We fly from El Calafate to Ushuaia and Grace has organised a lady to meet us. She takes us from the airport to the Lennox Hotel. We take a walk around Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world (although this is debated by Chile's Puerto Williams).
These are the flags of Tierra del Fuego, Ushuaia, and Argentina.
The first one caught my fancy. I investigated. From Wikipedia: "Argentine architect Teresa Beatriz Martínez designed the Tierra del Fuego flag in 1999. Her design includes the colors blue, orange and white, with an albatross swooping across the center. Rendered in an abstract style, the bird’s wings spread diagonally across the banner. In addition, above the albatross are five stars that represent the Crux constellation.The albatross is the largest flying bird on Earth, with a wingspan of approximately three and a half meters. The bird is of particular significance to Tierra del Fuego, as the islands are an important nesting site for these magnificent creatures. Consequently, Tierra del Fuego is one of the few places people can see albatrosses up close, as they rarely come ashore. The bird’s wings are spread across the flag representing freedom and its usual habitat of the vast skies of the Antarctic seas."
I wish New Zealand had a flag of this sort.
Ushuaia was active during the Falklands War of 1982. The Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano, subsequently sunk by the British, sailed from the Ushuaia, and a memorial was erected in 1996.
From Wikipedia: "Ushuaia - Spanish pronunciation: [uˈswaʝa]) is the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Antártida e Islas del Atlántico Sur Province, Argentina. It is regarded as the southernmost city in the world.[2][3] Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego. It is the only municipality in the Department of Ushuaia, which has an area of 9,390 km2(3,625 sq mi). It was founded on October 12, 1884 by Augusto Lasserre and is located on the shores of the Beagle Channel surrounded by the mountain range of the Martial Glacier, in the Bay of Ushuaia. Besides being an administrative center, it is a light industrial port and tourist hub. Ushuaia is located roughly 800 kilometres (500 mi) from the coast of Antarctica and 635 kilometres (395 mi) from the Chilean city of Punta Arenas."
Ushuaia is on the same latitude - 55 degrees south - as Macquarie Island, the furthest south we went on our sub-Antarctic island trip. Amazing to us.
We went out for a crab dinner at La Casa de los Maricos. Bill chooses most of the restaurants. He always finds good ones. Crab is the specialty in Ushaia. At this place they get a crab out of the tank if you want to choose one. Looking at the tank I thought it was not my thing. I choose squid instead.
Then we had an early night.
This is our view the next morning from the Lennox Hotel at breakfast. The Silver Cloud (our ship) is the furthest away on the left.
Another view at breakfast. There is a wetlands reserve there behind the harbour. Ushuaia is cold but I think so picturesque.
