Patagonia, Ushaia, Argentina, Wednesday, March 9th, 2016

Hiking in Tierra del Fuego.

 The alarm sounded at 5:00 this morning.  At 6:15, we departed for the airport to catch our fight to Ushuaia (pronounced U-Shwi'a).  Located 54.8 degrees south, Ushuaia is the southern most city on the planet.  The end of planet earth.
   

Ushuaia is the southern most city on the planet.  The sign reads "End of the Earth."

Before the Panama Canal opened, Ushuaia was the only stopping point around the southern tip of South America, making it an important port.  Now it's primary purpose it tourism.

We finally found the mountains!  Tierra del Fuego.

Catching our first glimpses of Patagonia's pristine waterways and dramatic peaks, Tierra del Fuego National Park makes Ushuaia a stunning change from Buenos Aires.  I finally found the mountains that I expected to see in BA!

Once in Ushuaia, we boarded our touring van and headed to Tierra del Fuego National Park.  Tierra del Fuego, meaning "Land of Fire," was so named by Magellan for the mysterious nighttime bonfires that he saw on the region's shores.

Picnic lunch in Tierra del Fuego National Park.  It felt so wonderful being in the mountains again.  We have a pretty small group of eight plus our two guides.  

Greeted by our guides with a delicious picnic lunch in the beautiful valley surrounded by the jagged peaks of Tierra del Fuego, something strange happened to me.   I'm not sure if it was the sight of the majestic peaks, the warm sunshine on my face, the gentle sound of the water rushing down the nearby stream or the sugar from the cookies at the picnic ... every sense was heightened and the overwhelming sadness that I've been traveling with suddenly lifted.  I felt happy.  In tune with my surroundings.  It was almost surreal.  I felt at home.  At peace.  

It's good to be back in the mountains.  

In that instant, I 
concocted a plan to cure what ails me.  After I get back from Patagonia  I'll take a few days to take care of business in Tampa and then ... I'm going to my safe place.  Where I'll be able to reconnect with ground zero and put my life back on track after this recent derailment and the month from hell.  It's a place where one can truly get in touch with the very soul of their being.  And that's what I need right now.  Perhaps I'll continue to blog from there with a progress report.  Writing seems to help unravel things in my mind and helps me find answers.  I have a plan.  And you know where to find me.

Tierra del Fuego National Park.

But for now ... back to Tierra del Fuego National Park.  After our picnic lunch, with a spring in my step that hasn't been there for some time, we hiked further up trail to discover the lovely Cascada Rio Pipo, a beautiful cascading water fall.
  

Cascada Rio Pipo

The hike took us a long time as every few steps, our guide stopped to point out another plant or bird.  Jacqueline and I went up trail ahead of the group as we had little interest in the group discussion of the different types of Wood Peckers in the area. 
 

Hiking in Tierra del Fuego.

And the geologist on the trip didn't see the humor in our comment about the endangered Magellanic Wood Pecker tasting like chicken.  Oh, what the heck!  Bless her heart.  She has such a restricted diet.  She is one of the vegetarians on board who additionally cannot eat anything with eggs, sugar, milk or oil of any kind.  If I had to eat like that, I wouldn't have a sense of humor either!   

Our group of ten.  

I did find it interesting to learn about Patagonia evergreens called Nothofagus.  An ancient tree that migrated to South America millions of years ago when the Antarctica and South American continents were connected, the Nothofagus is not at all like our needled conifer evergreens.  Rather than needles, they have tear shapped, jagged leaves that stay green all year long though out the brutal winters.  Ok.  Enough botany for today.

Nothofagus evergreen tree.  So different from our evergreens, the Nothogagus has jagged leaves instead of needles.

After our hike to Cascada Rio Pipo, the next stop was to Ensenada Zaratiegui, a beautiful stop on the Beagle Chanel.  There we had a fabulous hike along the waterfront admiring the snow capped peaks in the background.  We also encountered our first Penguins, Albatros and a local Red Fox.  (Que wildlife!)

Red Fox.  

He kind of looks like a relative of Scruffy's.

We had about half an hour to check out the city of Ushuaia and get our passports stamped from the city at the "End of the Earth."  However, the government employees were on strike and the passport office was closed.  The workers were holding a demonstration on the main street of Ushuaia.  The street was filled with tents coolers and BBQ pits.  The protesting workers are having what appeared to be a street party, except they were carrying signs and beating drums ceremoniously.   But there was no shouting or violence.  It kind of looked like fun, but we chose not to join in.  Just never know what may cause a peaceful protest to turn ugly.  And two American blondes looking for a Magellanic Wood Pecker on one of those grills may have incited a riot.

Jac found an ice cream store.  That's a happy face.

It was finally time to board the M/V Stella Australis, which I thought was a ferry ride to another part of Patagonia.  Instead, the Australis is a cruise ship scheduled to take us to one the most remote corners of the planet.  The ship will be home for the next three nights.  There are 100 of us on board.

As we cruised out of Argentinian waters into the Republic of Chile, Jacqueline and I got settled into our cabin and headed to the main dining room for a delicious meal and then went straight to bed. We have another EARLY wakeup call tomorrow for exploration of Cape Horn.  Weather permitting.

Leaving the harbor of Ushuaia.