How to Plan a Trip to Argentina Intro, Day 1: Ushuaia, Day 2: Penguin island, Beagle Channel Cruise

Argentina boasts of awesome scenic wonders. We had been to the Iguazu national park, visiting the lguazu waterfalls in April 2012. we were so impressed that we decided to have a 18 day holiday exploring the other scenic wonders... like the huge pristine glaciers on the snow capped Andes. 

As can be seen the southern most tip of inhabited earth is in Argentina 

 We were very thrilled to be visiting Ushuaia .... THE SOUTHERN MOST CITY IN THE WORLD as well.

WHEN TO GO:

Argentina is in the southern hemisphere...Seasons in Argentina are as follows:

 winter (June–August), spring(September–November), summer (December–February) and autumn (March–May), all featuring different weather conditions.

On our previous visit we had been to Igazu waterfalls in April,,, it was autumn, we avoided summer heat and also managed to see a very good volume of water in the falls as it's rainy season. Timing is so vital for enjoying vacations.

Since we were covering the southern parts of the country this time we wanted to avoid winter. We chose Nov end to mid December and enjoyed the LOOONG daylight hours and very pleasant temperatures.

WHAT TO SEE:

There is plenty to see...

 the red lined parts was our wishlist.

Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city on Beagle Channel is surrounded by a unique landscape of mountains, sea, glaciers, and woods on the edge of the Tierra del Fuego National Park, with its spectacular scenery and diverse flora and fauna.. It was established as a penal (prisoner) colony in the early 20th century and is now a popular point for trips to Antarctica or around Cape Horn This was a must see for us.

The stunning Perito Moreno Glacier, a massive 30-kilometer-long ice formation... it is listed as the best glacier in the world as Iguazu falls top the list of world's waterfalls.

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Patagonia's Los Glaciares National Park: the small town of El Calafate offers excursions to see the park's popular glaciers, most notably Perito Moreno just 78 kilometers from the town center. Named after a 19th-century explorer, it's just a two-hour trip from El Calafate to the glacier's large visitor center, and from here just a short walk to the glacier along a fun walking circuit. For those wanting to climb the glacier, ice trekking tours are available that range from an hour's walk over the ice formation to longer five-hour excursions.

Another important feature of Los Glaciares National Park is the 3,359-meter-tall Monte Fitz Roy, a stunningly beautiful mountain straddling the border with Chile that is reputably harder to climb than Everest. We did a couple of hikes here from a lovely small village El Chalten.

Nahuel Huapi, one of the many lovely lakes that make up Nahuel Huapi National Park, Argentina's Lake District. We enjoyed this stunning lake from Bariloche located within the park and serving as the major tour center for those wanting to explore the area's diverse natural beauty, which encompasses everything from volcanoes to waterfalls and glaciers.

Mendoza and Cordoba are also terrific regions but we could not include them as the logistics was becoming complicated. We were also wary of rainy season in southern Argentina which may play spoil sport but thankfully we had awesome weather.

We were so keen on revisiting Iguazu falls but again, for that part of the country, the season would have been very hot.

LOGISTICS:

Our bases were Ushuaia, El Calafate, El Chalten, Bariloche. El Chalten is an easy bus trip from El Calafate. The rest were best covered by internal flights. We of course needed a flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia also.

So we needed to book internal flights:

Buenos Aires to Ushuaia

Ushuaia to El Calafate

El Calafate to Bariloche

Bariloche to Buenos Aires.

We needed Houston-Buenos Aires-Houston return flight as well.

OPTIONS:

1. We analyzed our flight options. There was a direct flight on AA from Houston to Buenos Aires. Internal flights were of course on Aerolineas Argentina or LAN. These were on smaller planes and it was advisable to book tickets well in advance to ensure we'll get seats. They were expensive when we tried to get individual tickets but Aerolineas Argentina had an offer of good discounts if we used it on the international segment as well. We could get a good price for all flights if we booked on one ticket.

2: we were also covered in case there was a delay in the internal flights if our international flight was also on the same airline. We could book a tight connection on the way in and out without any worry.

3: If we flew in on our own into Buenos Aires, we had to stay there for a day just to ensure we won't miss connecting internal flight. Again we had to fly into Buenos Aires a day early to ensure we can catch our international flight home. The internal flights used the domestic airport in Buenos Aires and the international airport was further away. These also meant we had to handle the commute between airport, city and domestic terminal. All these hassles were eliminated if we booked everything on Aerolineas Argentina.

4: However, Aerolineas Argentina had return flights only from Miami. We decided to fly to Miami on our own with a big margin of time so that we can take that flight from Miami to Buenos Aires and then continue onward to Ushuaia

Nov 28, 2013, Thanksgiving day: At the Miami airport

Blue van shuttle picked us up from home at 4.45am and dropped us at Houston international airport at 5.20 am

We took the 7.30 AM American Airlines flight from Houston to Miami. reached Miami at 11 am

We waited at the Miami airport to board Aerolineas Argentina 5.40PM  flight to Buenos Aires and fly onward to Ushuaia. Holiday decorations were up at the Miami airport....Santa ditching his reindeer for a plane here...

Nov 29, 2013:

We arrived at 4.40 AM local time at Buenos Aires international airport and after passport control and collecting our checked bag, walked out to Terminal C to wait for our domestic flight to Ushuaia. There were some touts offering exchange for usd but we ignored them. Local people were giving a better rate than official exchange but we did not want to engage with touts.

Our flight was originally scheduled for 9.40 but got delayed by 2 hours. thankfully it was a comfy lounge and we did not mind the delay...

As already explained, we had chosen to fly into Argentina using airline Aerolineas Argentinas as we could get advantage of their Visit Argentina pass by flying into Argentina with them.

The open jaw flight from Miami-Ushuaia (via Buenos aires); then onward to Calafate, then to Bariloche and finally from Bariloche to Miami through Buenos Aires cost only 1800USD per person.

 In comparison, the return flight alone from Houston-BA using United Airlines would have costed 1350 and we had to factor in the internal flights.

Another advantage of Aerolineas was that our baggage allowance for internal flights was also the international allowance and we were covered for delays. It eliminated stay in BA also. They even gave us a free transfer from domestic AEP airport to international EZE

ALL IN ALL,  a good decision it turned out. we did not have any further delays on the rest of the flights.

US security TSA had searched our bag with food items and had put a wire lock which we could not open... small knife and scissors we always pack were ironically inside that bag

So we could not access our puris and tomato relish packed in that bag and had to recheck it for the next leg of our flight to Ushuaia

We had a caliente chocolate — hot chocolate — at BA airport;10 USD for 2 small cups.

We were given a bar of dark chocolate and hot milk and asked to take the sugar and make it ourselves — just 2 squares of the chocolate made a great drink.

We had a lovely view of aircraft and the gourmet van from the glass window in the cafetaria...

Landed in Ushuaia airport; stunning views as we land beside the Beagle Channel with snow capped hills all around — the last portions of the mighty Andes.

Situated on the Beagle Strait, Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world... just 1000 km from Antarctica.

At the south of Argentina is the island, Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and Ushuaia is its southern most tip  

( the Chilean town of Puerto Williams is technically further south--it has a population of 2400 people mainly comprising the Chilean navy, while Ushuaia is a full fledged city with nearly 60,000 people)

 In the past, Ushuaia has been a missionary base, penal colony and naval base for the Argentine navy. Now it is a base for hiking, winter sports and cruises to Antarctica.

In Yagan language, Ushuaia translates to “bay that faces the west” so we can see some brilliant sunsets

Climate-wise, Ushuaia is warmer than many assume; although just 1000km from Antarctica temperatures rarely drop below -10°C. However, summers tend not to climb above +12°C and, as in all of Patagonia, strong winds add a significant wind chill factor.

Wind speed is 50 to100km/hr

The previous day it had snowed AND THE MAX TEMP WAS 3

On 29th, max temp was 13°C; minimum 3°C. We were very grateful for the sunny weather and the great views

Our hotel Hosteria Foike sent us a free airport pickup and the friendly driver even took a pic of us

Checked in, were given a ground floor room for that night to be shifted up to 2nd floor with great views next morning.

We trudged off to downtown to book our tickets for the Penguin island tour and Beagle Channel boat ride for the next day

The Pira tour office is 1 km from our hotel on San Martin street — an easy downhill scenic walk

This is a famous mile sign on Avenida San Martin  — the main drag of the city. 

Shops put up the distance to major cities in sign boards with their name as well and it becomes free advertisement when tourists take pics

Note the Fin del Mundo on top. means end of the world...

interestingly, the 3rd item on the list is Calcutta; San jose is 2nd, Tokyo 4^th

Wow, Delhi is 16020 km away!!

We were lucky to have sunny weather, blue skies and great views. the previous day it had snowed

Should have entered this souvenir shop on this Friday evening. 

We postponed it. We left Ushuauai on Monday morning and could not find any shop open on Sunday when we tried to get some souvenirs

Our hotel was on Gdor Campos, we had walked down 2 streets Felix paz and deloqui to reach San martin. We reached Pira Tour office.

They are the only ones licensed to visit the penguin island. We booked our tour with them for the penguin island for the next day 8am-2PM and when they offered 7 peso exchange for USD, we booked the Beagle Channel cruise 3pm-6pm also with them

The penguin island is owned by the  Bridges family who live in the huge ranch Estancia Harberton located about 40 miles East of Ushuaia on the Beagle Channel. 

Thomas Bridges (1842–1898) was an Anglican missionary. He had been found abandoned on a bridge as a child  and was adopted by a pastor — he took the surname Bridges because of this incident

He accompanied his adopted father to Argentina . After an attack by indigenous people, his father left the mission. At the age of 17, Bridges stayed on. He settled at the mission at Ushaia with his wife, where four of their six children were born. He continued to work with the Selk'nam (Ona) and Yaghan peoples for nearly 20 more years. On Bridges' retirement from missionary service in 1886, the Argentine government gave him a large grant of land. He became a sheep and cattle rancher till he died of cancer at 55years of age. His wife left for England but son stayed on

Bridges had learned the indigenous language of Yamana and closely studied the culture. He compiled a grammar and dictionary in Yamana-English of more than 30,000 words. His son Lucas Bridges donated the work to the British Library of London in 1930.

The family lives on in the govt gifted ranch and get paid for tours to visit their islands.

Having arranged 2 tours for the next day we walked back to our hotel. On the way we got provisions from La Anonima supermarket and had an early night.

Nov 30, 2013, 7.15 am, Temp 15°C-5°C:

Breakfast at the hotel was only at 7.30 but we had to be at the port for by 7.50... so had our own breakfast, packed lunch and walked to Avenida Maipu, the coastal road.

We walked along the Bay. 

The British ship HMS Beagle with naturalist/scientist Charles Darwin, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, first reached the channel on January 29, 1833 during its maiden voyage surveying Tierra del Fuego.  

Hence the name for the channel and the famous mountain range Fitz Roy in Chalten which we would visit on Dec 4 and 5

 Early mornings are so peaceful... it was a pleasure to walk through the town enjoying the scenic beauty.

 This is a board with official bus stops (paradas) and distances to sites/sights.

A signboard by artesans...these are Maytenus magellanica (Hard-log Mayten) trees, an indigenous subpolar species

Ushuaia is surrounded by Magellanic subpolar forests. On the hills around the town, the following indigenous trees are found: Drimys winteri (Winter's bark), Maytenus magellanica (Hard-log Mayten) and several species of Nothofagus (Southern Beech).

Here's the famous fin del mundo (end of the world) sign...

The city's coat of arms states "Ushuaia, fin del mundo, principio de todo"  (Spanish) translating to "Ushuaia, end of the world, beginning of everything"

90% antarctic cruises start from this port. They normally cost 15000, 20000 USD for a 9 day expedition but last minute berths were getting announced at 3500-5000 USD.

It may be worth coming here at the end of November to snag these awesome discounts! For us, all our internal flights etc were booked and we could not avail the tempting offer!

 The antarctic flavor we were getting in the town was great for us...the clean crisp air, sweet water , looong days... 4am sunrise with sunlight lingering till 11pm was awesome.

Even buildings mimic hills...the conical roof is painted in grey and has snow streaks...SO PRETTY...

The meeting point for our tour is Pira tour office at the port.

DURATION: 6 hours (Staring at 8am & 2.30pm).

LIMIT OF PEOPLE:  20 people per tour.

We started off in our vehicle. We took northeast direction in minibuses, following National Route N° 3 and then Complementary Route J to Harberton Farm. This farm was founded in 1886 by an Anglican missionary, Thomas Bridges, and is still held by the family as explained earlier . It is 90 km from Ushuaia city and next to the Beagle Channel; 40 km paved road and 50 km unpaved road. This 4x4 vehicle handled the ride so well

There was stunning scenery along the way...snow capped blue mountains, mirror lakes and green forested slopes.

Here is the greenery on the other side of the lake.

Thankfully the weather stayed clear and we had great views.

The tour allowed us some 10 minutes to enjoy this scenic spot before resuming our trip. It was a well conducted tour and we did not feel herded or hurried.

Winds are so strong that trees in wind-exposed areas grow twisted by the force of winds, and people call the trees "flag-trees" for the shape they grow into in the fight with the wind.

 This is a Nothofagus dombeyi (Coihue or Coigüe), a tree species native to southern Chile and the Andean parts of Argentine Patagonia.

Another set of flag trees here, a little less dramatic.

A  BUTTERFLY  HITCHING A RIDE!

Harberton Farm is the nearest port to Martillo Island, so we disembarked there, and visited the Marine Mammals and Sea Birds museum “Acatushun” ; this museum was the compulsory 1st stop.

Museo Acatushún is located at Estancia Harberton, on the Beagle Channel 85 kms east of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. It is open to the public from 10 am to 7 pm daily from mid-October to mid-April. This museum (inaugurated 10 March 2001) is a working laboratory for the study of marine mammals and birds of southernmost South America, principally Tierra del Fuego. It holds a collection of over 4000 specimens of these animals, the result of 25 years of beach surveys for stranded or incidentally-netted creatures.

The collection contains the skeletons of 21 species of small cetaceans (dolphins, porpoises, beaked whales), six species of large whales, seven of seals and sea lions and over 80 species of birds, as well as a few land mammals.

The exhibition hall features an under-water scene with life-size figures of the smaller marine mammals, each based on an actual specimen, and many hung with their corresponding skeletons.

Barbas de ballenas means whalebone.

Specimens are stored in the Bone House until they can be cleaned, then are processed and stored in the laboratory.

University-level student interns work at the museum each southern summer, learning about the marine mammals and birds, cleaning bones and acting as museum guides.

We skipped the lengthy explanations in the museum smelling of formaldehyde.

We sat in the lovely surroundings till it was time for our boat. most people crib about the museum visit but paying for museum entry is compulsory. It was a nominal fee, I think we should support such research as tourists, funding must be difficult to come by for museums.

The smoke in the left of the picture is from the outdoor kiln of the lab.

After the museum visit, we took a zodiac boat to sail to Martillo Island in the Beagle Channel.

Martillo Island is also home of other animals, mainly bird species, such as skuas (main predator of the penguins), cormorants, petrels, chimangos, upland geese and other native fauna.

Martillo Island, in the Beagle Channel belongs to Harberton Farm and is home of Magellanic Penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus) between September and April

The colony has more than 3000 nests and is one of the three colonies in Tierra del Fuego. Martillo Island is also inhabitated by a small colony of Gentoo penguins (Pygoscellis papua) of around 35 couples, a very rare specie in South America

The Magellanic colony was established naturally around the 70s and is still growing.

We walked 1 hour with the penguins and the guide visiting different parts of the island. seeing the different nesting areas and the penguins in their natural habitat.

Magellanic male penguins arrive first to the island, around end of September. They pick the best place to build their nest or they look for their old nest to repair and prepare for the nesting. Nests are caves dug in the soft ground (some of them even 2 meters deep)

After the males finish with the nests, the females start arriving to the Island. They usually pick the same male year after year for breeding. They lay 2 eggs at the end of September till early November.

The first babies start hatching the first weeks of December, remaining in their nests about a month. Due their inability to walk properly or even stand up , they have to be fed by mom and dad for a while. When they are around 40 days old they are strong enough to start wandering about near their nests. Now they almost have the same size of their parents.

During the last days of January, and babies are 60 to 70 days old, they already finish moulting to the juvenile plumage and now are able to swim for their food.

They soon leave the colony after they practice long enough. Some of these new juveniles will not come back to the colony for years or maybe never while others will return every year for their annual moulting.

We sat around on the beach so that the penguins are not intimidated by our size.

A king penguin can be seen lying in the foreground. 

1 or 2 of them have been visitors to this island for the past 4 years...may be they'll start breeding here when they are pleased with their survey!

The king penguin has yellow patch and is 3 feet tall and twice as big as the megallanic penguins.

After watching the antics of the penguins at the shore, We went up a staircase to the nesting sites uphill.

Tiptoed our way up as 2 penguins were nesting under the stairs... as seen here.

Our zodiac drifting in the water...the driftwood marking the trail we should keep.

This is a skua...the bad boy of the island.

It is the main predator and eats the eggs and the young ones of the penguins.

These are Gentoo penguins nesting on the rocks.

There is a ropeway to cordon visitors off nesting sites... here are penguin nests and a curious penguin coming for a closer look at us the visitors!!

We left reluctantly...Getting on to the zodiac is a little tricky...no handhold... and it keeps bobbing up and down with waves....


We were back at Haberton farm.

They have separate tours about their farm activities also.

Our van gave us a smooth ride on bumpy terrain of 90 km.

This is a parking sign at the ranch...the wheel is a favorite deco feature in Argentina.

We left the ranch and reached the port by 2PM. Walked around taking pics and admiring the view till 3, when our beagle channel sail was due.

Another interesting sign board  with mile info on the bay as we await our boat cruise

we are 3040 km south of Buenos Aires.

This is the most expensive hotel in Ushuaia.

We embarked our catamaran at 3, sailing Ushuaia Bay through Paso Chico to get to the Beagle Channel main stream.

Looking at the clear skies in this pic, hard to imagine, how swiftly the weather changes in this part of the world.

In the background lie the majestic Mounts Olivia, Cinco Hermanos (Five Brothers) and Escarpados, as well as the Encajonado river.

We arrived first at the Isla de Los Pájaros (Birds Island), where we could see Skuas, Black Eyebrow Albatrosses, Steamer Ducks, Upland Geese, Seagulls.

Then we sailed to the Isla de Los Lobos ( Sea Lions Island,) where we saw South American Sea Lion and the Fur Sea Lion.

All these islands belong to the Bridges Archipielagos. By then heavy winds started blowing and it started raining! So could not take pictures as wind was swirling around and camera would have got drenched.

The tour continued and we reached Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. Les Eclaireurs Lighthouse. is a popular tourist attraction,   the Lighthouse at the End of the World (Faro del fin del mundo).

 (the French name "Les Éclaireurs" means "the Enlighteners" or "the Scouts"). it is a cone shaped lighthouse standing on the northeastern-most islet of the five Les Eclaireurs islets,

The brick-built tower is 10 m (33 ft) high and 3 m (10 ft) wide at the base, with its windowless wall painted red-white-red and topped by a black lantern housing and gallery. Only a door facing west provides access to the building. The light is 22.5 m (74 ft) above sea level emitting white flashes every ten seconds with a range of 7.5 nautical miles (13.9 km). The lighthouse, still in operation, is remote-controlled, automated, uninhabited, and not open to the public, guarding the sea entrance to Ushuaia. Electricity is supplied by solar-panels. On December 23, 1920 the lighthouse was put into service. This lighthouse is for alerting sailors about the dangerous rocks beneath it and the proximity of Ushuaia Bay. At the same island, we could see Imperial and Rock Cormorants and learn about the sinking of the SS Monte Cervantes in 1930.

This tour includes (when the weather allows) a disembark at Karelo Island, another of the island that belongs to the Bridges Archipielagos. There we had a walk, seeing the local flora. It was drizzling pretty heavily, could not take pics of the island and the sea lions as it was raining.

The skies became grey and the wind blew in freezing cold gusts--the upper deck emptied as people scurried in to the warm cabins and we finished our sail in the beagle channel.

When we landed at the port at 6 pm, we walked in to La Anonima, the Supermercado chain, bought leche entera, yogur, pan dulceta, cheese, bananas and walked up the steps, las lengas, to our hotel room. Ushuaia is so hilly, here are stairs in the city

Had our dinner, watched the sunset at 10.30 and fell asleep.

We had been shifted to the top floor...our things had been put here in our absence.

Snowclad mountains and the beagle channel can be seen right from the room. It was great!

Our next post on day 3 and 4 is here:
http://adventuretrav.blogspot.com/2017/05/argentina-trip-report-day-3-tierra-del.html