On the Loose

We considered our touring options today and decided on a morning walk through town to the maritime and prison museums. The former features naval history with many small models of sailing ships that rounded the Horn or ended their nautical lives as shipwrecks. Amundsen and Shackleton get honorable mention. The latter museum commemorates Ushuaia's first non-native inhabitants, sent by the federal government to build their own prison and establish a presence in the southern part of Argentina...a story somewhat similar to the "civilizing" of Australia.

Architecture here is mostly nondescript, with a bit of Swiss ski town ambience. Much of the siding and roofing we've seen in Chile and Argentina, especially on older houses, is galvanized steel.

For a low-key afternoon outing we took a relaxing train ride on El Tren del Fin del Mundo (everything is fin del mundo around here!) through the public part of Tierra del Fuego national park. Most of the park is protected and off limits. The choo-choo was Morris Mini-size (500 mm gauge for you train buffs) with a steamy "little engine that could" covering 14 flat kilometers in two hours. We saw quite a few beautiful but not wild horses in the park that we photographed expressly for Camille.Read more