Ushuaia, Argentina

 Saturday, March 9

9C and rainy.  Our cruise director says there is no bad weather, just bad gear.  An announcement said there were umbrellas in our staterooms, but we couldn't find one.  We called down to Guest Relations and they brought us one.  ONE!  (which we actually didn't use all day LOL).

Today we were docked at Ushuaia, Argentina (pronounced oo-swahy-uh).  The town started as a missionary base, then became a penal colony, then it was a naval base.  Now it's a tourist attraction!

imagecredit https://lashworldtour.com/2023/05/introduction-to-ushuaia-argentina.html

Ushuaia is the southernmost city IN THE WORLD!  In fact, it is known as "The End of the World".  The sun shines for 13 hours a day during this time of year.

Book #2 that Frankie has been reading this week?  It is a novel about a cruise ship that departs from Ushuaia and passengers start having "accidents".  How timely.  And how intriguing!

Ushuaia's biggest problem?  Beavers!  Beavers were brought from Canada in the 1940's to increase the fur industry, but it didn't work.  Instead, they have created havoc by damaging local trees and plants.  Oops!

imagecredit https://www.spanish.academy/blog/10-fascinating-facts-about-ushuaia-argentina-the-worlds-southernmost-city/

Today we booked a tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park with a tour group called Alma Calma.  There were 10 of us in a van.  So not too crowded.

Tierra del Fuego National Park is 172,000 acres.  The entrance gate is only 13 km from Ushuaia City. This was our tour guide, Manu. 

We went on several hikes today.  The first one was quite nice, and no rain for this one.

Lapataia Bay

At the end of this hike, we came out at the End of National Route 3 (Panamerican Highway).  

This is the most southern point you can drive to in the Western Hemisphere. Again, cool!

This is Mount Condor, the primary mountain in the park:

The second hike was a bit rainier, so at the end of the hike we had snacks in the van instead of outdoors.  

Acigami Lake is a large freshwater lake shared with Chile.

Zaratiegui Bay 

This is where they had the "End of the World Post Office".  It is literally the farthest south actual post office in the world.  They had postcards you could buy and pens that didn't work, and a long line to mail your postcards.  We bought ONE postcard for my parents and mailed it off (we were able to write only  2 sentences because everyone wanted the one pen that worked LOL).  To mail that one postcard, we paid $8 US.  Poor Maylee was in shock because she mailed 6 postcards!!!

The tour was 6 hours. On the way back, we stopped for a group shot.  

We checked out a few shops before heading back to the ship, where we did a Find Frankie shot.  

At around 7 pm, the ship went through the Beagle Channel and Glacier Alley.  Pictures will have to be sent later, since the ship is about to depart and we will lose our internet.