Tourist First: Argentina: The End of the World at Ushuaia

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Argentina: The End of the World at Ushuaia

Ushuaia is squeezed between the Andes and the Beagle Channel.

Our December 2024 Tierra del Fuego cruise began in Punta Arenas, Chile, and ended in Ushuaia, Argentina. We disembarked after breakfast on Friday, December 6, and stayed one night. That gave us one afternoon to explore the area. We think we made good use of the time.

If you go to the southernmost extremes in Africa, New Zealand or South America, you usually can count on seeing penguins. We saw African penguins nesting on a beach at Simon's Town, south of Cape Town, South Africa. And we saw little blue penguins swimming in the Pacific off Dunedin, New Zealand (as well as other penguins in a rehab center). But we saw none in Chile despite going as far south as Cape Horn. So on arriving here we booked a several-hour tour to an island penguin colony to see magellanic and gentoo penguins. The tour involved a long van ride with a group of young international travelers and a cold ride in a covered but unheated boat. We could not get out on the penguins' beach, but the boat nosed in so closely that we got a great look at the birds.

Adventure outfitters in Ushuaia equip visitors who want to climb the nearby Andes. A host of souvenir shops offer mementos of visits to "fin del mundo," the end of the earth, as Ushuaia bills itself. Expeditions to Antarctica often start or end here, along with less adventurous cruises like ours, and there are plenty of restaurants and hotels catering to short-term visitors. We stayed at the Lennox, a short walk from the dock where we landed and close to everything anyone would want here. The "downtown" is little more than a dozen blocks. Our one dinner was at a parrilla (barbecue) place called La Estancia (the Ranch). It was the last of several parrilla meals we had during our weeks-long trip to South America, and I'll share with you that the anticipation of a parrilla feast is usually much better than the meal itself.

We left the next morning for a couple of days in Buenos Aires and then home to San Diego.

Here are some photos.

That's our ship, the Australis Ventus, at right, after we docked in Usuaia.

Tour companies at the harbor compete for visitors. We
found our tour to see the penguins here with one of
several operators offering essentially the same thing.

Bundled against the cold, our fearless group raced
over the waves to reach the penguins.

We passed a number of rocky islets going from a marina, into the Beagle Channel and
to the penquins' island. It was a misty, overcast day (which may be as good as the
weather gets here) so these beasts weren't exactly sunning themselves but they were
napping and nursing their young. We live on the harbor in San Diego and there
are always California sea lions, such as these, somewhere in the harbor.
Nonetheless, it's always nice to see them since their presence
implies that the envionment hasn't totally gone to hell.

These are megellanic penguins. There were dozens of
them on the island.

A gentoo penguin (notice it has orange feet and beak, unlike the magellanic) heads into the water.

Another gentoo penguin decides to go swimming.

Ok, let's all just act natural until these tourists go away.

This is a the marina where we got on the boat to see the penquins.

King crab (el rey de la centolla) is big in Ushuaia,
but it's also very expensive. We didn't bite.

Inspired by the nearby mountains, some builders in Usuaia
tried for a Swiss look.

Parrilla restaurants, such as La Estancia, draw in hungry carnivores like me
by roasting whole lambs in their windows.

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Argentine Patagonia

They are called what they look like: Mexican hats. They occur naturally in the highlands above the town of El Calafate. The water in the distance is glacier-fed Lago Argentino. An hour's drive east of El Calafate, near the headwaters of the lake, visitors can hike on the Perito Moreno glacier and take a boat ride among icebergs that have fallen off the several glaciers in the Parque Nacional des Glaciares. El Calafate is basically a summer (Nov. to Feb.) tourist town, and there are a number of hotels at all price points. We stayed at Esplendor El Calafate, a very stylish hotel with a full restaurant and bar. The South American picker-upper drink mate is available at breakfast. The hotel is an uphill walk from the commercial area, but that's not much of a drawback. Click on the photo to visit the Esplendor online.

Dominica

Probably the greenest island in the Caribbean, in terms of color and ecological awareness, is Dominica, just north of Martinique. It was named by Columbus, who sailed past it on a Sunday. The island nation is one of the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, but it is rich in friendly people and natural attractions, including a boiling lake, hot and cold waterfalls, a parrot jungle and hill after hill of dense green jungle. There is also a cable-car ride through the jungle canopy (http://www.natureisland.com/AerialTram.html). I wrote about Dominica years ago, and much of that article is still relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/26/travel/winter-in-the-sun-an-island-where-less-is-more.html?scp=2&sq= Unfortunately, one of the hotels I mentioned, Petit Coulibri, has since closed. Fortunately, there's still a wonderful eco-resort called Papillote Wilderness Retreat http://www.papillote.dm/), four acres of lush gardens, hot-spring-heated soaking pools and modest cottage rooms.

Palm Springs

Palm Springs, Calif., is a great destination for nature lovers -- Mount San Jacinto State Park is a wonderful gondola ride (shown above -- click on it to visit its website) away, and Joshua Tree National Park is a short drive away. It's also a great destination for naturists; there are several major clothing optional resorts in the area -- and for fans of Mid-Century Modern architecture. For a dose of mid-century style, stay at the Orbit In (http://www.orbitin.com/), which does ask that you keep your clothes on.

Pompeii

If you're driving from Naples to the Amalfi Coast, and it's hard to imagine anyone who wouldn't want to visit the Amalfi Coast, you should plan to spend a night in the modern city of Pompei, adjacent to the ancient city of Pompeii. Above are the murals depicting an unknown ritual in what's called the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. If you can, devote most of a full day to exploring the site. Afterward, you'll want a good hotel. Click on the image for info about Hotel Amleto, a small and friendly hotel in the heart of the new town and an easy walk from the ruins.

St. Vincent

This is one of the "rooms" at Petit Byahaut, an isolated (access by boat only) eco-resort on St. Vincent, the largest island in the country of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Bequia, mentioned above in this column, is one of the Grenadines. The photo above is of the living deck and doesn't show a relatively enclosed area that had a real bed. Did you notice I said "had"? That's because the place has closed. To read about the property in its heyday, click on the image for a New York Times article I wrote. The article has a link to a slide show with more images of the resort.