USHUAIA, ARGENTIA

This is the most southern city in the world, the closest to Antarctica. Antarctica is 500 miles off the coast. There is a land mass owned by Chile that is closer to Antarctica, but Ushuaia is the only habitable place that is this close to Antarctica. Therefore, the city is considered the end of the world. Ushuaia is located aross the Magellan Straits (hard to believe Magellan was here!). Yesterday was a beautiful day...sun was out and the temperature was in the high 50´s. After the sun went down, of course it was pretty cold, but not as cold as one would think it should be. It is a very dry cold. Today is a little colder, and in the mountains, it was very cold (about 25 degrees)! Yesterday, I had some fresh crab, right out of the ocean here. It was more like a king crab than any other and was delicious. Last night I ate Argentinian parilla...which is their bar-b-que and it was so much better than anything I got in Buenos Aires. I am going to try to get a picture of their Bar-B-Que pit tonight. I didn´t have my camera yesterday. Will post later. I arrived yesterday afternoon and went on a boat tour of the Beagle Channel, which was beautiful. The Andes never lose their beauty for me. I love them...especially with all the snow on them...they are gorgeous. I saw colonies of seals, birds of several kinds, etc. Also, this is an area where the Yamana indians settled. There is suppose to be one, pure-blooded, native speaking Yamana indian left. Thomas Bridges, one of the early missionaries in the area, studied the Yamana language, which he found had a much larger vocabulary than English. Charles Darwin, who sailed through the famous Beagle Channel, thought the Yamana were the missing link in human evolution. The Yamana women stayed naked, thinking clothes would give them disease. I can´t imagine in this temperature. It is amazing what the human body can stand. The government in this area has declared it tax-free in order to develop it. Today was a full day...with tour of lake, Andes, National Park, dog sledding, snowmobiling, and a wonderful lunch at a retreat in the mountains. I took a tour (all in Spanish) which was wonderful. The other four people were from Brazil and understood some Spanish. The tour guide also spoke English, but I told her I could understand most (I thought) and needed practice. I could not believe it, but I understood about 80% of what she was saying. I am sure she was talking slower than usual since she had tourists from other countries. If I had a question, she could answer it in English, which was nice. Uploaded some pics..of course, they do not do justice to the countryside. The only peope are in the actual city of Ushuaia and the rest of the country is all mountains and animals..absolutely beautiful and a wonderful place to get balance, after a hectic four weeks in Buenos Aires. The people are very, very nice here. The area depends on tourism...mostly coss-country skiing, skiiing, etc. In the winter a lot of people from Europe come here, but in the summer they say more Brazilians come. Well ...luv u all...cold coming back, but can´t stop now!!