Beautiful Ushuaia

I spend my morning in Ushuaia. I wander round Maipu, the main road close to the dock. You see all the streets leading into the city as you wander past. All these historical names I am gradually getting to know. Lasserre, the Navy commander who established the base here.

I go down to the docks to see what ships are around, it is just "Le Diamant" this morning, and I think I can see Orlova just on the other side. "Le Diamant" is a French ship, the one that almost attacked us in Whalers Bay a few years ago. Interesting people. Big white ship. Very big white ship. Though not as big as, say, the Norwegian Princess. Huge ship. She was in town when I was still on board Europa, and I was amazed by the number of people ferried off to the train in the national park. And the number coming up into San Martin to do some shopping. And we very much enjoyed their PA system, inviting us all over for champagne on deck 267. Or something like that.



Along the shoreline there are some statues of Antarctic heroes that have some connection to Ushuaia or Argentina. My Belgian friend Adrien de Gerlache is there, he got his statue in 2008. He is standing next to Sobral, the Argentinian who accompanied Nordenskjold on his famous expedition into the Weddell Sea. And then there is Irizar, the man who rescued Nordenskjold and his men from various locations after the Antarctic sank. There is an empty socket next to these three, so I guess more statues will be added to the Antarctic gallery on the seafront.



Just up from where De Gerlache looks out over the quay, and lovely Le Diamant, where all the cruiseships moor you go up a street called Rivadavia. On the corner is the Museo del Fin del Mundo. I visited the museum a couple of years ago, I think. It has a big collection of stuffed birds, so you get to see many of the species you find in this area, though not, perhaps, the way you would like to see them. On the opposite site of Rivadavia is the Yamana museum, a tiny house which houses the exhibition on the Indian inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego. Many maps of the area and the places the first people came from, a video from the early twentieth century, and some old photographs. A lot of information to read too. The best part of the museum is the last room, where you find some maquettes of the indians and the way they lived. They give a good idea of life in Tierra del Fuego before the arrival of the white man.

San Martin is its usual lively self this morning, a lot of tourists coming from the north or the south, or maybe heading that way. All those lovely souvenir shops. I end up looking round one of the most interesting ones, trying to find a purse not made of leather (impossible here, so I'll have to keep losing my change for a while longer), and get fascinated by all the things you can buy around here. Penguins in all shapes and sizes, other birds, whales, but also trains, buildings. prisoners and gnomes. I have a Rien Poortvliet moment out there. It is all rather scary really. A good thing I don't have room for anything extra in my luggage.





Well, as you'll understand, after all that I need time to recover. So a coffee is in order. Fortunately my hotel offers that, as well as a good internet connection. The joy of modern living...