Tuesday 31 January Ushuaia
My bed turned out to have been “repaired” with a built-in ski-jump which defied sound sleep. Apart from that, there was an exuberant cacophony of snoring, particularly in the early morning. Gordon and Yvonne put on a raucous duet. Several beds creak loudly when their occupant moves. Kevin and Caitlin paid up for a private room and left, which solved my bed problem.
The room has an interesting feature – the keyhole lies horizontally and there is no outer knob, or anything to grasp the door by. The latch cannot be retracted other than by the use of a credit card or by a key. So you need a key to close the door. This is an issue when 8 people share 1 key.
Gordon was busy drumming up a party to go cruising, booking through the hostel with a limited list of options. We were unsure how many layers of commission had been included and chose to walk along the waterfront and drop in on a few of the cruise firms and look at their boats. We chose a large catamaran at a lower price, which they further discounted. Weather in this part of the world is famously fickle and conditions can become dangerous quickly and we didn’t want to be seasick either.
The St. Christopher, stranded in the harbour.
We found the cluster of museums in the premises that were originally the jailhouse – reserved for serious repeat offenders from all over the country. By then it was lunchtime so we retired across the road to our favourite steakhouse for a pizza then had a couple of very interesting hours in the various sections of the museum.
Our boat left on time and we enjoyed a very comfortable and interesting 2.5 hours out on the Beagle Channel, hovering just next to several colonies of birds and seals and rounding the so-called “lighthouse at the end of the world”. We then had a landing on another island, unfortunately not the one with bird colonies because of strong winds. Only the catamarans went out and the small 20 passenger boat Gordon organised didn’t set sail.
Not penguins - cormorants - and they smelt bad
Lighthouse at the end of the world
and the seals
Our boat the Elizabett
Back to the museum, which takes your passport details and allows re-admission for 48 hours.
Original inhabitants. Lit fires to keep warm, hence the Tierra del Feugo (Land of Fires)
Usually naked and smothered in seal fat to keep warm.
The prison block
Cell
Let me out ... or feed me?
Original section, rather delapidated
Great artwork, cow made of Argentine flag, Mate (special tea) mug
About 20 decorated penguins - love the patriotic one
Outside view of prison
We then bumped into Dan-the-sax and took him to “our” steakhouse for dinner. Gordon’s group returned later after doing a 7-10pm cruise, seemingly in strong winds/ ?rain with little protection.
J found Amanda and Cass online and caught up with various grandchildren. Lachie is now waddling around quite freely.
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