Tierra del Fuego
NOTE: Click on the photos to see them full size.
Ushuaia from the Beagle Channel with the Martial Glacier high on the mountain.
Guanacos on the pampus in the Northern part of Tierra del Fuego
Steam train which took us to the Tierra del Fuego National Park
View from the Chair Lift as we approached the start of our walk to the Martial Glacier. It was a tad cold when the wind blew...
View of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel from the Martial Glacier
Us on a snow bank right up under the snout of the hanging glacier above.
One night we heard drumming so followed the sound and found a local version of Carnival going on. We thought the costumes were a bit more modest than the Carnival in Rio, but that is fair enough in this close to Antarctica. However, as the next photo shows the scantily clad dancing girls was the next act...
Dancing girls at Ushuaia's "Carnival"
How's this for cute? One of the unusual shop window displays.
The remains of my mixed Parrilla. Blood sausage remains on plate and intestines on the charcoal burner.
Upland Goose and two chicks. This bird is a native of Patagonia.
Upland gander not too happy about my taking his photo.
Wow we love this place! Thanks Henry for suggesting that we make the effort to get to Ushuaia. This town is very modern and looks like it belongs in the Swiss Alps. There is a very strong European influence here. The town lies on the Beagle Chanel but cannot quite claim the title of the Southern most town in the world as across the channel to the South is another island in Chile with the town of Puerto Williams on it. But this is certainly as far as you can travel by bus, any further South from here needs a boat!
It was funny when we arrived at our hostel here as there was a guy sitting in the lounge area just inside the front door and we both thought we recognised him. We quickly checked into our room as after an all-day bus journey the priority for both of us was to get to the toilet! As we were comtemplating (as one does at such times) , Cheryl remembered who he was. It was Simon Yates famous mountaineer who we saw in Brisbane last year and who signed a poster for us. Unfortunately, by the time we emerged he had left but the owner confirmed that it was indeed him.
The place names around here remind you of its historical significance. To get here we crossed the Strait of Magellan. Between here and Antarctica is the Drake Passage, and to the West is the Darwin Range.
Magellan called this island the Island of Smoke because of the smoke of the fires of the Fuegan aboriginies. However the King of Spain thought that was a bit bland and changed it to Land of Fire so Tierra del Fuego it is today.
Behind the town of Ushuaia is the equivilant of Mt Coot-tha but this mountain has a chairlift and a glacier on it. We went up there this week and walked to a snow field right up under the snout of this huge hanging glacier called the Martial Glacier. Our first glacier in South America!
There is no shortage of things to do here, another day we visited the nearby National Park by taking a steam train ride, then a walk past beaver dams. Today we have been out on a boat to visit the local sea-lion colony.
When in Argentina you must try their famous barbeques called parrilla, so I asked the waiter what parrilla he recommended and he suggested the mixed version to try a bit of everything. Well what a cholesterol load it was, I'm sure the Australian Heart Foundation would not approve! It came out on a little charcol burner, probably to stop the fat congealing before it was in my arteries, and I washed it down with a big glass of the local red. The recogisable pieces were great, chicken, beef, lamb, sausage and ribs. But the black sausage was not to my liking and the other strange shapes were very chewy and not very tasty. It turned out that the black sausage was blood and the other bits were intestines.
There seems to be a bit of a competition going between the trendy shops here as to who can come up with the most original window mannequins. So far we have seen penguins, punks and dogs, but the winner has to be the cyclopes.
The next major destination for us is the Torres del Paine National Park back in Chile so that should be our next blog entry.
Ushuaia from the Beagle Channel with the Martial Glacier high on the mountain.
Guanacos on the pampus in the Northern part of Tierra del Fuego
Steam train which took us to the Tierra del Fuego National Park
View from the Chair Lift as we approached the start of our walk to the Martial Glacier. It was a tad cold when the wind blew...
View of Ushuaia and the Beagle Channel from the Martial Glacier
Us on a snow bank right up under the snout of the hanging glacier above.
One night we heard drumming so followed the sound and found a local version of Carnival going on. We thought the costumes were a bit more modest than the Carnival in Rio, but that is fair enough in this close to Antarctica. However, as the next photo shows the scantily clad dancing girls was the next act...
Dancing girls at Ushuaia's "Carnival"
How's this for cute? One of the unusual shop window displays.
The remains of my mixed Parrilla. Blood sausage remains on plate and intestines on the charcoal burner.
Upland Goose and two chicks. This bird is a native of Patagonia.
Upland gander not too happy about my taking his photo.
Wow we love this place! Thanks Henry for suggesting that we make the effort to get to Ushuaia. This town is very modern and looks like it belongs in the Swiss Alps. There is a very strong European influence here. The town lies on the Beagle Chanel but cannot quite claim the title of the Southern most town in the world as across the channel to the South is another island in Chile with the town of Puerto Williams on it. But this is certainly as far as you can travel by bus, any further South from here needs a boat!
It was funny when we arrived at our hostel here as there was a guy sitting in the lounge area just inside the front door and we both thought we recognised him. We quickly checked into our room as after an all-day bus journey the priority for both of us was to get to the toilet! As we were comtemplating (as one does at such times) , Cheryl remembered who he was. It was Simon Yates famous mountaineer who we saw in Brisbane last year and who signed a poster for us. Unfortunately, by the time we emerged he had left but the owner confirmed that it was indeed him.
The place names around here remind you of its historical significance. To get here we crossed the Strait of Magellan. Between here and Antarctica is the Drake Passage, and to the West is the Darwin Range.
Magellan called this island the Island of Smoke because of the smoke of the fires of the Fuegan aboriginies. However the King of Spain thought that was a bit bland and changed it to Land of Fire so Tierra del Fuego it is today.
Behind the town of Ushuaia is the equivilant of Mt Coot-tha but this mountain has a chairlift and a glacier on it. We went up there this week and walked to a snow field right up under the snout of this huge hanging glacier called the Martial Glacier. Our first glacier in South America!
There is no shortage of things to do here, another day we visited the nearby National Park by taking a steam train ride, then a walk past beaver dams. Today we have been out on a boat to visit the local sea-lion colony.
When in Argentina you must try their famous barbeques called parrilla, so I asked the waiter what parrilla he recommended and he suggested the mixed version to try a bit of everything. Well what a cholesterol load it was, I'm sure the Australian Heart Foundation would not approve! It came out on a little charcol burner, probably to stop the fat congealing before it was in my arteries, and I washed it down with a big glass of the local red. The recogisable pieces were great, chicken, beef, lamb, sausage and ribs. But the black sausage was not to my liking and the other strange shapes were very chewy and not very tasty. It turned out that the black sausage was blood and the other bits were intestines.
There seems to be a bit of a competition going between the trendy shops here as to who can come up with the most original window mannequins. So far we have seen penguins, punks and dogs, but the winner has to be the cyclopes.
The next major destination for us is the Torres del Paine National Park back in Chile so that should be our next blog entry.
posted by Laurie Barram at 6:12 am
2 Comments:
Hi Laurie and Cheryl
I continue to read about your journey with much interest and envy.
I think that it is amazing in itself that you are finding the time to update your "blog".
You certainly appear to be having a great time. Continue to enjoy it all.
Leanne (INS Admin)
awesome journey!!
love and kisses from Oz...
Lyneece and Moses xoxoxo
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