traveling through.  Once these penguins finish molting they will migrate to Peru for the winter.  All in all we had a great time in Ushuaia.  The bed and breakfast where we stayed was so welcoming that it was easy for us to relax and feel at home.  Alejandro and Frances have two dogs and they had five day old puppies!  Maybe someday we'll go back on a cruise to Antarctica if it becomes cheaper. . .    

Pictures to come.  We took a lot so we have a lot to go through.

~Suzanne