Thursday, February 27th, 2014
Today Jeff and I had a big day of hiking and outdoor stuff planned. That got a little derailed however because Shuri and Jeff decided to stay at the Irish pub until about 3am. That left Jeff sleeping until the late afternoon. So I instead took the opportunity to wander around Ushuaia and check out some of the history and museums.
There actually are more than a few spots to check out.
This a bust of Eva Peron, commonly known as Evita. As you can imagine you can find tributes to her pretty much everywhere in the country. I'm not going to get much into her in this post, but not to worry there will be a lot more to come (the Evita Museum in Buenos Aires is on my list of attractions to visit).
From the hotel I made my way to the Antigua Casa de Gobierno (The Old House of Government). It is a museum now, not only telling the story of the governments who sat here but also a little of the area. Unfortunately it was mostly in Spanish but I grabbed from it what I could.
There was a nice history of the SS Monte Cervantes, which was the first tourist ship in the area first casting off in 1927. It traveled from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. In 1930 it actually sunk after striking some rocks. Everyone survived except the Captain who had gone back to make sure everyone was off when the ship unexpectedly rolled over.
A look at the assembly chamber.
Now I do not know the title of the person who sat here, but they would have been the head of the government in Tierra del Fuego.
A little mock up the shop/trading post seen in the area.
Antigua Casa de Gobierno.
This is beside the building itself. Always a few more things to look at including some pretty nice murals.
I made quick stop at the Natural Museum, with lots of information about the animals in the area but after being in Antarctica, I much preferred the real thing. So I quickly hopped next door to the Tierra del Fuego Museum. This museum tells the history of the native people of the area as well as early European settlers and many of the Antarctic expeditions.
This picture depicts natives with a guanaco. It is kind of like a llama and is the only large mammal on Tierra del Fuego. You're also not very likely to see one however as their numbers are low.
This museum was set up with plenty of visual displays, many of which you could actually get into, in combination with an audio tour (in the language of your choice). Lots of information about the many different native tribes that lived in the area. Sorry I do not have names of individual tribes but trying to find names based on what I heard was a little difficult. But here are some pictures.
One of the tribes with some of the housing. Many of the tribes were nomadic however they did not take down their dwellings when they moved on. Similar to tribes in areas of Africa, the tribe would simply leave, making the houses available to any tribe that moved into the area.
Very different look. I cannot remember the exact details but I believe this has something to do with warding off evil spirits.
This is supposed to depict Darwin on the HMS Beagle and his arrival in the area.
Sir Ernest Shackleton. He led several expeditions to Antarctica between 1901 and 1920. I never went into him or really any of the Antarctic expeditions that much, mostly because I'm not hugely interested in the details, but you cannot mention Antarctic exploration without mentioning Shackleton.
Delivering the mail. Gunther Pluschow, a German aviator was the first person to record Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia from the air. He also delivered the first air mail bag in 1929.
It was a very nice museum. Lots of information, and I think did a really good job explaining and talking about the different native tribes in the area. You will not find many traces or even mention of them many other places so I really enjoyed it.
Eventually it was time to meet back up with Jeff and we had plans to meet up with Vanessa for dinner. Perhaps I have mentioned before, but Jeff is really good at looking stuff up and finding places to go and see and eat. He got a very good recommendation on a restaurant called Kalma so Jeff, Vanessa and I decided to check it out. So glad we did. It is a very little spot. Only open for dinner. Menu changes almost daily depending on the mood of the chef and what fresh everything is available. Really, really good.
This was seriously one of the most fantastic things I have ever eaten.
So yummy. We share a couple of the desserts.
It was almost too pretty to eat.....but I ate it......and it was so good.
From dinner it was back to the hotel. All three of us would be heading back to Buenos Aires tomorrow. This was not goodbye just yet however. There would be much more fun to be had in Buenos Aires.
Julie
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