Day Eleven - Ushuaia

 

We spend day eleven in Ushuaia, the city where we first boarded the Octantus.  It's a passenger exchange day with about 250 passengers going home, 300 newbies and 35 of us "long haul" passengers remaining for the duration of the 66 day voyage.  This exchange happens about every 14 days.  It also provides the ship time to resupply and refuel.  Since the staff is quite busy, Viking provided us with an excursion into the the higher elevations of the Andes.

Half-an-hour from town we came across a rugged trail filled with shrines.  At first we believed they were memorials for someone who had died (and some were) but many like this one had a different purpose.  This shrine was for Gauchito Gill.  The best way to explain it is: think Robin Hood meets patriotic soldier meets protective Saint!  ??  (Want more, Google it.)

Tierra del Fuego (Land of the Fires) is the southern most province in Argentina.  It is named for the indigenous people who constructed large fires to keep warm.  They wore no clothing but covered themselves with whale blubber for protection.  (The fires helped too!)  We are headed for the Tierra del Fuego National Park.

Getting there we passed the "old road" (the switchback trail in the photo.)  Some adventuresome folks still use 4x4s on this dangerous trail.  Our bus followed the "new road", a wise choice.

At the bottom of the valley is Lago Fagnano, a huge glacier-fed lake.

The scenery around the lake was spectacular.  Because of the remoteness of the area, there were very few visitors.

Heading back to the ship, we stopped for lunch at Las Cotorras.  The restaurant specializes in BBQ lamb cooked by an open wood fire.  (Jan can hardly wait for this meal!)  

The BBQ pit consisted of a bonfire surrounded by eleven skewed-lamb carcasses.   A fire tender walked around the pit rotating the carcasses periodically.  Our traveling companions all raved about the flavor.  Jan and I were thankful they had an "alternate" entre for us.