2022 Antarctica: Tierra del Fuego National Park (12/6/2022)

Tuesday, December 6, 2022
After breakfast at the Hotel Albatros and leaving our luggage to be taken to the ship, we opted to take the Tierra del Fuego/Land of Fire National Park excursion. A motorcoach picked up a few of us from the hotel, and stopped at another hotel to fill the bus with mostly Argentinians. The guide gave her commentary in Spanish and English.

Monte Susana/Mt Susana was supposedly named for
the only woman in early Ushuaia, when it was a
penal colony for Argentina (1894-1947)

In 1896 prisoners were sent to the island of Isla de los Estados/Staten Island, and were used as a labor force to build the extensive prison in Ushuaia from 1902-1920. After the prison was closed in 1947, the prison became property of the Armada Argentina/Argentine Navy.

More of the Nothofagus sp/southern beech
trees that grow on the southern slopes of
the Martial Mountains and were cut for
lumber and firewood by the prisoners

Tierra del Fuego National Park (1960), the only coastal national park in Argentina, protects the Andean-Patagonian forest and the Yámana indigenous people who live there. 

View from Ensenada Zaratiegui/Zaratiegui Cove toward
Isla Redondo and Punta Entrada (KSS)

Post Office at the End of the World is unofficial and
currently closed; the postmaster is Carlos Delorenzo,
the self-proclaimed Prime Minister of Isla Redonda (KSS)

Tamiko at the End of the World Post Office
directional sign (KSS)

Zaratiegui Cove toward the beech forest

Cyttaria hariotii/Pan de Indio or Llal llao/Indian Bread
is an edible fungus growing on the beech trees

A horse belonging to the Yámana people (KSS)

This might be the Nothofagus antarctica/Antarctic beech
or ñire tree, with a trunk covered with Usnea barbata?/
Old Man's Beard or Barba de Viejo lichen (KSS)

This was beaver country: in 1946 the Argentine government
imported 20-50 beavers from Canada to release in the area
with the intention of creating a commercial fur trading industry;
instead the beavers multiplied and began to destroy the forest
by cutting down trees and damming waterways that
created lakes to drown more trees and vegetation;
since 2006 Argentina and Chile have cooperated to
eradicate or at least control the beaver population

We then followed a portion of the Nacional Ruta No. 3/the
unofficial extension of the Pan American Highway (from
Buenos Aires) to its end at Bahia Lapataia/Lapataia Bay (KSS)

Kent points to the end of Ruta No. 3 at the SW corner
of Tierra del Fuego near the border with Chile

Two motorcyclists have completed their 3,079 km/
1,913 mile journey from Buenos Aires, having
come from somewhere in Brazil (KSS)

Chiliotrichum diffusum/Fachine or Mata Negra Fuegina

Bahia Lapataia/Lapataia Bay is an arm of the Beagle Channel,
which gives Ushuaia access to the South Atlantic Ocean

Lapataia Bay looking east toward the ocean (KSS)

Kent at the third stop at Lago Acigami/Lake Acigami

Lake Acigami beach with "planted" driftwood

Once called Lago Roca, the lake now is known by its
Yámana name of Acigami; looking towards Chile (KSS)

Chloephaga picta/Upland or Magellan Goose couple

We are greeted by a "convict" to board the El Tren del
Fin del Mundo/Train of The End of the World or
Ferrocarril Austral Fueguino/Southern Fuegian Railway
(1994) that follows the route of the earlier prison railway

A "prison guard" ushers us into a passenger car, where we
were provided with earbuds to plug into a channel to
hear the commentary in the language of our choice (KSS)

The train took us past turbales/peat bogs

A  steam locomotive
pulls us through the snow flurry

More Yámana horses in a snow flurry

Evidence of logging

Crossing the Rio Pipo/Pipo River, named for a
prisoner who escaped, only to be found frozen in the river

Another steam locomotive (pulling a train in the opposite
direction) is met at Estación La Macarena/La Macarena Station

At this point a "convict" ran past holding a red backpack, chased by a "prison guard." Tourists were then invited to pose with a convict.

A 500 mm/19 3⁄4-inch gauge prison logging train

There was a short but steep hike to the Lower
and Upper Falls of Cascadia La Macarena

Returning to the trains (ours was pulled by the
backwards red steam locomotive)

Continuing our journey on the train

Estación Ushuaia/Ushuaia Station is an example
of fueguine architecture with steep gables
topped with spires

Back at Hotel Albatros, we checked in with Quark Expeditions to prove we received COVID-19 vaccinations, and were told our cabin number was changed.

Now we could see that our Quark Expedition ship,
Ocean Diamond (the blue-hulled ship), had arrived in port

We had lunch at Bar Ideal Restaurante..

...where fans were watching the FIFA match
between Morocco and Spain

Beagle Brewery Red Ale?

Sopa de cangrejo/King Crab Soup

Sorrentino del centolla/Centolla ravioli

Crab meat in the ravioli

It was confusing as to whether the Ushuaia specialty was king crab or spider crab. I think I have determined that Lithodes santolla is the same as centolla fueguina or southern king crab. It is not a spider crab as some guidebooks indicated. So what was the difference between centollo and centolla?

Male vs female...

At the Bar Ideal (not ideal!) we saw a crew member from the Viking Polaris Expedition ship, which was hit by a rogue wave that killed a passenger on November 29, 2022. We later learned that on November 28th, a passenger on the same cruise suffered a leg injury when falling out of a zodiac boat. The Polaris was returning to Ushuaia to bring the passenger with the leg injury for medical attention.

The Viking Polaris was docked in Ushuaia

During our cruise we heard that Quark Expeditions had a fatal zodiac incident, killing two passengers, on November 15, 2022.

Yikes! Thoughts and prayers for the victims of these freak accidents.

Next: Ocean Diamond.