In Ushuaia Part 1 I described we spent our morning in Ushuaia exploring the town. In the afternoon we went on a narrow guage train excursion to the lake in the Tierra del Fuego National Park.
Sign at the entrance to the park
A coach was waiting on the pier to take us through town to the train station. On the way, we passed a school which we hadn’t noticed in the morning. It stood out because, as with Panama and other South American countries, it was painted blue and white but this one had a lot more blue than white.
The School
When Ushuaia was a penal colony, the prisoners built a narrow guage line inland and an engine and carriages to transport the logs they cut from trees to build many of the buildings in the town. Sadly, they removed a lot of trees and, while on the train, we passed an area called the tree cemetery.
The living and working conditions of the prisoners, most of whom were murderers, pirates and repeat offenders, were extreend of the World mely harsh but escape was impossible due to the climate and the remoteness of the town. A couple of prisoners did try but died from hypthermia in a short time.
We arrived at the station to see the train waiting for us and, it was only as we got off the bus, our guide told us that we wouldn’t be returning here, so giving us very little time to take some photos. This train is known as the End of the World Train as it is the southern-most train in the world. We boarded the train sitting in allocated seats and the assistant checking that all the doors were properly locked. On the journey we learnt that this was not the original engine and carriages but a perfect replica built in 1994 and it was quite comfortable.
Station where we first boarded the train
The train
As we moved through the countryside we enjoyed some really beautiful scenery, mountains, trees and a river flowing through the vallley. We passed the area known as the tree cemetery and it was sad to see so many dead trees everywhere.
Part if the tree cemetery
Some of the beautiful scenery
Our first stop was at the Estacion La Macarena (The Waterfalls Station) where we got off the train and walked up to the station building. Here we were shown how our photos, which were taken when we first boarded the train, had been ‘framed’ and attached to a story of the train and its history as well as information on the waterfalls. The pictures taken at the first station were posed with a man in prisoner uniform pretending to take my bag while Trevor pulled him off. We unfortunately did not have the $20 and they wouldn’t take a card so we couldn’t get ours. It wasn’t that great anyway but it would have been a momento.
From there we walked up a long flight of stairs to find a beautiful triple set of falls. As the weather had cleared they looked particularly beautiful and clear.
The station at the waterfalls
The 2 waterfalls
The 2nd and 3rd waterfalls
This littl waterfall was built to control the water flow after heavy rains
45 mins later we were back on the train and on our way to travel into Tierra del Fuego National Park, which stretches from the Andes to the Pacigic Ocean. When the the train reached the end of the line, we got off and boarded coaches which took us to the Ensenada Zaratiegui Lake which forms a part of the Beagle Channel and is also a popular beach.
Sign showing the layout fo the lake
The Beagle Channel is named after HMS Beagle which was the ship in which Charles Darwin sailed through the area.
Part of the lake and jetty
The Argentinian Flag
A view across the lake and part of the beach
A number of people were disappointed to find that, as we had arrived after 3pm, they were unable to send off their post cards, which they had especially prepared, from the Post Office at the end of the World. We were able to walk along the jetty on which the post office is located and which went into the lake to get some good photos.
The End of the World Post Office is in the building
There were 2 small archeological sites which were only discovered a few years ago. One was fenced off with a sign on it but there was no fence or sign on the other one so we had no idea that it was there at all. It was our guide who pointed out when I asked him about the first and larger site. A lot of artefacts and information of the Yamana Indians have been found.
The larger of the 2 archeological sites
The 2nd archeological site
Once we had had the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the lake we reboarded the coaches and returned to the ship through one of the suburbs of Ushuaia. Below are some of the homes we saw.
These apartments were in the process of being built for sub-economic families
In the evening we were warned that, as we were passing Cape Horn the next day, we must be prepared for treacherous weather.
