Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego National park,

Ushuaia, Argentina

Tierra del Fuego  (land of fires because so many needed to keep warm!)

There was a "whole lot of shaking going on" getting here!  It is the southern most city in South America and the closest to Antartica (500 miles south).  Most of the Antartica expeditions start from here.  We came through a natural channel called the Beagle Channel.  The crew told us we were extremely blessed to get great weather--little wind, sun and about 50 degrees.  Perfect day to explore
Tierra del Fuego National Park.  It is part of the  Patagonia region and it lies partly in Argentina and Chile. Ushuaia was started as a penal colony for Argentina and the museum below depicts a jailbreak in progress outside the building.
 












This land was inhabited by indigenous people the Yamana.  They didn't feel the need for clothes and smeared sea lion oil over their bodies for warmth? During weather extremes they wore small seal skin cloaks.  I'm not sure how that worked but 5000 of them seemed to be doing fine until European explorers showed up in 1890 and by 1910 there were only 100 left.  Disease wiped most of them out and the others disposed of because Europeans wanted access to the sea lions.

This city with its lush forests and lakes looks completely different than other stops along the way.
We did a tour of Tierra Del Fuego park and stopped by several lakes.  There were many types of birds here for the avid bird watchers. 
98 motorcyclists touring the park



Trail along Lake in Tierra del Fuego


Large lake in Tierra del Fuego park



Around the Cape of Good Hope

This area is one of the most difficult, hostile, wild, unpredictable, windy places on earth!  We rounded the Horn at 7 am so we slept right through that landmark.  The wind died down and we had a nice peaceful ride past the huge rocky coast about 350 miles from Antartica.

The days are going by quickly with exercise classes, stretch classes, talks about each upcoming area from our excellent lecturer Peter.  We have attended lectures on tectonic plate shifts, the planets
and more to come!  The entertainment has been very good also--and we've gotten to spend time with many of the artists.  Eating seems to take up a lot of our time too!


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