Day 14, 24rd March – Exploring Tierra del Fuego
Today, we spent the day in Tierra del Fuego National Park on the outskirts of Ushuaia. The sun rose in a cloudless sky and the temperature felt tropical after the cold shifts in Antarctica. It was the first day after 10 days that we woke up in a proper bed (and not a comfi ship’s bunk) and had breakfast on a stable table; however, some of us still felt the remnants of the Drake’s waves under our seats.
We met Marta again, the same guide who had welcomed us when we arrived to Ushuaia ten days ago, and we quickly departed for the National Park. On our way, we made some stops to contemplate the amazing green mountains that surround the city of Ushuaia, so different from the frozen white ones of the Austral continent, and to take a quick photo of the southernmost golf course (check out the actual spelling in the photo). Marta explained to us that the road of dust and stones we were following was Ruta Nacional 3, one of the longest highways in Argentina that runs from the National Park to Bueno Aires, and from there adventurous travellers can swap to the Pacific side and head up all the way to Alaska. This emblematic route – the “Panamerican Highway- is travelled entirely or in segments, every year, by people from around the world.
Once in the national park, we walked along the Beagle Chanel while Marta explained to us the history of the native people of Tierra del Fuego, the Yamanas, described by Darwin as the wildest people in the world. They lived of the products that the sea offered: fur seals and sea lions, sea food, cormorants and, when possible, stranded whales and dolphins; and they never stayed in one refuge more than three weeks. Probably, one of the most striking facts of the Yamana is that they lived, swam and dived in the cold water of the Beagle Channel completely naked. The only insulation they relied on was a thick layer of seal fat they used to cover their bodies with. Sadly the Yamanas have all but disappeared, but their remains still endure between the trunks of the evergreen beech trees and the sea.
Roberto, our driver, between mate and mate (typical South American tea infusion), brought us inland to visit several places of the park where we learnt some of the local flora and fauna. After all the marine birds and mammals we found during the Antarctic expedition, it was a pleasure to smell, see and learn about some of the lush life forms on land. Our guide talked to us about the “Canelos”, a green bush with high vitamin C content, which was used by the sailors to prevent scurvy; the tough “Guindos”, an evergreen beech tree used by the Yamanas for the construction of canoes, refuges and fire; the infamous devil berries, which produced toxic red fruits; and the jelly Indian Bread which are the (purportedly) edible seed pods of a fungus that infects the local trees.
Always under the shadow of the Condor Mountain, we visited different ecosystems at different elevations in the National Park. We visited the Black Lake, one of the few unexploited bogs of Tierra del Fuego, which has been forming and growing for centuries and contains the footprint of the natural history of the last millennia. We also stopped at the Green Lake where a colony of beavers had constructed a dam. Beavers were introduced to Tierra del Fuego for the fur trade, but sadly were not properly controlled and have become an ecosystem-changing invasive damaging the forest with chewed tree stumps and dead flooded forests visible around the park.
After lunch, we relaxed and paddled in the Roca Lake and ended our great tour of this fantastic park at the visitors centre for coffees and refreshments and to learn some more about the Yamanas’ culture. Although we couldn’t see any mammals during this excursion, the birders of our group were pleased by the variety of bird species seen.
Once we were back to Ushuaia, some of us went souvenir shopping while others decided to chill out in the hotel spa relaxing from the hard life of a polar ecologist.
Diego Rita Espada (MSc MMS)
¿¿¿¿¡¡¡¡¡ Hard life of a polar ecologist !!!!!!????? Come back quickly!!! (directly from Majorcan language): anybody would say that you are having a smoke!!! hehehehehehe Juan Rita