Thursday, December 2nd, Beagle Channel and Ushuaia, Argentinia

After an early breakfast we took a quick turn on deck. The Veendam was slowly cruising in the Beagle Channel and there was almost no wind, so it was cold but pleasant on deck. We were not too surprised to see the snow caps coming even further down the mountainsides as we were even further South (closer to Antarctica) than the day before. In fact, we were soon engulfed in light snow squalls and visibility was correspondingly greatly reduced.

In the middle of the morning, we repaired to the Crow's Nest to get the best views of the set of glaciers that were the highlight of the day. They were all located on the port side of the ship when traversing the Beagle Channel from West to East, so we sat on the left side and watched the different glaciers slowly move across our field of view.

Fortunately the snow and low clouds lifted off just a bit so that we could actually see the glaciers although the tops of the mountains behind them were still obscured. The Chilean pilot who was guiding the ship through that area commented to the naturalist that the glaciers had extended much further out into the channel even when he had started working in that area 20 years ago, so the glaciers are also definitely receding in that part of the world, even though many folks still think Global Warming is "just a theory"!

The Veendam docked at Ushuaia shortly after 1:00 p.m. and we got ready for our shore excursion, a train trip to The End of The World, as it was billed. Not quite knowing what weather to expect, we dressed in layers, collected our gear, and headed off to our bus. Ushuaia is in Argentinia's side of Tierra Del Fuego, and our guide explained the incentives that the Argentinian government had used to entice their citizens to settle there, such as high salaries, no taxes, and the possibility of owning land and a house. Apparently, in Argentinia proper there is very little economic mobility between the lower, middle, and upper classes, so many thousands of Argentinians have flooded into Ushuaia despite the extraordinarily harsh climate to take advantage of the unusual economic opportunities.

There is only one main road on the Argentinian side of Tierra Del Fuego, and that is Route 3. Route 3 is a continuous route that extends northward all the way to Buenos Aires. I saw a mileage marker that was something like 3,067 kilometers, so Route 3 is at least that long. Being the only major road did not, however, imply that Route 3 was in good shape. In fact, in sections the road was not paved at all and our tour bus proceeded very slowly over the humps and bumps.

The bus let us off at a train station where we saw several narrow-gauge trains complete with tiny steam locomotives. Unfortunately our train was ready to leave so we were hustled aboard without further ado. That gave me barely enough time to take a couple of pictures of the trains and the rather attractive, chalet-styled train station, but I never had an opportunity to check out the gift shop for souvenirs, etc.

On our train the carriages were small, holding maybe 20 persons each, and much narrower than a standard railroad carriage: each row consisted of seating for two people one side of a narrow aisle and a single seat on the other side. Like the steam train we took up to the Canadian border in Skagway, Alaska, the old carriages had outside platforms at either end. But as soon as I made a move to open the rear door and step out on the platform for pictures, the loudspeaker came alive and I was warned by the security guard that all passengers had to remain not just inside the carriages but also sitting in their seats! Sigh.

So we had to content ourselves with pictures taken through the rain-spotted windows as our train slowly chuff-chuff-chuffed its way up the valley. That was a shame because not only was the valley quite pretty, but the snow-capped mountains towering over the end of the valley were also magnificent and I think I could have taken some fine pictures by hanging off to one side.

I would also have liked to get a picture of the steam engine in action, so to speak, because it was working its heart out and sending up a large plume of smoke and steam in the process. Had I been able to lean out to the inside of one of the narrow curves I would have had a great picture, but the window frames cut the visual angle so that I was unable to take that shot, which was frustrating. We did, however, stop for a few minutes in the middle of the one hour ride, and we had Doug and Nancy, who were coincidentally on the same excursion, take our picture in front of the engine.

The early history of that train was, however, a sad one as it was used to transport prison convicts to work in the forests of the interior from the late 1800s to 1941 when the prison was closed down. Unlike our nicely heated carriage, the prisoners rode in open cars sitting on wooden planks with their shackled feet dangling over open space. Each train was 5 carriages long with three cars full of prisoners in the middle and a carriage full of armed guards at each end. It was cold the day we were there and that was the local summertime, so you can imagine how bitterly dreary and cold it must have been for the other 9 months of the year for those poor prisoners. On the return trips, the train also helped ferry out the felled trees for use in the town.

I would have enjoyed going back with the train to the station and checking out that gift shop, but instead our bus picked us up at the end of the line and transferred us to the shore on the other side of the island. There we had the unusual experience of seeing a fox lounging around on the side of the road. The fox was so casual and unafraid, and so large, that at first I thought the guide was joking because while lying down it rather looked like nothing so much as a large, oddly-marked German shepherd. It also acted more dog-like rather than extremely shy and nervous like the wild foxes back in Virginia. I even saw it rolling around in the dirt over near the sea shore very much like a dog rolling around on the ground. But when it arose and started stalking some nearby ibises (long curved beaks) and some kind of Antarctic geese, we could clearly see the huge bushy tail that proved it really was a (big and healthy!) fox.

We returned to Ushuaia on the bus, but they were nice enough to drop us off in the center of town so we could walk around a bit on our own before returning to the ship. I would have liked to have really wandered about the town, but the big toe on my left foot was shooting sharp pains up my leg, so I was reduced to limping up and down the main street for a few blocks. That was long enough, of course, to find a couple of nice coffee mugs and a make-it-yourself globe for Annalise, and a thimble for Monika's collection back at home! Many of the other things we saw such as electronic goods and small appliances were quite expensive, and Monika remarked that they were about as expensive as we usually see in Germany, which is about 50-100% more than prices for the same items in the U.S. The high prices extended even to postage, because when we checked into mailing cards back to the U.S. from Ushuaia, we discovered that the postage would be about $2.30 US, which was rather more than we had expected.

Having missed the 5:45 seating for our dinner by the time I limped back on board, we had a quick meal up on the Lido Deck before staggering down to our cabin for the evening. I finally peeled off my socks and took a close look at my left foot, whereupon I was surprised and somewhat disconcerted to find an open bloody sore where the toenail from the 4th toe had scraped into the side of the big toe. No wonder it hurt! I had neglected to bring bandages, but fortunately Monika had two in her toiletries bag, so I put one on to prevent further chafing before turning in for the night and made a mental note to purchase and pack more bandages for our future trips.