Ushuaia

Ushuaia is a city on an island named The Grand Island, one of 200 islands in the archipelago off the tip of South America.  Ushuaia is in the Patagonia region (which encompasses part of Chile) and the Tierra Del Fuego province of Argentina.

 We awoke early this morning to take a train ride to the "End of the World" - the southernmost tip of South America.   In the early 1900s Argentina needed a presence in Patagonia.  Since no one wanted to settle and develop the area, they created a penal colony. The original train was built and used by prisoners to extract wood for building and heating purposes.  The penal colony was closed in 1947 and the landscape is littered with tree stumps (left by the prisoners) that take up to 100 years to decompose due to the harsh environment.

The average temperature in the winter is 32° and the average temperature in summer is 48°.  The snowcapped mountains are stunning and could make one believe that they may be in Switzerland.
 
As with all countries, there were original inhabitants before European settlers came.  The tribal group that occupied what is now the national park Tierra Del Fuego were named Yamanas. They survived mostly on sea-lions and mollusks.  These peoples have all disappeared mostly through disease and being exploited for their access to sea lion colonies.  There is one 82 year old woman left who is full blooded Yamana and she lives in Chile.

Tomorrow we leave for Antarctica.  Internet service is spotty at best but we will keep a daily blog of our activities and post them as soon as possible.