Flying to Ushuaia
The beauty of the islands that form Tierra del Fuego is apparent when flying over these lands.
Leaving Rio Gallegos in Argentina behind, one first crosses the strait of Magellan; then, crossing Chile, one can admire views of the final tip of the Andes and of high mountain lakes, finally reaching Ushuaia after passing the Beagle channel.
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| Leaving Argentina behind |
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| Chile on the left, Argentina on the far right |
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| Andes in Chiles |
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| The Beagle channel, at the far south end of Tierra del Fuego |
Ushuaia
Ushuaia is a small town of scattered houses and buildings connected by the main street. While the town iteself is nor pretty, the combination of the Beagle canal to one side and of the Andes on the other makes the views from town unique. As they say here, it'n never sunny: located amongst the Pacific and the Atlantic ocean, and the Antarctic sea, the freezing winds that blow here make the area constantly cloudy, giving landscapes a silver colour, especially in these long summer nights.
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| Sunset in Ushuaia, 10.30pm |
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| At the glacier Cierro |
Sailing on the Canal Beagle
The Beagle canal connects the Pacific to the Atlantic ocean: it's an amazing sail, through many small islands where pinguins, cormorans and sea lions live undisturbed, and surrounded by the Andes.
Visible on some of the islands are the remainings of the population that inhabited these lands before the colonisation. To survive the cold weather, they lit small fires pretty much everywhere, leaving signs all over the islands. It's this multitude of fires that led Magellan to name this land Tierra del Fuego when he first passed through the strait that's named after him.
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| Isla de los pajaros |
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| Faro de fin del mundo |
