Ushuaia calls itself “La Ciudad en el Fin del Mundo” (Fin del Mundo for short). It’s the southernmost city in the world (Trust me – or you can google it too!). It’s not just a tourist destination for that reason; there are a few others as well (each photo below links to others; click each one to see the rest!):
- A great museum (The Yamana Museum) that explains the lifestyles and customs of the early Fuegians (residents of Tierra del Fuego – extreme southern Patagonia). Know why it’s called Tierra del Fuego? Because the first residents always had fires lit (for warmth and cooking, since they didn’t wear many clothes, and kept ‘dry’ by using seal oil), even in their canoes! When Magellan came through, he noted it as the “Land of Fire“.
- Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego – one of the greatest (and largest) national parks in Argentina, of which only a little bit is accessible to tourists (still worthwhile, but also great to see a country protecting some of its resources as well).
- Estancia Harberton – an early settlement built by the Bridges, who were the most interested in the Fuegians and made several attempts to protect and (at least a little) integrate them (unfortunately all failed).
- Martillo Island, a completely protected refuge for Magellanic and Gentoo penguins.
- A great port – from which nearly all of the Antarctic cruises sail (more about this later this week). This, of course, drives the vast majority of tourism. Antarctic tourists hail from everywhere, but so many are from Europe and North America that nearly every shop takes US cash and Euros. Since most of the stuff is so expensive (this is the only place in South America where we’ve seen outdoor gear prices higher than US list – everywhere else it’s been about the same), almost every shop takes credit cards, too.
We spent about 5 days in Ushuaia, and really enjoyed it – it’s a fun town to walk around. We learned a lot about the early Fuegians and Antarctic tourism here. Plus, we got to stay in a great hotel one night (as part of our Antarctica cruise)!
