Sun, Oct 22 –Glacier Alley, Beagle Channel and Ushuaia, Argentina –

Our next channel is the Beagle Channel and Glacer Alley.  Now this was worth getting up early to see.  As alleys go, this one is mighty long. Glacier Alley or, as it’s more elegantly known, Avenue of the Glaciers, stretches about 150 miles.  The Beagle Channel, the Straits of Magellan and Drake Passage, all of which we cruised through or into, are all passages from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean  Beagle and Magellan are both very narrow channels and we were told that the traffic that can come through there is limited to small ships.  Most of the traffic that doesn't go around Cape Horn goes through the Drake Passage.

Charles Darwin and some members of the Beagle rowed through this area in rowboats in 1833 and he later wrote in his travel book "The Voyage of the Beagle": "The lofty mountains on the northside...are covered by a wide mantle of perpetual snow, and numerous cascades pour their waters, through the woods, into the narrow channel below.  In many parts, magnificent glaciers extend from the mountain side to the water's edge.  It is scarcely possible to imagine anything more beautiful than the beryl-like blue of these glaciers, and especially as contrasted with the dead-white of the upper expanse of snow." 

I couldn't have begun to describe what we saw that well.  It was absolutely beautiful and I doubt it has changed that much since Darwin went through here.

We did our best to spend time up on the bow of the ship, but it was cold and you could only stand there for so long, but the Glaciers were awesome.  As someone said to us, this is where the Andes drop into the ocean.  WOW!  We say goodbye to Chili as we slowly made our way to Ushuaia, Argentina.

Ushuaia is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina.  It is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range, and on the south by the Beagle Channel.  It is located at 18.5 feet above sea level, located on Ushuaia Bay, surrounded to the west, north and east by the Andes Fueguinos (volcanic field). From the position of the rest of Argentina, it is the only city in the country that is accessed by crossing part of the Andes mountain range that runs along the southern edge of the Tierra del Fuego.

Ushuaia has long been described as the southernmost city in the world and is the starting point for a trip to the 240 square miles national park in Tierra del Fuego. The park is also home to the Martial Glacier and a portion of the early-1900s End of the World train line, which dates from the period when Tierra del Fuego was a penal colony.

We took a tour over to Tierra del Fuego, which I believe was arranged by Jacquie through Tierra Turismo.  We had a super tour guide and started our trip to the park, passing the End of the World railroad depot and into the park and down to Ensenada Bay and the end of the world Post Office, where people got their passports stamped.  We weren't sure if this was really allowed and so passed on getting it stamped.  Luckily, when we received our passports back for disembarking in Brazil we took note that we did have a stamp from Ushuaia, although it wasn't the "end of the world" or end of the road" stamp.  Oh well.  Ensenada Bay was just gorgeous and surrounded by snow capped mountains.  Our guide took us on a hike a short distance above the Bay, showing and telling us about the local flora and fauna of the area.  It was great to stretch our legs again - it has been a while since we have done any hiking.  It was a short hike, but very nice, and we got a picture of the whole group.

We toured the whole park, and I don't remember all of our stops.  We did stop in a meadow and get to watch the "toy" train chug past us.  When I say a toy, it really looked like that.  We have seen and ridden on many a narrow gauge railroad, but this one was small.  Russ stuck his foot in the middle of the railroad and almost covered the whole track.  I am so glad we didn't take the trip on the railroad; our tour was so much more comprehensive.  Again, thanks Jacquie for putting it together.

What most of the people in our group were waiting for was to see the "end of the road" sign.    The Pan American Highway, which starts up in Alaska, ends in this park.  Needless to say we all had to get our pictures taken at the sign, because this is end of the road - to go any further in this country you will be doing so by boat.  Kim and Jeff, who are from Alaska, brought their Alaska magazine and had their picture taken in front of the sign - hope you got that published in your magazine!

This gave us another "end of the road" sign.  We have been to the end of the road at Key West, Florida; Cadillac Mountain in Maine, the Westerly most road in Alaska; in Canada we have been to the end of the road on Prince Edward Island, but, by far, this is the furthest one we have been to, so far. 

We walked on a path along the bay and then up to the Big Yellow House, where our guide and driver got something to eat and the rest of us took advantage of the free bathrooms, and, of course, the gift shop, where we did find some t-shirts for the "end of the world".  We were taken to the largest beaver dam we have ever seen, but no beavers, - bummer; and had a picnic by a creek in the campground, which our guide told us it was free camping once you paid to enter the park.  We were pretty pooped by the time we climbed back into the bus and headed back into town.  

It was a Sunday and a mandatory voting day so we weren't sure if anything would be open.  Our guide told us it is mandatory to vote, but it really doesn't matter, because the whole system is rigged.  Now, we have no idea if this is just her opinion, or if it is really true.  Anyway, it was drizzling when we several of us got off the bus in town.  Even though it was dripping on us, it was still fun to explore the town.  We really fell for this place; don't quite know why.    It reminds me a lot of the hills of San Francisco and Seattle; the buildings are quite colorful, and the people were extremely friendly.  However, the prices were quite high, but if you lived at the end of the world, I guess you have to figure those prices would be. 

We finally wandered back to the ship, dried ourselves off and headed up to dinner.  I barely made it through the entrée without falling asleep on my plate, so we excused ourselves and headed for the room - I was zonked out a long time before our normal bed time, but woke feeling very refreshed for rising early as we cruised around the Horn.