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So, first of all – this is our first post ever from Argentina. And secondly, how many times do we get to post on February 29???
Ushuaia bills itself as El Fin Del Mundo, i.e., The End of the World. It also brands itself as the Southernmost City in the World. Is it? Well, sort of. Across the Beagle Channel to the south is a tiny place called Port Williams, population 2,500, that also calls itself the southernmost city. Ushuaia certainly is larger and has more to offer, but Port Williams is definitely farther south. We’re staying out of this one!
We found Ushuaia to be remarkably like an Alpine village in Switzerland or Germany. You will see this, as we did, in the European architecture in the photos. Mike’s old business partner rode a motorcycle all the way down to the bottom of South America 40 years ago or so, and his comment was that the farther south you go on the continent, the more European it looks.
A former prison now serves as the Maritime Museum. The penitentiary was in use from 1902 until 1947. The security of the prison was reinforced by the harsh weather conditions and the geographic isolation of Ushuaia. However, President Juan Peron ordered it closed in 1947 for humanitarian reasons, and the convicts were transferred to other prisons farther north in Argentina.
We thought it would be fairly cold, being just 700 miles north of Antarctica. While it was very windy, the ambient temperature was in the low 60s, which was very pleasant for walking the city. The most amazing thing to us was that there were nine large cruise ships in port, along with many yachts, ferries, and smaller boats. We thought the main street wouldn’t be walkable with the crowds, but found the opposite. Apparently, most people left the city for Tierra del Fuego National Park, viewing penguins, or other excursions.
We will have the opportunity to view penguins rather comfortably in the Falkland Islands, so we didn’t want to take a bus for several hours to do so. There have also been opportunities to travel out to islands by speedboat to visit some penguin colonies, but we read that they are commonly called “vomit boats” and take more than an hour, so…no, thank you!
Sailing toward Ushuaia,somewhere in the Beagle Channel.
This is what Ushuaia looks like from the ship’s deck, built in the foothills, with the Martial Mountains adding a dramatic backdrop.
Crazy! You can see some of the cruise ships (ours is not even visible, as it is far back on the other side of the dock) – and also, as you can see, far out on the left is a cruise ship that had to anchor and tender in its passengers, since the dock ran out of room.
We love “Enjoy the end of the world” – with a totally different meaning than it would be in the title of a movie!
A view of the city from water’s edge…
…including this interesting sculpture, the Monument of Ancient People and Pioneers of Ushuaia. The city’s mountains transform into a comforting albatross embracing Ushuaia with its wings. Around the statue are depictions of native people and scenes from history.
A cute kiosk at the port of the Three Marias.
A penguin! – penguin tours are heavily pushed here.
We liked the Three Guys along the top, Ushuaia’s ancestors watching over the business district.
Free Spirits and The Search.
A pretty souvenir shop in all of its redness.
Looking mighty European…
Our Lady of Merced Catholic Church is very bright, a beacon as you walk down the main shopping street. It was built in 1898 by the area’s convict labor force.
A view down to the harbor. Lots of buildings were brightly painted.
This store is named, simply, Ushuaia.It sells sports gear, but oddly, on a blue-ribbon day with thousands of cruise ship passengers in the city, it was closed.
Looking down the main retail street. You don’t see many people, right? They all went out of town.
The post office looks like a gingerbread house. It should be a bakery!
A happy logo above a store.
It is the End of the World, but there is still a Hard Rock Cafe!
Penguins everywhere.
…even as store mannequins.
This one looks particularly creepy. Have they done a killer penguin horror movie yet?
These look positively evil, like they are sucking your soul out of you. “In Antarctica, no one can hear you scream.”
This gallery is having fun with Ushuaia’s convict history, depicting them escaping, with police hot on their tails.
And a mural also memorializes them.
Much like Alcatraz paraphernalia in San Francisco, many stores were selling prisoner clothing and souvenirs. Everyone wants to be bad for a while.
The Government House has unusual architecture.
This bar looks like it comes right out of Bavaria.
Once again, a very European building. Once again, yellow. And it, too, can be seen from quite a distance down the street.
“Cape Horn…World’s Southernmost Beer.” Everyone, and everything, wants an extreme title as a slogan.
We have never, ever, seen a chubby (armless) (naked) mannequin before. He likely was put out to pasture by the penguin mannequins.
A Baptist Church – the House of the Father. Yellow, again.
A drawing of a Native American on a fence in town.
Busts of Juan and Evita Peron.
The (very) Banana Bar.
We suppose this is supposed to entice people to dine here if they are craving crab, but to us it looks like a 1950s horror film poster – Attack of the Giant Crustacean. We actually do recall an episode of a schlocky 1960s TV series called Voyage of the Bottom of the Sea where a guy in a lobster costume was threatening the atomic submarine and was out to “finally prove the superiority of crustaceans over humans.” Shockingly, that was the last season of that series.
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