We heard…people speaking English with British accents. We saw…the British flag flying at the dock. We found…British and American brands in the grocery store. We paid for everything…in British pounds. And, we can swear…the penguins we encountered were talking to each other with British accents! Welcome to the Falkland Islands, one of the UK’s southernmost territories. They went to war over the islands in 1982, against Argentina, who had last attempted to gain sovereignty over the islands in October 1832, and were evicted less than three months later. Great Britain had set up a garrison on the completely unoccupied islands in 1765, and after brief British, French, and Spanish rule, all had abandoned the place in 1811.
We were surprised to hear how touchy the Argentines and Falklanders still are about the sovereignty of the islands, considering the very short time Argentine has held them historically. When walking around Ushuaia, we saw a large sign on one of the buildings declaring (in Spanish of course) that the Falklands belong to Argentina. We were told not to walk around the Falklands wearing light blue and white (the colors of the Argentine flag), as it might be considered a political statement, nor to offer to pay for anything in Argentinian money.
In 2013 a referendum was held concerning the islands’ sovereignty. There was a 92% voter turnout. A total of 99.8% voted to remain under British sovereignty, with only 3 people voting for Argentinian sovereignty. So, apparently the question is settled, though there are still hard feelings on both sides.
After months of using our fledgling Spanish (where, remember, we had moderate success asking questions but didn’t always understand the answers), we were able to speak to everyone in English. It made for an easy day. The temperature was in the mid-60s, but the wind was ferocious, as you can imagine. There aren’t really any trees, just small bushes, so the wind rips into you.
As usual, the ship’s excursions are exceedingly expensive. The tours to see penguins were either $200 or just over $400, and they were all-day trips. Just outside of the Visitor’s Center in Port Stanley, we found a shuttle bus that would take us to see the penguins at Gypsy Cove for $20 round-trip per person, leaving every 10 minutes from the port and then every 10 minutes or so when you wanted to return. It is just the end of the nesting season, so there was one colony of about 30 left, on a hillside overlooking the bay. It wasn’t a big investment in terms of money or time, so we were quite pleased to see them in their natural habitat. We continued walking along the top of the hill, with marvelous ocean views, then we saw Ordnance Point, and caught the next shuttle bus back to town.
Upon our return to the capital, Port Stanley, we walked along the ocean, visited the local church and grocery store (a choice of good peanut butter), and chatted with some locals. They said even though it was quite windy, it was a nicer day than the several previous ones, as the fog was so thick, you could hardly see your own hands. And the ship’s crew had been hoping that the sea conditions would be good so that our tenders would make it in from the ship (often, this is not the case). The conditions were fine, but they had warned us that if we heard a continuous sounding of the ship’s horn, we were to return immediately, before passage became treacherous. But everything worked out well. It is an interesting place to visit – speaking English in the South Atlantic! We enjoyed the oddity, as it were.
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