December 2019    itinerary link

 

We did not know much about the Beagle Channel before this trip, but we had heard we could see penguins there. When I tried to book a penguin tour online before we left home, I only saw prices well over $100 per person. Then I read somewhere that you could just go to Ushuaia port and book a boat tour in short notice, and that would be much cheaper. So that’s what we did. When we went down to the Ushuaia Port area to book a boat tour, there were a dozen or so booths each selling slightly different boat tour options. The first one we walked into offered an all day tour that included seeing penguins. Another place offered visits to more islands in the Beagle Channel, and another place said they specialized in landing on the island where the penguins lived and getting closer to them. We thought that would be a bit too rude to the penguins, thus, we settled on the first place, Rumbo Sur.  I think we ended up paying under $30pp.

We were promised to see plenty of sea lions, cormorants, and penguins. We were not quite sure how this would be achieved, though. More often than not, you get to see some of the animals from a distance when animal sightings are guaranteed.

The boat was clean and comfortable. With it about 60% full, there were plenty of places to sit around. There was a cafe that sold drinks, snacks, and warm sandwiches etc.

We left the Ushuaia Harbor behind. Recorded narrations were coming out at the right moments in English and Spanish. Beagle Channel is named after the British naval research ship, HMS Beagle, that carried a young Charles Darwin as a research assistant.

It was raining on and off, but that didn’t matter. The scenery was just gorgeous.

Uh? What’s that? We came close to one island in the middle of the Channel, and there seemed to be some animals on it.

Sea lions! Tons of them. Just on this one island. The boat got really close to the island & the captain made sure everybody got enough photos to take home with. Everybody went up to the upper deck, which was not covered, to take close-ups.

They were beautiful creatures just minding their own business. Ones we had seen in a zoo here and there looked tired and bored, but not these guys!

Quite frankly, encountering wildlife in its own habitat was an invigorating experience!

Next we went close to an island that was packed with birds. What are they? They look like mini penguins. They are cormorants.

Now we could see a pattern. One island conveniently colonized by one kind of animal — of course the tour companies could guarantee sightings of lots of wild animals!  We loved it. Quite a sight.

This man made lighthouse was not as interesting compared to the wild life. Still, I have to admit it is photogenic.

We needed to sail a couple more hours to reach the penguins, we were told. There were other wild animals all around us, though. We had lunch. Drank coffee/tea/beer. Passing time was not too hard.

Look! Someone shouted. We are here! Someone else yelled.

Ooooh! Down right adorable!  These Magellanic penguins are smaller than the arctic ones we see in movies and photos, but they are cute as buttons. The boat was brought very close to the shore of Matillo Island, and we had no trouble capturing all sorts of penguin moments.

They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Very playful and full of life, they did not pay much attention to people looking at them.

 

We could have stayed longer and taken more pictures. The captain was willing to let us take all the time we wanted. But, after a while, you start worrying about all the time it would require to look through the photos when you return home.

The return trip was uneventful and the scenery as gorgeous. We definitely got our money’s worth.

Our journey: Puelo -> Puerto Varas -> Puerto Natales -> Torres del Paine National Park –> El Calafate –> Perito Moreno Glacier –> Ushuaia –> the Beagle Channel –> Buenos Aires

 

December 2019     itinerary link

 

We flew to Ushuaia(population: 56,900) located on Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego (Big Island of the Land of Fire) in 80 minutes from El Calafate. We imagined a more isolated rustic place since it billed itself as the world’s southernmost city, but it was much bigger and more urban than expected.

One unusual thing to note for car rentals: there was no rental car booths or offices at the airport. You are greeted by your rental agency’s representative who was wearing a jacket/shirt with the company logo on. We could not find ours, Sixt. Someone else said our guy was helping someone else outside. So we waited. He came in and apologized. He took us outside and led us to our car, which was parked curbside.

Our HomeExchange house was in a residential area away from downtown.

The house was quite spacious and artfully decorated.

Our house was in the area left side of this map. Downtown is marked with darker color of brown. San Martin street is their main street where most of the shops and restaurants are. All the north-south streets are on the steep hill.

One warning we had from our host: their downtown area is on a steep hillside, and the cars on the streets that go up and down the hill have the right of the way. We soon appreciated the rule as we drove into downtown. Parking was not easy to find, but we did manage to find a spot on a hilly side street.

When we asked about restaurants, the host said locals don’t go to downtown because it’s overrun by the tourists and that jacked up the prices. Then where do you go to eat? “So we stay home,” she said. She mentioned this restaurant as a good seafood place, and she was right. Very fresh and delicious! Things did seem to cost more here than the places we’d been thus far in Chile and Argentina, but it was not surprising considering how remote this place was from agricultural/manufacturing regions.

So who are all these tourists? Cruise lines go back and forth between Brazil and Chile and stop in Ushuaia from December to May each year, and that brings over 100,000 visitors. Then 90% of cruises to Antarctica start and end in Ushuaia, and 45,000 people visit Antarctica each year. (Check out Bill’s experience in our Antarctica section.) On top of that, there are people like us who wander in from other parts of Patagonia. And hikers and backpackers and adventure seekers come. During their winter time, skiers and other winter sports people come in to Ushuaia.

San Martin Street in pictures above and below. We found a wonderful bakery, Ana & Juana, on this street, and the breads and pastries we bought from this bakery sustained us for a couple of days.

We went to the Prison Museum. There are actually 4 different museums(Maritime, Prison, Art, Antarctic) housed in old prison & one ticket gets you into all.

Ushuaia was founded informally by British missionaries in early 1800’s, but it became part of Argentina later on & was first used as a penal colony. The prison life is recreated in the Prison Museum.

An art exhibition. The main art collection area was under renovation when we were there. Other museums were not too interesting. We thought 4 in 1 ticket was a bargain, but, in the end, it was not. There wasn’t a whole lot to see. Still, you learn something about the town and people.

We walked down to the port area and bought tickets for the boat trip out to the Beagle Channel the next day. That will be a separate write up.

On our last day in Ushuaia, we decided to venture out of town. Basically head east on Route 3, and it becomes a mountain highway. Our host had mentioned Tierra Mayor restaurant at exit #4 might be a good lunch spot, but it was closed.

We drove on, and there were more mountains all around. Too bad that it rained so we could not get clear photos. At Exit #7(maybe an hour driving from downtown,) we found a grill restaurant that seemed to be very popular. Grilled lamb is a specialty of Ushuaia region, and big fire pits are set up at these grill restaurants like the one below.

Well, we got rain and wind, but we did enjoy ourselves.

The restaurant was pretty big, but an indoor fire pit in the middle of the room made it very cozy and warm. The big kettle on the edge of the fire pit is a special drink described below. Help yourself to it & get warmed up.

We didn’t fully understand how it worked, but, it seemed you pay a price for an all you can eat lunch that included a salad bar and drinks. About $20-25 per person. The meat was very tender, and we could not eat more than the first round.

On the way back, we stopped at a tiny bakery that was sort of hiding behind a pretty unassuming store front right before we entered the city, and what a find that was! Delicious bread and pastries at very reasonable prices.

The high-rises(?) of downtown Ushuaia are along the coastline. We parked the car at a lot in this area for free. We, then, walked up to San Martin Street and explored. The whole downtown is like, 15 blocks long and 5 blocks deep. You can cover it in a couple of hours walking very slowly and stopping for photos.

One thing we all quickly agreed: this town never had a city planning. It just grew organically, and people built whatever they wanted. Outside of downtown, streets are often crooked and meandering. We got lost more than once going through these mazes.

Some building owners had good sense of humor, too. No, that’s not a real person. I would not call it beautiful or charming, but this city was, somehow, appealing to me. It was liberating to be far, far away from it all, yet, I did not feel isolated. Well, we were there for only 3 days, so how would I really know what it would be like living in a place like that. I may never find out.

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Some street arts captured by Bill.

We figured there had to be some kind of eateries outside of downtown. We checked out Google Map, and, sure enough! There were some possibilities closer to home. So we ventured out looking for dinner. Mr. Google(had to be a male for the moment – it was giving us trouble) sent us on a dirt road leading to a new development area. No restaurants! We ended up at a tiny burger joint closer to our house.

Before heading out to the airport the next day, we were determined to have a nice lunch & found it at Los Cauquenes Resort on the shores of the Beagle Channel.

A killer view, great food, nice service – what more could we ask? We ordered a seafood sampler appetizer plate, and that was big enough to feed the two of us.

We arrived at the airport, and, sure enough! There was a lady wearing an orange Sixt jacket waiting by the entrance. We handed her the key, she checked the gas and did a once around, and we were good to go.

Our journey: Puelo -> Puerto Varas -> Puerto Natales -> Torres del Paine National Park –> El Calafate –> Perito Moreno Glacier –> Ushuaia –> the Beagle Channel –> Buenos Aires

 

 

 

December 2019     itinerary link

We drove out to the Glacier National Park first thing in the morning, and one car was waiting ahead of us at the park gate. At 9AM, we quickly bought the ticket and drove in. After 15-20 minutes, this kind of scenery started appearing. “Wow, let’s park the car. We need to take pictures!” everybody yelled.

5-10 minutes later, we finally arrived at the Perito Moreno Glacier observation center. There were parking lots and a building that contained restrooms, eateries, shops etc.

From there you walk on walkways with wooden railings to get closer to the glacier.

There were only a handful of people at that hour, thus, it was so peaceful and quiet except you could hear the sound the glacier was making as parts of it cracked and splintered.

You can see & hear it!

I never knew it could be such a mesmerizing experience just staring at a gigantic piece of ice! I wanted to stay longer on one hand, but, my fingers were getting frozen. After all, we were standing next to an ice field. And people were pouring in. So we slowly headed back up to the parking lot still stopping every couple of minutes to look back at the glacier named Perito Moreno.

I confess: we have a lot more photos. We will be happy to show them, too.

Flowers were blooming in other parts of the park. By the time we reached our car, tour buses filled up all the parking spots. Good thing we went there early.

Incidentally, there is a town named Perito Moreno hundreds of kilometers away from the glacier. Google map, at one point, showed that for one of my searches. Don’t go there!

Our journey: Puelo -> Puerto Varas -> Puerto Natales -> Torres del Paine National Park –> El Calafate –> Perito Moreno Glacier –> Ushuaia