Ushuaia - “The End of the World”

Well, it turns out nobody liked my idea of calling Ushuaia “Malos Aires.” Besides, the aires were not at all malos... the weather in fact was beautiful. And they already have a pretty good nickname... “Fin del Mundo,” or “The End of the World.” Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world.

Ushuaia does have that “last outpost” kind of feeling. It is still being settled, much like the old West in the United States. The government initially owned all the land. Settlers come in, find a nice piece of land, and start to build a a home. Later on, government representatives come around and negotiate a price and payment plan.

This system does have its down side. On our one night in Ushuaia, we had dinner in the home of a local couple, who described how it is not unusual to wake up in the morning and find someone in a tent, squatting in your back yard, ready to start building. It is imperative to fence in your property, once you have bought it from the government... but our hosts were unhappy about the fact that they can no longer just hike up the mountain. Now they encounter all kinds of fences.

Ushuaia is located on the Beagle Channel, one of two major “shortcuts” for ships traveling between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The other passage, perhaps better known, is called the Strait of Magellan. Our local tour included a trip into the nearby Tierra del Fuego National Park. Tierra del Fuego is the name of the island we are on. It literally means “Land of Fire,” as the islands in this area are volcanic. The tour included a couple of great picture stops. I can't upload from the camera or cell phone right now, but here are a couple of public domain photos from Google images.

The City of Ushuaia

The Beagle Channel from Tierra del Fuego Nat'l Park

All of this, of course, is prelude to setting sail for Antarctica, which happens tonight (Sunday)