Jan. 13 Ushuaia

14C Clouds, sun and showers

Ushuaia is the southern most community in the world at 55 degrees south. It is located in a bay surrounded by the Andes on the Island of Tierra del Fuego. It is bounded on the south by the Beagle Channel, the passageway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 

Because of our altered itinerary over the last few days, we arrived in Ushuaia 5 hours earlier than scheduled. Our excursion, Trekking in Ushuaia, was moved ahead by 4 hours. It was a good thing too, as it was starting to rain when we returned to port after the excursion. 

Some comments on human nature. Our excursion was listed as strenuous and it amazes me how people don’t pay attention to that information. A lady in her 70’s who walks with a cane was in the group of 38. I give her credit for finishing the trek, albeit slowly and with significant assistance from one of the guides.Luckily there were enough guides with the group that the rest were not held back waiting for her. 

People also don’t listen to instructions. Follow where I am walking or stay on the path are pretty clear but there is always someone who thinks they know better. I’m sure they got wet feet traversing the bog while the rest of us stayed on higher ground. 

Then there is the photographer who stops in the middle of the path to capture that Kodak moment. Anyone who knows me, knows that I always have my camera at the ready. But I step to the edge of the path and let people behind me pass. 

Back to our excursion. We drove 25 minutes northeast of Ushuaia to Husky Park. It was cold and breezy so we put on our warm gear, adjusted our hiking poles and we were off. We hiked up and down through a lengua forest and around a beaver dam and across a peat bog, stopping every 10 minutes or so to hear information about the flora and fauna. 

Ushuaia got its start as a penal colony in the early 1900’s. It was closed in the 1940’s when it was considered inhumane to keep prisoners in such cold, crowded, primitive and remote conditions. The prison, built to hold 380, had over 800 prisoners when it closed. But closing it had an adverse effect on the economy. 

Someone had the bright idea to import beavers and start a fur industry. The beavers did not develop a long fur like Canadian beavers and were worthless for their pelts. They grew big and fat and changed the landscape with their dams. Twenty five pairs were imported, today there are over 300,000 beavers, despite an attempt to eliminate them. There are no natural predators in Tierra del Fuego. 

In the forest, it can take 30 years for a leaf that falls on the forest floor to decompose and 400 years for a tree to decompose. Most trees were covered in old man’s beard lichen. Thick carpets of moss covered the bases of the trees. The average temperature is around 12C in the summer and -3C in the winter. 

The last part of the 5 km trek was across a bog that developed in a valley carved by a retreating glacier. Our guide Mia picked up a handful and squeezed the water out of it. She said that you could drink the water, but no one took her up on it. 

We went back to the cabin for a snack. There was a roaring fire going that soon had us shedding our warm outdoor gear. We were served a snack of a ham and cheese slider, a pice of apple strudel cake and a choice of tea, coffee or mate, a traditional South American caffeinated herbal tea. 

Our coach dropped us off in town and we wandered the shops before heading back to the ship.