The End of the World
As the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia is where 80 percent of the expeditions to Antarctica depart from. The rest depart from Australia and Nee Zealand. But of course, I only went as far as 80 kilometers east of the city, on a boat along the Beagle Channel. The channel is one of the few navigable straights between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. In its eastern portion, it forms the border between Argentina and Chile, with the north bank belonging to the former and the south bank belonging to the latter. The channel is named after the exploratory ship Beagle, which surveyed the South American coast in the 1820s with none other than Darwin on board.
On our boat ride, we saw some cormorants and sea lions endemic to the region. Since it’s summer here, you can see baby sea lions. Apparently, the females are pregnant for 11 months of the year, give birth in the beginning of the summer (so the young ones can fatten up before it gets cold), and get impregnated a month later for another round. Sounds pretty taxing. They were fun to watch, albeit stinking to high hell. Ah, we also saw the southernmost lighthouse of the world. (I guess they don’t have lighthouses around the Antartica islands?)
The major attraction however was disembarking onto an island with 16,000 Magellan penguins and being able to walk among them. They’re pet-sized and real cute, but you can’t hug them. Apparently, the best way to count them is when the male and female are sitting on the eggs in October, keeping eggs warm to hatch. (If you wish, you can volunteer for the penguin census!) Once you count all the couples, you double the count as they all have two chicks. The guide told us that the king and emperor penguins that live near or in Antarctica will have two chicks, but because the conditions are so harsh, they will pick whichever is the stronger one early on to raise and let the other one die. Tough life. But, conditions further north on this island are more mild, so the Magellan penguin couples can afford to raise both of their offspring.
Similar to the sea lions, the penguins’ eggs hatch in the beginning of the summer. By now, the little penguins are “teenagers.” And like teenagers everywhere, they’re awkward and sort of funny looking. When they hatch, they have feathers of sorts. Then, during their teenage time, they need to shed these for the slick, shiny and fatty coats the adults have - better for swimming and for insulation. So they overfeed for a while, because they have to sit on land without hunting fish for three straight weeks before the feathers all dry up and fall off. Only after that can they go into the water to eat. As a result, there are these teenagers at mid-point of shedding, looking awkward. They are more curious compared to the adults though and one came close to me to check me out. We were both a little suspicious of one another.
I wouldn’t really suggest anyone visit Ushuaia for the sake of the town itself, but the penguin island was really cool. From here, I go to Santiago and Valparaíso. Also - I forgot to post an earlier photograph of a rainbow in the magical lands of Patagonia, so, I’ll leave it here to convince EVERYONE to come visit Patagonia.
