EXPLORING
PATAGONIA
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USHUAIA
-- ANTARCTICA STAGING PORT |
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We
set off for Ushuaia from what had been our home in Montserrat
in the West Indies islands of the Caribbean. We had returned
home there solely to prepare and sell our home and we did so
in a very brief four months. Shell shocked at our sale success
given the real estate situation on the island, we packed up
our most treasured things and shipped them off to Miami. We
turned over the keys and were free from what had been largely
an unpleasant experience.
That
bit of background will give you a sense of how totally unprepared
we were for a frosty environment like that of Ushuaia. This
is a jumping off point for Antarctic voyages and it was very
cold even when we were there in mid March. In winter months
it draws skiers who wish to count among their conquests the
most southerly mountains in the western hemisphere.
Ushuaia
is a small town with a frontier character. It has a brand new
large casino and a smaller strip club and those count as the
two cultural attractions. It has small hotels and restaurants
featuring Argentinean food -- large pieces of meat cooking
on hot coals in a big street side windows. We found wonderful
local food cooked to perfection at the main street supermarket.
The chubby chef there produces her wonders to go for lunch
and dinner. Don't miss it. It was some of the very best food
we had in all of Argentina. |
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Despite
having only sandals to wear, we rode this chair lift up
to its highest point. It is extraordinary. The Martial Glacier
has
retreated substantially over the last decade so an extension
of the chair lift is now necessary in the winter skiing months.
As is everything we experienced in Argentina, the chair lift
was beautifully managed.
For
those a little better prepared for this environment hiking
to the peak is a wonderful experience.
Below
is a photograph of the the view over Ushuaia where the curvature
of the earth is so profoundly evident.
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Overlooking
Ushuaia Harbor
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As
a lover of plants and the outdoors, I found Ushuaia a wonder. Up
on the mountain
you will see some of the native vegetation in the photographs below
and how vibrant very ordinary garden
plants
become in this exaggerated environment.
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Aside
from a love of exploring the world, I am a devoted gardener and
have created a website with all of the plants from our gardens
in Taxco, Mexico, and Montserrat in the West Indies. Now I am adding
plants and trees from our new home base in Guatemala. And as you'd
expect from any plant lover there are lots of photographs taken
on our travels. Each plant also has caretaking information and
health benefits and now and again there's a recipe I love. Click
the link below to take a look,
GreenGardeningCookingCuring.com
The
little boat tour kiosks in the photograph below all have substantial
stoves
keeping them warm even in March when you can see the season is over
as there are no more customers. Below as well is a photograph of all
the tour boats still docked at mid day that have a thriving business
in the southern hemisphere's summer months -- December, January and
February.
March
counts as September
in the northern hemisphere and it is a lovely month in all but the
extreme northerly countries. It is very cold in Ushuaia! |
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Ushuaia
Boat Tours
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This is a grounded ship left in the harbor.
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These
two birds struck me as in the dove or pigeon family, but just
look at the feet! I especially love the green on the rocks
as a background.
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In
this photograph and in those below you may get a sense of the
environmental setting for this small
and bustling frontier town. Even at the end of summer the mountains
are covered with snow. The sky is huge and blue and CLEAN. I
suspect
that many of the people who spend December, January and February
working on the tour boats are long gone to an easier climate
by mid March. Restaurants and hotels here have a lull in business
in spring and
fall,
but
business
is good
in
summer
and winter so all of the people that support those businesses are
here full time. Hardy souls they must be. |
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This
is a terrible photograph, but I couldn't help using it to give
you just a little more sense of how very cold it was.
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| I looked at
Google to see other folk's photographs of Ushuaia and was surprised
to see the harbor generously dotted with sailboats. They had all but
one left by the time we got there. |
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USHUAIA TO
CALAFATE |
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| We
loved being in Ushuaia at this time of the year and had we been better
prepared
we would have stayed longer and explored more. As it was I was considering
frost bite on my toes and wanting to spend more and more time inside.
Not good for the intrepid traveler so I looked ahead to a slightly
warmer place, but arranged to get there by bus so I wouldn't miss anything.
The trip to Calafate was going to take a relatively long time and began
to give us a visceral appreciation of just how big a country Argentina
is. We would spend an 8 or 10 hour day on the bus then over night in
Rio Grande then awaken early to get on another bus to Rio Gallegos
where
we would spend the night. The next day we would get on another bus
and at the end of the day be in Calafate. This was a long trip, but
I never tired of looking out the window and wondering and being engaged
with this extraordinary part of the world called Patagonia. I kept
thinking
that we had traveled
a bit north and it would be getting warmer, but that was only one
of those wish fulfillment sorts of things. It was still freezing! |
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 Our
bus and the other vehicles were in line here awaiting the ferry
that would take us across. Meanwhile We got out for a snack
at the local restaurant (not recommended) and spied a few llamas
in the field across the street. |
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 Patagonia
is huge and largely empty of any kind of development. In a ten hour
bus ride we maybe saw three ranches. It was simply overwhelming and
extraordinary in its simple beauty. |
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| We
were on a bus when we saw the fellow below with the thousands of
sheep under
his and the dogs' care. Do you think he looks cold? Along this ride
we saw huge trucks filled with sheep that we were told would be
shipped alive to Japan. |
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We
had set off from Ushuaia on our way to Calafate having not a
clue about the real distances involved or the fabulous isolation
we would experience along the way.
Border crossings are always tedious, but here things are a little different even
if no less tedious. The bus driver collects all passports and turns them in to
passport control. They do their bureaucratic wonders and the passports are returned
to passengers in a mayonnaise box as you can see on the left. It passes from
one passenger to another until all of us are once again properly papered. It
makes
the whole process of human paperwork sort of goofy doesn't it? |
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| The
little fox in the photographs below was just steps from our bus as
we waited
for the border crossing procedures to conclude. We were out wandering
from
the bus
just a hundred feet or so when this little fellow appeared in the
high grass. He had no apparent fear of us, nor we of him. We spent
a delightful half hour all together with him and a few other passengers
waiting along with us. |
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CALAFATE
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| Unlike
Ushuaia, Calafate is a chic town reminding me very much of small
towns in New
Hampshire and Vermont, New England's renowned ski areas. What seemed
peculiar to us when we arrived and the next day when we tried to recover
from having nearly frozen to death in Ushuaia by walking in the sunshine
(still in sandals), was that the town was completely empty. All of
its visitors were out on tours exploring this extraordinary part
of the world. |
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Tourism
in Calafate is very well managed and almost completely controlled
to protect the envionment. Visiting Glacier National Park has no
willy nilly character at all. In Calafate you buy a ticket and
are picked up at your hotel in the morning and transported to the
site where along with others you board a tour boat and get underway.
The tour completed you are whisked safely back to town. You'll
have some time for shopping, then dinner and an evening out and
be picked up again the next morning to travel to another breathtaking
site.
The
town itself is very appealing with mid and upper range hotels,
very stylish restaurants with menus both Argentinian and European.
There truly is something to satisfy the palate of just aout anyone.
Wine shops and snack shops are equally upscale and all of it is
done in a very low key, but always posh way. It would be hard not
to like life in Calafate, unless temperature is a factor in your
life. |
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Lavender does just fine in this frigid environment.
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Below
are photographs of Glacier National Park just to whet your appetite
for more. This is not open ocean. It is a huge lake of milky blue
glacial water. I saw this park in a National Geographic Film Special
years ago and it had been a dream of mine since then to see it
in person. The dream didn't come close to experiencing the reality
-- miles of baby blue ice flowing down the mountains as if a liquid
that is especially slow. Giant pieces of ice floating in isolation
as we passed by.
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| Your visit
to Calafate and its extraordianary parks can all be arranged in advance
and I would probably recommend that you consider doing that as I suspect
in the warmer months of December, January and February the town is
crammed full of visitors. March seems a great time for more spontaneous
travel, but do come prepared for the cold. |
