Ushuaia (the most southerly city in the world according to the Argentines) Tierra del Fuego, Chocolate and Dress 30
Tierra del fuego comprises one large and several smaller islands and is jointly owned by Chile and Argentina. It is about the same size as Ireland.
Ushuaia a few facts
Ushuaia was home to the Yamana Indian for 6,500 years they lived on Seal Meat and Whales using their bones for tools and the skins for covers for their backs, the meat was so rich in fat that these skins were their only clothes. Charles Darwin came here in the HMS Beagle in the 1832 he studied the Natives and the flora and fauna, Anglican missionaries came in the 1869 and stayed for 60 years. During the late 19th Century Argentina decided to create a penal colony in this remote area. The prisoners were entirely self-sufficient building the prison the railway and making their furniture. The prison finally closed in 1947. During the 1970’s there were incentives for high tech industries and the city grew but these are now in decline (all gone to China) and so lumber, fishing and tourism are their principle sources of income. There are about 40,000 inhabitants. The food is very Spanish and Italian.
Mate Drinking
I have mentioned this before so I have put a picture of it being drunk by an Argentinian; we still have yet to try ours
Patagonian Chocolate
The great thing they have here is Patagonian Chocolate; the main street of this small and very prosperous town is lined with chocolate shops. The other speciality is whole Lamb roasted over an open barbeque pit, we will see more of that tomorrow. The feeling of the town is a cross between Bruges and the Lake or Peak district and a ski resort. We had done our research on the chocolate so headed for one They offer hot drinking chocolate and we were given ours sobre la casa (on the house) by the boss which was a very nice surprise. We enjoyed good coffee, the hot chocolate and media lunas (half-moons) or croissants to us, and finally bought some Patagonian chocolate Dress 30 is worn by the young lady with an unpronounceable name who kept encouraging us to buy more for su familia.
Tierra del fuego national park
The park covers 155,000 acres and we were there before 9.00 am in the morning, of course we only saw and walked in a small part of it but it was enough to justify the chocolate. The mountains still have snow on the peaks and the water was clear and very cold looking. We saw Lago Roca and the damage the imported Beavers have done to the habitat.
The climate is harsh with -10 in winters and +15 in summers if they are lucky they get 4 or 5 days of over 20C. They have 17 hours of daylight in the summer and 7 in the winter. We are here at the height of summer and it’s about 10C max and people are camping in the woods by the very windy Lake Roca. They clearly have some of the Yamana Indian blood in them.
The Pan American Highway
This starts in Tierra del fuego and goes all the way to Alaska 17,800 Kms perhaps this could be another trip
We have seen a condor, Bill Yates ex-partners yacht (which according to one of the locals had a helicopter fall off the back yesterday) is in the Harbour, I’ve bought a Patagonian wool hat which I am wearing whilst typing, I am looking at the most marvellous clear stark landscape as we negotiate the Beagle channel and the captain has promised us our first glaciers from 6.00pm to 7.30pm tonight so must finish now.
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