Ushuaia - The End of the World

Or is it the beginning of everything? Ushuaia (pronounced you-shwy-a) is the capital of the Argentine province (state) of Tierra del Fuego. It is located at the very tip of South America. It is the world's southernmost city and takes pride in that fact. There is a sign that proudly proclaims Ushuaia as "Fin del Mundo". The city is actually closer to Antarctica than to Buenos Aires. In fact, Ushuaia is the gateway to Antarctica, as most ships traveling to that continent begin their journey here. 

The weather here is quite unpredictable, and can be sunny one minute and overcast the next. But if you wait a few minutes, the sun will come out again. In fact, they say that Ushuaia is where you can experience all four seasons in one day. Thunderstorms here are rare, but the day we arrived there was a late afternoon thunderstorm, and the next day we noticed a new coating of snow on the Andes which, we were told, was deposited in the previous afternoon's storm. Ushuaia has long hours of daylight during the summer (about 18 hours), with it being light as late as 11 p.m., and daylight by 4:30 a.m. In winter, the inverse is true, with only about 5 hours of daylight, usually from 10 to 4 or so. 

Picture taken at 10:30 p.m.

Picture taken at 4:30 a.m.

A few tidbits about Argentina in general, and the province of Tierra del Fuego. We heard a number of times during our tour that Argentina is the world's seventh largest country. However when I checked Wikipedia (I like to fact check statistics before putting them in the blog), it's listed as the eighth largest. Argentina is divided into provinces (equivalent of states) and Tierra del Fuego is the southernmost province, with Ushuaia as the provincial capital. The Argentine landscape is so varied that it contains forests, deserts, jungles, beaches, and glaciers. This region of South America is known as Patagonia. 

The main religion is Catholicism. South American countries used to be almost totally Catholic, but now somewhere around 75% of South Americans profess to be Catholic, and about 15% Protestant. There has been a recent move by the Catholic Church to introduce the Catholic Charismatic Renewal here, and it has been very successful. We were told that the Renewal is hugely popular in Brazil and is starting to grow in Argentina. As mentioned in an earlier post, Argentina has a newly elected president. The new president is Jewish.

The location of Ushuaia at the tip of South America yields it's nickname: the End of the World. Even though the population of Ushuaia is 80,000, it has a small town feel and is beautifully situated between the waters of the Beagle Channel to the south and the rugged, snow-covered peaks of the Andes mountains to the north. Ushuaia is very isolated from the rest of Argentina, and is separated from the rest of the country to the north by the Straits of Magellan. There are many glaciers in the nearby Andes, and the drinking water of Ushuaia is all glacial water. Ushuaia means "bay overlooking the west" in the language of the indigenous Yaganes.

Our tour of Ushuaia took us around the city where there were many photo stops of the beauty of the city and its surroundings. We also made a stop at a museum. Our tour guide's name was Rocio. 

Rocio

Here are miscellaneous pictures from driving around in Ushuaia. Notice how prominent the Andes tend to be in the background.

We drove across town where we could see views of the harbor.

We stopped at the local marina to take pictures.

We stopped at the iconic "Ushuaia" sign that is a must for picture-taking!

We drove up into the surrounding hills to take pictures of the city below from a scenic overlook.

We ended the day by visiting the End of the World museum. This museum was originally a prison, and each room that held a display was the size of a tiny prison cell. There were displays on prison life, an Antarctica display, a hall featuring local art, a maritime display, and of course, a gift shop. I made a purchase in the gift shop and with the Argentine peso increasing so much recently, my purchase came to about $22,000, which fortunately for us was only about $28 US.

Museum entrance

Prison Hall in museum

Typical cell

Typical hall in museum, this one is the Antarctica Hall

Museum displays are in small rooms that used to be individual prison cells.

The museum housed a big Antarctica display.

Native Yaganes 

Now that we have journeyed to the "Edge of the Earth", we will begin heading north, away from the "Edge". Our ship was scheduled to depart Ushuaia shortly after our return from our tour, but the winds were so strong that we were pinned against the dock, and could not safely cast off. So we ended up spending a few extra hours in beautiful Fin del Mundo!