A small plane carried me from Jorge Newberry Airport in BA in about four hours. A light rain was falling with my arrival. I surveyed Tierra Del Fuego through the rain and haze from the window. We landed and the small group milled about; nobody spoke English. This would really be an experience. My documents helped me, and I was directed to a small bus along with most of the other passengers. The driver and the young lady seemed to be a team of sorts, and they chattered with the others as we wended around the harbor from the airport to the town. The bus headed up the mountainside and in and out of town dropping folks off at hotels, hostels and such.

I was last and ended up at the little hotel shown in these pictures - Posada Fueguina. I checked in thanks to my tour papers again for communication, and was promptly lodged in one of the little cabanas adjacent to the hotel. This was a one room cabin, and it was cold and raining outside. I was here for four days, and the outlook was pretty bleek at first. I thought to myself that I might be spending a lot of time in this little room depending on the weather. The hotelier did not have a key for me, but instead told me to just come to the hotel desk whenever I wanted to leave, and they would lock my room for me. Keys are apparently quite precious here.

I resigned myself to the cabin, and started to set up the laptop to see if I could drift away in the internet if necessary. There was a small television, but few channels, and virtually all not understandable to me. I went to the hotel desk and asked if better quarters were available. They told me they were full, and that that cabin was what I had bargained for back in Buenos Aires.

I trudged back through the mist to the very spartan room. I brought a book to read, didn't I? A short while later a knock came at the door, and the woman operator I would later learn was the wife of the owner and the young man assisting stood at my door. She informed me that a regular room within the hotel had become available, and I was immediately heartened. I tossed my belongings together, and the young fellow helped me to move my equipage to my new quarters.

This was much better, first of all being warm, and they even gave me a key for the door. I think the rain also started to break about that time. I gathered myself together and walked down the hillside into town; a good exercise, but nothing compared to the climb back up later. The rain came and went, and I got wet, so I spent some time in town shopping for a decent slicker. Once equipped I began to explore the downtown area.

According to Argentine design there are parillas and coffee shops at every turn, and of course, tourist shops and attractions abound.

The photo highlighted at the top left was used to make the background image of this page. It is the view of Ushuaia from the plane as we approach the airport.






Our typical tour catamaran leaves Ushuaia in the distance.



Antartica can be reached if you keep going, but just as it looks - cold and forboding - maybe next time.

The border between Argentina and Chile runs down the channel for a way, so the islands on the right hand or south side are actually Chile.



Everyone got excited as we approached this island; they thought those were penguins.

They resemble penquins,

and they stand up like penquins,

and maybe they smell like penguins,

but, alas, they weren't penguins.

The boat hung around this island for more than an hour, and drifted into the foul downwind. I wondered if the crew was waiting to see who might get sick. (I knew this from my piloting; read about the unruly stevedores in my Vietnam page)

This was the first week in February, just past the middle of summer, and you can see the folks on the boat wearing jackets and hats. It is not hot, especially on the water, and it is windy too.




Ushuaia in the distance as we return.







Next time I'll go on a smaller, fleeter vessel.



















Some sea lions on an islet in the middle of the Beagle Channel between Argentina and Chile



































































Inside the tour boat.

Ah, yes, there was my favorite delicacy on the display in the boat. They have king crab there too, and I enjoyed some while I was in Ushuaia.



















This is a famous stop for many cruise liners.