HOME | POLITICS | SPORTS | LIFE | SCI/TECH | OPEDS | HELPFUL TIPS
|
Dec. 31, 2006 My mini-vacation in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, is over, and I’m back in Río Gallegos, a town on the far southern end of the Argentine mainland. In 1946, Canadian beavers were introduced into Tierra del Fuego, which is perfect for them, being afforested with groves of southern beech and winter’s-bark, and networked extensively by chilly-looking little creeks. They have thrived to the point of being considered by many to constitute a nuisance. I didn’t see any beavers, though I looked with eagle eyes, but I did see their handiwork. They have felled thousands of trees on the island. On my way in, I wondered what was up. It didn’t look like a logging operation, because the trunks were not sawn but looked broken. Then I found out about the beavers. On my way out, I saw many beaver dams, some complete and some in progress. It looks as if people have ripped up a couple of beaver dams, tossing the trunks and branches aside. I don’t know how the beavers move some of the larger logs, which seemed to be ten feet long and a foot in diameter. A first for me was sighting albatross, a large bird primarily of the Southern Hemisphere. This is a member of the order Procellariiformes and family Diomedeidae. It’s a relative of the petrel, another well-known maritime bird. I saw several standing on the ground in western Tierra del Fuego, and apparently I saw some in flight. It was curious to see them flying with condors. This must be due to some kind of symbiosis or commensalism. I’ve seen plenty of condors in my two years in South America. As I mentioned in another article, I saw numerous small herds of guanacos, animals very similar to llamas, vicuñas and alpacas. There are penguins on Tierra del Fuego, but I was told they leave during the summer—January, February and March. So I didn’t pursue that farther. Tierra del Fuego National Park is near Ushuaia. There, glaciers can be seen, but I didn’t take the excursion, as I found out about it only too late. I did see many snowy mountains, though, on the bus rides in and out. One can also sail to Antarctica from Ushuaia, but that’s not for me. It’s a luxury cruise, probably expensive, during which I would be lying around my cabin all day. Ten minutes of cold weather is about all I care to put up with. Ushuaia is very cold, even now. Today’s high and low are 51ª and 44º F, with a 10 m .p.h. wind and 60% cloudiness. That’s the height of summer! It’s 10º colder in the winter. Ushuaia is somewhat protected from the wind by mountains on the north and buildings on the streets. Still it’s uncomfortably cool, and sunshine is available only in short spells. The sky is not gray; it’s blue and white, very lovely to look at, but discouraging from the standpoint of wanting to get warm. Out on the plains in western Tierra del Fuego, with winds to about 30 m.p.h., standing outdoors more than 10 minutes is just intolerable. At this time of the year, the sun sets at about 10 PM and it doesn’t get dark till midnight. At 3 AM, it’s light again, and the sun rises at 5. There are hundreds of tourists in Ushuaia, mostly French, German, English and American. I don’t much care for that. Everybody in town answers you in English, even if you address them in Spanish. Not only that, but prices are much higher than elsewhere in Argentina. For example, you can get Internet in Buenos Aires for one peso per hour, but in Ushuaia it’s five. A sandwich there is two pesos; here it’s eight. Also, practical, everyday products are hard to find, but you can buy all the designer clothes, lobster dinners, imported wines and cheeses, and expensive souvenirs you want. Returning to Río Gallegos by bus was a hassle. You have to go through customs 4 times—out of Argentina, into Chile, out of Chile, back into Argentina. At each point there is a 30 to 90 minute wait. Then we had to ferry across the Straits of Magellan, waiting half an hour for the ship. So a 375-mile trip took 14 hours. The upside is that I now have a new Argentine visa, and I’m good till March 29. This time I got a room in downtown Río Gallegos, in a very nice neighborhood. It’s now 11 AM here. My bus for Buenos Aires is at 8 PM. Thank goodness, it’ll still be sunny then! ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
