After writing about penguins, we wandered down to the naval museum in Punta Arenas. We found ourselves watching a film about Shackleton's first trip to the pole. Then we got on a boat.
It was the roll on, roll off ferry to Puerto Williams. The ferry is pretty small / about 10 cars aboard. It didn't seem ideal to spend a night on, or for traversing tiny channels at the end of the world. However, we didn't sink. Nor did we end up cruising around the Antarctic ocean with only a sextant.
The boat ride was pretty good. The food was dire, and it rained, was windy, bleak and cold, but otherwise fantastic. We saw dolphins, wandering albatrosses, tons of other birds, remote mountains, glaciers, shockingly bad movies, Chile win at football, and lots of waves. The boat runs through many tiny islands into the Beagle Channel, and we had great views of the Cordillera Darwin and the glaciers coming down. Chileans are pretty fond of Darwin, the boat had maps of their route, and a picture of him as an old, somewhat stern, man.
Puerto Williams is the end of the world. Isla Navarino is a wooded, boggy, island. There seems to be little industry or agriculture. People visit either to do the Dientes circuit (a trekking route through the mountains of the island), or to sail around Cape Horn. The yacht folks have an excellent bar, a converted German cargo boat. The museum is well worth a visit and is free. It explains the lives of the Yaghan people. Only one Yaghan survives today, in a village just outside Puerto WIlliams. Their language included words for such activities as "to walk eastwards along a shore looking for mussels as you go". Their children were not allowed to look at ibises, they had a great respect for the sea, mostly wore no clothing and were able to keep fires inside canoes which were a central part of their lives.
Oh yeah, Chile is determined to hang onto this lump of rock. There are naval ships in the harbour, tons of old guns pointing out to sea, etc.
We took the boat to Ushuaia, in Argentina. This is a quick ride over the strait. This is a real city, with hustle, and also bustle. And real roads. And more than one place to eat. The town is obsessed with two things - that its el fin de mundo, or the end of the world, and the Falkland islands. We tried not to be too British at the Falklands memorial, though the following is in a style I like to call Belfast impressionist. Visited another museum, with 100 stuffed birds. Laura was very excited by this.
Its cold down here, and raining on and off. We'll be back in Dublin on Friday. We're training up for it. We have more photos than internet, so we'll stick more on later.
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