The Iguacu Falls posts are complete

In case you didn´t notice, the two posts about Iguacu Falls dated 16 and 17 October have been written up and are complete.

Punta Arenas doesn`t do Mondays

It´s COLD down here in the South. When I walked out of the last Internet cafe it was snowing in Ushuaia. Nothing settled underfoot and fortunately there was no wind. Conditions are about the same temperature here in Punta Arenas, and I think I saw a snowflake or two this morning.

Yesterday (Sunday) was election day in Argentina. A lot of shops were closed in Ushuaia`s main street in the morning but that may have been a normal Sunday. There were a few people standing around a school so I guess that was a polling station.

I was due to fly to Punta Arenas in Chile and I checked in early in case the flight was oversold. No need to bother. There were barely 30 people on the jet.

Naughty Chilean taxi drivers at Punta Arenas Airport tried to tell me the shuttle wouldn`t go at all and then wouldn´t go for at least an hour. I stood firm and saved myself 5,000 pesos. The shuttle dropped me in the plaza and I walked from there to my guidebook selection, Hostal O´Higgins. Almost the whole block was a building site. The hostal is now a hole in the ground. So that´s why the phone wasn`t answered!

My hike to second choice Hospedaje Independencia took me past a large statue of the heroic Bernardo O´Higgins. I think I must go and photograph it. His name cracks me up every time I come across it. He was one of the commanders – together with José de San Martín – of the military forces that freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. For more information on him click here.

The lodging has proved very comfortable, and the owner, Eduardo, has been very helpful with travel information, so I´m well pleased with it.

I had been warned (thanks, Jack) that Punta Arenas was not a riveting tourist destination. Unless I want to do another penguin tour there´s not much on offer. One travel agency promotes birdwatching tours in the window but they have been scrapped for lack of takers. A regular historical tour is unlikely to go ahead tomorrow unless it can recruit minimum numbers. Eduardo had recommended a museum in town, but it is closed on Mondays. And today is ....

What I did manage to do, with Eduardo´s help, was book my passage on the ferry from Puerto Natales to Puerto Montt. This entails sacrificing my flight to Puerto Montt but it will be so much more interesting to see the Chilean fjords. The boat leaves on Friday morning but I have to check in on Thursday and spend the night aboard. Winds, tides, whirlpools, tsunamis and kraken permitting.

I also visited the cemetery. This was also Eduardo´s doing. There are some little houses for the dead as in Recoleta, Buenos Aires, but most plots are much more modest. There is an "English Section", where the epitaphs on the headstones are in English. The dearly departed are from all parts of the British Isles, with the Scots particularly well represented. There is a also a memorial to the crew of HMS Doterel, which exploded and sank near Punta Arenas on 26 April 1881.

The largest plot by far is devoted to the Braun-Menendez family, which became extremely wealthy and dominated Punta Arenas society. The Braun portion originated in Russia and Mauricio was Russia´s diplomatic representative until the 1917 revolution overthrew the Czar.

The most famous name I came across was Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee, victor of the Battle of Coronel. There is a large memorial tablet topped with an eagle. I´m not sure the black-painted shells are in good taste, though. I presume the admiral is not there in person since he was sunk at the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914.

My last lot of photos were downloaded to a DVD, despite my instruction to put them on a CD. This was done with good intentions. The photo shop thought they needed room for a full 2Gb memory card. The mix-up resulted in a disagreement about the correct fee for the service. That was resolved, but I have not yet visited an Internet cafe that can read the DVD.

The upshot is that all my recent posts are text only. Sorry. I will fix this when I can.

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego means Land of Fire. I think it is most inappropriate, because the only fires are inside. My suggestion for a new name is Tierra del Viento Frio, Land of Cold Wind.

Today has been an excellent example. It´s perishing out there, even though the wind is not strong. Not by local standards, anyway.

In the morning I shivered my way along to the Yamana and Municipal Museums, which educated me in the ways of the local indigenous people. In Tierra del Fuego as a whole there were four groups. They were all hunter-gatherers, but had different languages and not all other aspects of their cultures were the same. One group, the Selknam, lived mainly on the grassland of the main island, hunted guanaco and wore skins. One small, and now totally extinct, group, the Haush, occupied the far eastern end of the main island, hunted guanaco and lived off the sea. The other two groups, the Alcaluf and Yahgan (or Yamana), lived solely on what they could harvest from the sea. They never allowed their fires to go out, even in their bark canoes, which is pretty amazing.

The fires, along with a coating of sea lion fat, were what kept them warm in the absence of clothes. These ubiquitous fires were what prompted the first visiting European to christen the locality Tierra del Fuego.

There were no chiefs and food was shared amongst all irrespective of who brought it in. Labour was shared. The children would occupy the centre of the canoe, keep the fire going and bale out the excess water. The mother paddled from the back and Dad stood in the bows with his harpoon at the ready. Men made the canoes but the women maintained them. It was also the women who moored the vessels to kelp and swam ashore at the end of the expedition. Only women could swim.

Although violence between europeans and amerindians seems to have been very infrequent, it did occur in both directions. However, it was european hunting of their main food sources and european diseases that caused the steep decline in numbers of the indigenous folk.

Is that enough anthropology for today?

Having explored the Beagle Channel on Thursday, yesterday I turned my sights inland and went on a tour by 4x4. I noted with interest that the Argentine tour operator used Land Rovers. Animosity toward the English does not extend to prejudice against a British vehicle.

We were a party of four, accommodated in relative comfort in a new vehicle, which compared very favourably with the seating provisions made in Bolivian 4x4s two months ago. My companions were a young man from Michigan who had been living in Buenos Aires for six months and a pair of newlyweds. Aah, wasn´t that nice? Chris is English and Mercedes is a Buenos Aires native. Clearly not all Argentinians bear a grudge. They live and work in London. They had recently had their second marriage in a Buenos Aires church. The first was a civil ceremony in London - so all the relatives got to one celebration or the other.

All the other passengers spoke better Spanish than I do. This was crucial because our driver/guide, Juan, spoke no English.

I was sold the tour with a promise that there would be an English-speaking guide. Oh well. It was just bad luck that I found Juan difficult to understand. Sometimes I can follow Spanish-speaking guides quite well.

A second Land Rover with 6 tourists (I think) had a lively young driver who spoke quite a bit of English and even knew the proper English names for the larger birds we saw.

We were headed to see mountains, forests and lakes. At our first photo stop to admire a view there was graffiti on the stonework, "Ingleses = Pirates". Grinning hugely Chris ran to be photgrphed standing beside it. Mercedes liked the joke so much she could hardly hold the camera steady.

Next we paused at a winter activity centre, looking rather forlorn without any snow. Huskies and Alaskan dogs are bred there to pull sleds. We passed what I guess was a sawmill, with me straining to follow why the logs were left in the lake to absorb water when the wood was later dried in an oven (if I understood correctly).

Then we left the main road, four-wheel drive was engaged and the serious business of the day commenced. The forest track got worse and worse the further we went. I guess the drivers are recruited primarily for their ability to handle the vehicles and both of them relished the ruts, deep mud and crazy angles on steep slopes that we encountered. I noticed that when they chose to tilt the camionettas to the side it was always with the driver´s side uphill. I was in the front passenger seat so I would have borne the brunt of any miscalculation.

Along the way we were told of the miseries caused by the release of 50 pairs of Canadian beavers. There is no accurate beaver census, but the numbers are certainly in the tens or hundreds of thousands. With no predators the beavers are gnawing their way through the native nothofagus (southern beech) trees at a great rate. We drove along a valley that was a succsssion of beaver dams and stopped at one point to inspect the chewed stumps. It seemed like the whole valley was a mess of trees felled so that the beavers could chomp the bark.

Eventually we arrived at Lago Fagnano and drove straight into it! Why have a high wheel base vehicle and not play with it was the drivers´ attitude. Smiling broadly at our surprise, Juan backed out of the water and released us to our own devices for half an hour or so. While I scoured the lake shore and the forest for birds (several species but no ticks) the drivers built a fire and prepared an asado (Argentinian BBQ).

We were fed steak, chorizo sausages and wine. There was actually fruit for dessert (vegetable matter other than bread, potatoes or unimaginative salads are scarce in Argentine restaurants) and a choice of hot drinks. Juan promoted the mate. It must be very bitter because I had to add sugar.

Our afternoon route went along, or in, the lake before following a rather tame track back to the road. But we were not done yet. There was Lago Escondido to admire and, if we wished, paddle a canoe on. I don´t like canoes much anyway, and by now it was cold and drizzly so I declined. In fact only three hardy souls, all from the other vehicle, chose to brave the chilly waters. While they got wet the rest of us went into the lakeside hotel and clustered by the fire.

Eventually the canoeists squelched in to join us and were given immediate access to the huge fireplace, where they steamed and waited for the blood to return to their fingers.

I thought this was the end of the tour but no, we took the scenic route back to the main road. Initially this was simply a rough track, where we saw a fox, the Michiganer´s first, but the trail quickly deteriorated. It was steep, strewn with rubble from barely cleared slips and offered plenty of other hazards that only a 4x4 could attempt. There was even a patch of snow left over from winter.

Finally we did rejoin the main road adjacent to Ingleses = Pirates and this time it truly was the end of the tour. We followed the tarmac back to Ushuaia.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is election day in Argentina and the start of my journey back to NZ. Well, it feels like it. I shall be going North and using the first sector of my Lan Chile air tickets that will eventually return me to Auckland. However, there are three weeks still for adventures and I´m sure they will not be dull. I have spent part of today investigating cruises in the Chilean fjords. One, the most expensive, is already fully booked. I have two enquiries still waiting for answers.

Because of tomorrow´s election I am told that bars will not open tonight and restaurants will not serve alcohol. However, I am sure they will still serve meat.

The Beagle Channel

This very afternoon, Thursday 25 October, I have reached my furthest South - Bridges Island in the Beagle Channel. Ushuaia is 54 degrees 24 minutes South and the Island must be a few minutes nearer the South Pole. This does not compare with my furthest North in Canada two years ago, which is Tuktoyaktuk beyond the Arctic Circle at 69 degrees 26 minutes, but it´s about as far South as you get without going to Antarctica.

We had a short trek on the island. The guide told us about the original inhabitants of the region, who survived in this harsh environment by coating themselves in sea lion fat. They were otherwise naked. I think I´ll continue to rely on Goretex. There were also brief lectures on the island´s plants. One I recognised as the slow growing "living rock" last seen on the altiplano. That or a very close relative.

However, the main purpose of the voyage was to spy on the local wildlife.

The advertised targets were colonies of cormorants and sea lions, because they were numerous and involved in their breeding cycle. There were two species of cormorants; the imperial or king cormorant (depending on which field guide you rely on) and the rock cormorant. They were at the nest building stage and I´m sure I saw one filching material from another half-constructed nest.

The sea lions had growing pups and, to my surprise, were sharing their rocky islet with many birds, including nesting cormorants. Clearly sea lions do not have the same gastromonic interest in seabirds that leopard seals are noted for.

However, I got much joy from other bird species that turned up, including dolphin gulls with bright red legs and beaks, kelp geese, chilean skuas queuing to steal cormorant eggs or chicks, and sheathbills, the pure white birds with disgusting eating habits. They clean up placentas and excrement. And on Bridges Island I saw wrens perched on high twigs and singing prettily.

My memory card is well loaded with attempts at wildlife photography

So, all in all, a good afternoon´s endeavours.

So Much Has Been Happening

The recent shortage of posts has nothing to do with a shortage of interesting activities. In fact it has more to do with the concentration of fun stuff leaving little time for blogging.

Right now I am in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost city on the planet. It´s on the Beagle Channel and there are several islands between here and Cape Horn but it is seriously far South. From the map in the hostel it looks to be something like the latitude of Maquarie Island. Can someone confirm that, using Google Earth maybe?

The recen history is, very briefly:

In El Calafate I went on tours three days running;
1. A boat trip on Lago Argentina to see Upsala and various other glaciers and the beautiful icebergs that have formed from the pieces that fall off. It had not occurred to me previously that there were freshwater icebergs.
2. A bus trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier, which sprint along at 2 metres per day and calves off chunks of ice almost to order. The trip was not spoiled by spending the previous day admiring glaciers. Also, I think I got some good photos of the sparrows and sierra-finches that compete for the crumbs from tourists´sandwiches.
3. A marathon bus trip (6am to 10pm) to Torres del Paine in Chile. This park is the place to go in Chile and for me did not live up to the hype. However, the recommendation is to trek through for at least 5 days and that would be more special.

And the timer on this computer is about to shut me off ...

OK, You can stop worrying now

Of course you aren´t worrying because I didn´t tell you there was a potential problem.

Today was a good day, but rather boring. I spent several hours waiting in the local hospital. Everything is OK, but I´d better tell you the story.

Last week, after getting sand in my eyes, which is painful with contact lenses, I became aware of something in my right eye that looked like a bit of brown fluff. When it didn´t go away I emailed my optometrist, who said that it was very likely a harmless "vitreous floater" but I must get the eye checked in case there´s a rip in the retina. So today:

9 o´clock - go to hospital. Told to come back at 1pm to give details of name, etc. I understood that the doctor would be seeing patients from 2pm.

1 o´clock - wait around. Told that details will be collected at 2pm and the doctor will start seeing patients at 4pm.

2 o´clock - form queue in apparently random order to make appointment. No that´s not right, to get my name on the list. Pay 15 pesos ($7.50). Told to come back at 5pm to see the doctor at 5:15 or 5:30.

5 o´clock - return to hospital and take seat outside the opthalmology room.

6:15 - see the doctor. A friend had translated the correspondence with my optometrist into Spanish. Your translation was excellent, Tracey. All was clear to Dr Gruccio, who applied pupil-dilating fluid.

6:20 - sit outside again "for 20 minutes" while the fluid takes effect.

6:50 - readmitted to consulting room. Retina examined very carefully. Given the all clear.

So that´s all right.

I then went to the bus terminal to book seats to Rio Gallegos and Ushuaia. Because of the strong winds the ferry isn´t running and the buses can´t get to Ushuaia. I have to go back tomorrow and see what the situation is.

I don´t mind an extra day in El Calafate, but I do want to see a bit of Tierra del Fuego before I step on a plane out of Ushuaia next Sunday.

I think I shall go back to a "parilla libre", an all you can eat BBQ buffet, eat a kilo of steak and drink lots of red wine to remind myself that it doesn´t really matter.

The next post may be a few days

I am now in El Calafate, in Argentina´s glacier district. Internet connections here are expensive and slow. Also, I have booked a full day tour for each of the next three days, so there will not be much time for blog posts.

So if there is nothing new for a few days, that is why.

Don´t let that hold up the comments and emails.