Adventures with Niko and Kaia: Tierra Del Fuego

Calafate to Rio Gallegos and the Straight of Magellan

So this is the last leg of the trip before we can't go no-more south. Quite a contrast to the wild and rugged landscapes of the Patagonian Andes, but beautiful and awesome nevertheless. I always imagined it as being dry and windswept...I was right.

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Before leaving Calafate, Niko and Kaia were so enthralled by a mate artists' wares that they both decided to buy a mate with their own allowance. We drew the line with the yerba however, so it's just mint tea for breakfast. Not quite the same I know, but I have a hard enough time keeping up with them not to get them all hopped up on caffeine.

I guess Google translator still needs a little work...

Just one last look back at the Southern Ice fields before heading east to the Atlantic.

360 degrees: Somewhere between Calafate and Rio Gallegos

Straight of Magellan

First glimpses of the Land of Fire--Tierra del Fuego

Our first Magellanic Penguin sightings!!!!!!!!!

Tierra del Fuego and the Earth's most southern city: Ushuaia

I'll admit that, secretly, the only reason I wanted to go to Tierra del Fuego, was because, well, it's just so far south. Pretty boring really. Kind of like eating your food in alphabetical order just because you can: not really the point of why you're doing it in the first place.

I was wrong. Tierra del Fuego turned out to be remote, beautiful, diverse, spectacular and SO unexpected. Some how that element of surprise is a natural tonic for the spirit of adventure.

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Lots of flat tires around here; cars limped into the

Argentine border station. Our Odyssey nearly came to a

premature close here when a rogue Chilean customs agent

decided that foreigners shouldn't be able to own cars in Chile.

Luckily, and at the last second, the agents off-handed

comment was contradicted by another agent, who set the

record straight. Imagine, it's OK, as long as you have all the

correct papers. We willing endured a long face-saving lecture

about the need to put the correct paper on top-- no doubt,

therein lay the problem.

Not much tourism infrastructure here. Once again, Monty proved to be a very comfy alternative to a hotel...
...and with a much better view.

Biggest waves I've ever seen on a lake

07:00: Camp Monty

One of the lonely abandoned sheep stations

Heading south, through Guanaco territory

Thank goodness someone knows where we are!!!

And then, there were mountains...

Ushuaia: "Gateway to Antarctica"

Lunch on the Glacier

Views of the Beagle Channel

Views over the Beagle Passage and Isla Navarino. It was interesting to imagine a
22 year old Charles Darwin floating through this same channel.

End of the Road at Bahia Lapataia.

For fear of sounding to "bookish", I will refrain from any blather about all the surprising things we LEARNED in Tierra del Fuego. But I just have to mention one thing that took me by surprise: The stories of the Selknam, an extinct culture that existed on the island until very recently. If you've ever wondered how different humans could possibly be, check out the link above, and if you're still interested, check out the book End of a World, by a Harvard anthropologist who spent many years interviewing the last survivor and documenting her memories of what was once her culture; Breathtakingly apocalyptic and mind-bending.