The End of the World!

Hola amigos,

Welcome to the end of the world! We are in Tierra del Fuego, the furthest south you can go before getting to Antarctica!  The island is split between Chile and Argentina; we visited the Chilean side as a day trip from Punta Arenas (on the main land) and then took a bus to the Argentine side, to the city of Ushuaia.

Our Chilean Tierra del Fuego day trip was mainly to see a small colony of King Penguins (~35)! We took a ferry across the Straight of Magellan from Punta Arenas to the small town of Porvenir.  We had lunch there and then drove for two hours along the coast of Bahia Inutil (Useless Bay) until we arrived at the colony.  It was a beautiful drive through the flat grasslands, which are typical of the northern part of the island. Wildlife included lots of sea birds, ducks, a flamingo, sheep and guanacos (a wild relative of the llama).  

The quaint town of Porvenir on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego

King penguins are the second largest penguin (next to the Emperor penguin of Antarctica).  They are almost waist-height, whereas the Magellanic penguins were about knee-height, and Galapagos and Humboldt penguins were smaller still.  They have beautiful colouring, similar to Emperor penguins, with a hint of yellow on their heads and chest.  We spent about 2 hours at the penguin reserve just observing them.  The colony of about 35 penguins lives there year-round.  The highlight was watching one penguin leave the group at the riverbank, and walk (very slowly) about 400m along the beach, to meet 2 other penguins who were hanging out only 5 meters away from us!

The King Penguin colony in Bahia Inutil (Useless Bay)

A King penguin going for a stroll on the beach to meet his friends

Two King penguins waiting for their buddy at the other end of the beach

The reunion - they weren't as emotional as we were!

Us with the King penguins - they are about 5 m away!

After a great time (and great weather) on the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego, we took a 10hr bus across the border to Ushuaia, Argentina.  Ushuaia's claim to fame is the most southern city in the world.  We have to mention that Puerto Williams in Chile is further south, but you can't call that a city.  We camped for 3 nights at a lovely campground just at the outskirts of town.  We had one horrible day of rain, wind, snow, and hail - everything we'd been warned against.  Luckily, the next day, it cleared up a bit and we went for a day-hike in the nearby National Park. This part of Tierra del Fuego is forested and mountainous, with lots of small islands in the Beagle Channel.

The City of Ushuaia among the mountains and Beagle Channel

Marsh in the Tierra del Fuego National Park

Coastline and mountains in Tierra del Fuego National Park

Winds are strong enough to make trees grow sideways

Now we are anxiously waiting for our flight to Buenos Aires, where we'll be back into 30 degree weather!! Shaina's parents arrive tomorrow and we'll spend 2 weeks in luxury with them!

Hasta Luego!

xoxo Marsh and Shaina