Patagonia Part 1: Ushuaia

In the last 3 weeks my cousin Joe and I explored the Southern regions of Argentina and Chile know as Patagonia.  We had certain expectations for our travels but for the most part we didn't know what to expect.  Our idea was to see as much of the geographical landscapes as we could while working our way up north along the Andes mountains.  In every way the trip was more successful and rewarding than i could have ever imagined.  Everyday was a new adventure in a different place and as I look back on the trip I can honestly say I wouldn't have done anything different... except some nights we wished we brought sleeping pads.  I hope you enjoy the stories of our travels.

Day 1:  The travel started when our plane left Buenos Aires in route to Ushuaia, AR (technically the southern most city in the world).  We figured we would ride enough buses during our duration in the south, so we passed on a 3 day bus trip to Ushuaia.  Most definitely the right choice.        

The sky was partly cloudy as our plane descended to the city of Ushuaia.  From the window of the plane we saw the runway which was built on a peninsula that was as close to being an island as I can imagine.  The closer we came to the runway the more violent the wind became and when the plane touched down the right wing was significantly higher than the left.  This was our first taste of the gale force Patagonian winds and it wouldn't be our last.  We exited through the tail section of the vintage aircraft and our t-shirts offered little protection from the cold wind gusting across the landing strip.  We walked to the ski lodge style airport and once the airport's solo baggage carousel delivered our two backpacks we were on our way.  We took a cab to a hostel that our Lonely Planet travel book suggested because of its immaculate dorms and billiard room complete with beanbag chairs.  The place was full so we ended up getting two beds in a less hip hostel a couple blocks away.   

Ushuaia is a beautiful port city of 58,000 people and is in close proximity to the Tierra del Fuego (trans- Land of Fire) National Park. (NOTE:  The southern most area of Argentina/Chile makes up the archipelago known as Tierra del Fuego discovered by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in 1520.  He originally named the area "land of smoke" due to all the smoke seen from their armada which was produced by the residing natives for warmth in the cold region.  Later the named was changed to "Land of Fire" to sound tougher.)   

After we became settled into our hostel we decided that eating fresh fish would be a proper celebratory meal as the sun went down on the first day of our 3 week adventure.  We ended up going to a gourmet seafood spot named Kaupe where king crab, scallops and sea-bass were featured in most of the delicious sounding dishes.  I started with a king crab and spinach chowder while Joe savored his arctic scallop seviche.  The seviche was one of the most amazing things ever eaten by either of us and the chowder was close.  For dinner we enjoyed fresh caught sea-bass.  The food and wine were brilliant and it made for a perfect first night.  

Day 2:  We woke up the next morning ready to explore both the Tierra del Fuego National Park and an island home to thousands of penguins.  Realistically it would be a challenge to fit them both into one day.  We were optimistic that we could do it and be able to enjoy them fully.  Before the bus picked us up at our hostel to take us to the national park we already had booked a bus to Punta Arenas, Chile for the next morning.  On the bus we mapped out a trek in the park that would have us picked up at 2pm by another shuttle back to Ushuaia so that we could make our penguin trip by 3.  Everything was falling into place for the day.   

The bus dropped us off at a road which lead to the trail head overlooking an area of the Beagle Channel.  It was especially a beautiful day considering it precipitates more than 90 percent of the days in the region.  We didn't experience a drop. 

 The weather was a little cool but the 6 mile hike kept us warm.  The entire trail was close to the shore and would weave in and out of the damp forest beside it.  We found ourselves constantly stopping to take in our environment before continuing the hike.  We heard little besides the soft thumping sounds of our boots on the moist earth and the rolling waves of the channel.   The trees of the forest were hairy with moss just as most things were in the wet environment.  We didn't see much wildlife on the hike and it was tough to distinguish the sound of the creaking old trees in the wind with that of birds that we could not see.  We enjoyed some well deserved power bars at the end of the trail while watching 3 black headed arctic swans floating together through the channel. 

The shuttle came a little late to take us to Ushuaia.  It was a 25 minute ride back on some absurdly bumpy roads.  I have no idea how I fell asleep on that ride but I woke up with a sore neck.  We pulled up to our meetings spot at the piers 5 minutes before our departure to our next adventure.     

There were about 15 of us on our 20 passenger bus equipped with our bilingual tour guild, Juan.  It was about a 1.5 hour journey with two stops before we reached our boat's departure point for the penguin rookery at Martillo Island.  One of the stops was looking across Brown Bay into Chile at the southern most settlement of the world, home to nearly 2,200.  The second was on a hill home to trees permanently affixed to look as though they are being blown viciously by the wind.  Our destination was a ranch that produced merino wool up until 1995 when a winter with record snow falls killed off all but a few of the sheep.  The ranch was originally home to an English missioner, John Lawrence, in the late 1800s.  The land was given as a gift in 1898 to the Lawrence family by Argentine president General Roca for John Lawrence's activities with the idiginous people of the land since 1873.   The ranch is currently run solely for tourism by his 70+ year old great grand son.    

There was a 25 minute boat ride to Martillo Island where Juan educated us on the island its surrounding.  He also explained the respectful way we should conduct ourselves on the island. After his speech I asked him if he would allow me take one penguin as a souvenir.  He laughed and told me that they don't let people do that anymore.  The Zodiac drove right up on the shore and we hopped off the front of the vessel onto a small island home to nearly 2 thousand Mangellanic penguins.  There are also close to 20 pairs of Gentoo penguins that live on the island as well.     

   
Our group spend about 1.5 hours walking the island, learning from Juan and taking loads of pictures.  I thought it was interesting that all the penguins on the island return every year.  The juvenile penguins come for a brief period to molt and the adults come to mate.  Also, once the penguins choose their mates they return to them every year to mate after being away for six months.  There are scientists studying the effects of tourists interactions with the penguins on the island.  Juan said the scientists hypothesize that because of human intruders there will be more successful births every year.  He explained that the females are extra protective of their eggs because of humans and this allows true predators less opportunities to steal eggs.  

There are few rookeries where two species of penguins coexist.  The Gentoo Penguins are the ones with the orange bills and they are a bit bigger in size than the Mangellantic Penguins.  It was interesting to see them interacting together.  The Mangellantic Penguins have better developed feet for walking, the Gentoo penguins look as though they have more trouble trying to balance when they walk.    

The males arrive before the breading season to dig a nest for the eggs.  Also before the males have a mate they try their best to dig a sweet hole and the single females choose their partners based on their personal standards of these holes.  

Joe and I thoroughly enjoyed the outing and fought every urge to pick up a tiny penguin.  Before we left we each made a phone call to our parents to christen the sat phone.  It was a long day two and getting a little sleep on the bus ride back was crucial.  Juan recommended a local seafood spot where we stuffed ourself with fresh trout, calamari and mussels while a couple of Argentines played folk music.  We played a game or two of Cribbage before retiring for the night.