Tierra del Fuego

Fin del Mundo

We crossed over the Magellan Strait to Tierra del Fuego on this ferry.

Already here it feels a bit like the end of the world…

Our first impression of Tierra del Fuego….a lot of sheep. Sheep and landscape where all the same colour.

Flat can be beautiful.                   

Arrived in Ushuaia with Frida!!! End of the road, end of the continent, end of the world, Fin del Mundo!

The weather was grey.                

And Ushuaia was very grey.              

Interesting self made houses around Ushuaia. We were thinking to Christiania in Copenhagen.

House made of flattened oil drums, including a small advertisement for Shell.

We left Ushuaia and went to Estancia Harberton, a historic farm from 1886 and a lovely place to spent a few days to contemplate what you are doing here at the end of the world.

Here is the main part of the estancia with the sheep shearing house at the far left where they cut the wool off the sheep and packaged it for shipping it out – there was no road. Then there is the boat house where they still keep the whaling boat. And the two-storey building in the back is the main house.

The whaling boat from which they would hunt the whales.

We stayed in the former shepherds house with a beautiful view over the water.

We got an interesting tour of the estancia.               

Here the main house.                 

This is the guy responsible for cutting the wood. There is no central heating (only gas heaters or wood stoves), no electricity (only by generator), no telephone line. It is the perfect place to relax!

The tour includes a visit to the museum for sea mammals and an unforgettable visit to the “bone house” where the biologists are cleaning the bones of the stranded whales, dolphins etc before they can show up as nice white skeletons in the museum. These are whale bones soaking in hot water. The large head was there too under a black plastic cover and the smell was incredible! We gained a completely new respect for the work of biologists!!

Our small cabin (we rented half) in the soft evening light with the tide coming in.

We went for a 4 hour walk around through the woods and the bogs and the open fields of the estancia. Now the land is a nature reserve so everything is allowed to go wild including the remaining horses and cattle.

The bog.                                       

The old trees.                                                                

Lake and blue sky.                                    

Field of flowers.                                                          

View over the Beagle Channel. 

The colour of the sky is reflected in the water. Grey, white and blue.

View to Chile and Port Williams just on the other side of the channel.

Prevailing wind direction!        

National Park Tierra del Fuego

We spent two nights in the National Park Tierra del Fuego with lovely free camping, thank  you!

We hiked up to the top of the Guanacos Peak to get this view over the Beagle Channel. It is Ushuaia down below to the left. 

Marco serving the wine to warm up our cold toes again after the hike and a good “shower”.