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Tierra Del Fuego & Isla Navarino Map: Ushuaia - Rio Grande - Magallanes - Beagle - Isla De Los Estados



Ushuaia to Antarctica - Drake Passage Map: Polar Voyage Log Map
Sergio Zagier


Touring Argentina: Tierra del Fuego Malvinas - Antartida
Stefano Nicolini

argentina: notes from the road

° November 2007 ° March 2008

November 2007
"More News from the Bottom of the World:
Ushuaia, Argentina
I stayed up late, because the plane got in late and woke up at 5:30 a.m. when a tour group in the hotel got up. They did not give a damn about who was sleeping. Yelling in the halls. The rooms had thin doors. Luckily I had to move because the hotel was sold out. The new hotel is quiet and has a great view or the harbor.

"The first day I visited the Martial Glacier. It is small so I had a hard time trying to find it. The best one is Moreno in El Calfete, or something like that. This town is small enough to walk everywhere. No beggers either. Yesterday, I cancelled a boat trip because the boat was too crowded. Too many tour groups. Just as crowded today and it rained and snowed most of the trip. Then the sun came out. Very changable weather.

"Just got back from a train trip to the National Park. Going over it started to rain again, coming back everything is white with snow and is still snowing. It was a cold but a nice trip. The sun shines till about 9:30, when it is out. Also back in B.A. there was a soccer match that was reported that about 20 guys with guns came into a teams dressing room and told the team to lose. They take their soccer seriously. Then there was another soccer match that got held up for fan trouble for about 20 mins.

"I read in today's Herald, a game that is going to be played soon will not have any fans in attendance, because of possible trouble. I can not believe that."

Ushuaia is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, and the world's southernmost city. It is located on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego, in a setting surrounded by mountains and overlooking the Beagle Channel. It had approximately 64,000 inhabitants as of 2005.

The city was originally named by British colonists after the name that the native Yámana people had for the area. During the first half of the 20th century, the Argentine government set up this prison following the example of the British with Australia: being a remote island, escape from a prison on Tierra del Fuego would have been impossible. The prisoners thus became forced colonists and spent much of their time cutting wood in the lands around the prison and building the town. They built a railway from the forests to the settlement, now used as a tourist train as the Tren del Fin del Mundo (End of the Earth Train), the southernmost railway in the world. Since the main supply center was very distant, the prison had a press, a photography lab, shoe makers, bakers, medical service, and chemistry to cover the needs of the population.

At the beginning of the century, many Lituanian, Libanese, Spanish, and Croatian families came to Tierra del Fuego for different reasons. Once they finished their work, many of them decided to stay.

Pioneers arrived attracted by commentaries on the existence of gold in the area, including immigrants from Wales.

In 1947 the central government closed the prison, and the building was acquired by the Ministery Of Marine to create in 1950 the Base Naval Ushuaia Almirante Berisso. The seventies marked another moment in the history of the city when industrial promotion began. Argentinians from different provinces were attracted by the possibility of working and since then, Ushuaia´s population has been constantly increasing.

March 8, 2008
Here are a few photos of last night (above left). This is why I like Buenos Aires. Early in the morning and there is life and safety. These photos are on Santa Fe and Libertad at 1:45am. Unfortunately prices are going up. My morning expresso was 3.50p, now is 4.50p. Most restaurants raised their prices at least 10p.= $3.

March 19, 2008
It is getting really expensive, just like the first time when Larry and I were first here. I just paid $1000. to go to the Glacier Perito Moreno in El Cafafate. That is round trip air and hotel, plus tour for three nights. The photos are of a Super market. The sign is bigger than the market. The other photo is of a Evangelious concert in the middle of 9 de Julio. Over 1 million people were there at night. The last is a new tour bus. I am going on the night tour at 7pm.