The apartment we rented was on a hillside overlooking the town. It was new and modern, although the heating baffled us. It was warm enough, but we had no control over it and there were no radiators or vents. The floor didn’t seem warm, so we couldn’t figure out the source of the heat. Our living room had two glass walls and no blinds, but at least the windows were dual-paned.
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| Our Apartment in Ushuaia |
Once we got settled in, we walked down to town to find something to eat. After a month of dining with a vegetarian, I was craving chicken. Chicken was difficult to find on a Sunday in Ushuaia. We walked all over town before we found an Italian restaurant that served grilled chicken. Sally ordered a lovely vegetable risotto and I got my protein fix.
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| Tour Agencies by the Harbor |
After dinner, we walked down to the harbor and visited several tour agencies to gather information on Beagle Channel cruises. We wanted to go see the penguins on Martillo Island. We found several options, but didn’t book anything. We tried to talk to some tour agents about other activities, but it was late and busy and we decided to leave it for the next day. We climbed up the hill to the nearest supermarket and bought our usual provisions: bread, butter, coffee, milk, wine, yogurt, fruit, and cookies. I was thrilled to find liverwurst, an item that is not available where I live in Mexico. There is a big German influence in Ushuaia. It started to rain just as we neared our apartment. We were glad to be inside. It didn’t get completely dark until nearly 22:30.
February 5, 2026
Hermoso Departamento Con Patio en Rio Gallegos
Rio Gallegos, Argentina
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| Inside Ramos Generales |
We spent the morning visiting tour companies and deciding which cruise of the Beagle Channel to select. All were expensive. We settled on a catamaran excursion to Martillo Island to see the penguins with Tolkeyan for the next day. Our last day in Ushuaia, we decided to visit Tierra del Fuego National Park and take the End of the World Train trip before going hiking. I purchased the train tickets online. Once we got organized, we went to the Ramos Generales, a combination coffee shop and museum, for pastries and coffee. Then we took an Uber up to the teahouse at the Martial Cabanas.
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| Former Chairlift Terminus with Construction Crane |
The “teahouse” is really a ski lodge. Formerly, a chair lift ran from there to the first viewpoint at the top of the ski hill. When we were there, the chair lift was in the process of being replaced by a gondola. The chairs from the chairlift had been scattered around the landscape to serve as benches. We had expected to walk up the mountain, but had not expected the “trail” to be a construction site the width of a six-lane highway. Orange caution fencing marred the otherwise beautiful scenery.
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| Construction at the Martial Glacier |
The climb was immediately steep. We toiled up the gravel road, dodging heavy equipment. Halfway up, we reached the top of the gondola. We crossed a river and then started up the actual trail through a field of scree. It got even steeper. Fortunately, it wasn’t hot. We kept smelling vanilla and later learned that the scent emanated from a plant known as the chocolate flower. All the vegetation was adapted to the harsh environment. Most of the plants were miniature. Even the beech forest was stunted.
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| The Beech Forest |
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| Trail to the Glacier |
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| Chocolate Flowers |
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| Tiny Flora |
We climbed up to the last of the approved viewpoints, but still hadn’t reached the snow. The glacier had receded. We didn’t exactly ignore the avalanche warning, but we did keep climbing until we reached the bottom of the ice. From there, we could see all of Ushuaia and Ushuaia Bay.
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| Danger, What Danger? |
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| The Martial Glacier |
Getting down was much easier. The ski lodge charged 20,000 pesos to hike up the hill, but they did do a good job of maintaining the trail and provided nice restrooms and a free cup of hot chocolate and a place to sit by the fire. We enjoyed our cocoa and then set off to walk back down to our apartment. It was a long way. The afternoon was mild and there were wildflowers
everywhere. Especially stunning were the giant lupines native to the area. We were hungry and hoping to find a restaurant, but reached our apartment without spotting one. We had a glass of wine, rested for a bit, and then walked into town and split a pizza.
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| Wildflowers |
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| Sally at the Glacier |
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| Giant Lupines |
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| Les Eclaires Lighthouse |
On our second full day in Ushuaia, we had to be at the Tolkeyan office by 8:30 to check in for our Beagle Channel cruise. We had actually arrived even earlier, hoping to get good seats. Unfortunately, the boat we were taking was not at the dock, so we stood in line for over half an hour. Just before the departure time of 9:00, the boat appeared and rafted up to another boat tied to the dock. We all had to walk across the first boat to reach ours. There was no getting a good seat. Every seat on the boat was sold. We were told to stay in the same seat for the duration of the cruise, although we could go outside if we could stand the cold. At $130 each, Tolkeyan’s trip was not cheap. We probably should have spent another $35 to go on a smaller boat. They did do a good job, despite the crowding. Food orders were brought to our tables, which relieved chaos at the cafe.
About 30 minutes into our cruise, we came to Les Eclaires Islands where there is a lighthouse. There were also some Magellanic penguins and sea lions. The captain hovered around the islands and alternated sides so that everyone could get a view of everything. Then we headed another hour along the Beagle Channel to Martillo Island, a penguin rookery.
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| Sea Lions at Les Eclaires |
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| Magellanic Penguins at Les Eclaires |
The Beagle Channel is the border between Chile and Argentina. We saw a few sailboats out there. All of them had reefs in their sails. It was cold and windy.
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| Sailboat on the Beagle Channel |
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| Cormorants Nesting on the Cliffs |
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| Penguins at Martillo Island |
Our first glimpse of Martillo Island was a cliff where the imperial cormorants nested. The penguins, not being able to fly, were limited to the flatter beach area. Unfortunately, the gentoo penguins had already departed for the Antarctic, but there were plenty of Magellanic penguins about. Big, scruffy chicks were just getting their first real feathers which would allow them to swim and catch their own food. Until that time, the parents were forced to feed them. Cormorants milled among the penguins and it was sometimes hard to tell them apart, as both were black and white. Only the wings on the cormorants gave them away on shore, as they strutted about much as the penguins did. We spent quite a while at the island. People were supposed to circulate about the boat and allow everyone a chance to see from every angle, but I was never able to force my way to the foredeck. People were quite rude.
February 6, 2026
Hermoso Departamento Con Patio en Rio Gallegos
Rio Gallegos, Argentina
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| The Former Prison in Ushuai |
Once we returned from the Beagle Channel, we went for lunch at Tante Sara where we got eggs, a pile of bacon in my case, toast, coffee and juice for a special price. Thus fortified, we headed off to the Maritime Museum, which was housed along with a number of other museums in the old prison.
Prisoners began to be sent to Ushuaia in the 1880’s. The earliest ones were sent to build the prison. They were less serious offenders who had skills in the trades. Sometimes, they were even allowed into town. Their families were allowed to accompany them. They built the railway to transport materials and firewood to the building site. As the prison facility grew more secure, more hardened criminals began arriving and the days of relative freedom were over.
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| Mural in Ushuaia |
Each day, two trains left the prison. The first carried a small group of inmates to clear the snow off the tracks and work on extending the tracks into the forest. The second train carried a larger group of prisoners and guards who spent the day felling trees to be used mostly for firewood. The existing prison opened in 1920. It featured five cell blocks radiating from a central rotunda. Ten cell blocks were originally intended, but never completed. Cells on the shady side were brutally cold and the whole place was hard to heat. By 1947, the prison, designed to house 386 prisoners, but often holding as many as 500, was closed because the conditions were deemed too harsh. For fifty years, the building sat empty. In 1997, it was repurposed as a museum. Some of it has yet to be restored.
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| Unrestored Cell Block |
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| Restored Cell Block |
After having visited the fabulous maritime museum in Valparaiso, this one was a disappointment. However, there was a fascinating temporary exhibition about Antarctic exploration and the prison section of the museum was well done. Each cell contained artifacts and there were a lot of cells. It was a lot to take in. The ticket price of 44,000 pesos (about $30) seemed high, but there was a lot to see and a lot of work that remained to be done. It was fortunate that it remained open until 20:00, because we needed a few hours to explore the place. We never did get to see the fine art museum wing, but we did enjoy the numerous penguin sculptures painted by different artists that were scattered around the rotunda.
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| Painted Peguin |
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| Painted Penguin |
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| The Rotunda |
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| End of the World Train |
Our last day in Ushuaia, we visited the Tierra del Fuego National Park. We had determined that we could manage this without taking another expensive tour, but it took some complex logistics. We had already bought tickets for the prison train ride and spoken with a very helpful lady at the transit office. “Public” transportation in Ushuaia and the surrounding area is provided by a number of different private companies that operate minibuses. We thought we were purchasing a day pass, but that wasn’t really true. For 30,000 pesos, we got a ride on one bus at 9:00 from the bus station to the train. To get on the train, you need to have a park pass. It is possible to buy them at the entrance, but our bus left 10 minutes late and the train left at 9:30. I decided to buy the park passes online and had the usual difficulty in getting my cards accepted. I managed to acquire the passes with one minute to spare. We checked in at the ticket booth and hurried aboard the train.
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| Another Train at the Macarena Station |
The train was quite a commercial operation, but it was interesting and the commentary was good. Young men dressed as prisoners posed for photos as we boarded. These photos were offered for sale at the Macarena Station stop. The narrow-gauge steam train originally burned wood or coal, but operates on liquid fuel, now, to prevent sparks from igniting forest fires. The trains were nicely restored and included headphones to listen to commentary in six languages. We wound our way through the forest, past thousands of tree stumps. The scenery was dramatic. Peat bogs filled much of the flat area.
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| Tree Cemetery |
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| Beat Bog |
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| Lower Falls |
We stopped for twenty minutes at the Macarena Station, which gave us time to climb up to the waterfall and take pictures. Then we reboarded the train and continued on to the terminus. The commentary on the outbound journey recounted the history of the prison train. The cruise ship and guided tour passengers left the train at the terminus to board minibuses. The independent souls rode the train back to the first station. On the way back, the commentary centered on the flora and fauna of the area. While there are several different species of trees, all are beeches.
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| The Engine Moved to the Rear for the Return |
Native animals include many birds, condors among them, red foxes, and otters. Rabbits were introduced and adapted well, but competed with sheep for the grass. Gray foxes were introduced to control the rabbits, but it turned out that they didn’t like rabbit that well. Beavers were introduced for their fur. They thrive, but are considered pests because of the damage they do to the native forest. This struck me as odd because they are introduced to rejuvenate habitat in the United States. I guess everything has its place. Pampas grass is considered invasive in the United States, but belongs in Argentina.
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| Puerto Arias |
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| View from the Boardwalk |
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| The Boardwalk at Puerto Arias |
We were booked on the 12:20 bus from the train station to the far side of the national park. This gave us time for a nice coffee at the station. The bus driver was expecting us (The lady in the office had sent our photos.) and drove us twenty kilometers along gravel roads to Puerto Arias where the lakes meet the fjords. The mountains were not high in this area, but the water was glacial blue. We walked along the boardwalks to the water’s edge and enjoyed the scenery. Then we set off to hike to the visitor center.
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| River Between Lakes |
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| Scenery in Tierra Del Fuego National Park |
It was an easy hike. Knowing that we weren’t going to make the 14:00 bus, we took our time. The landscape had been sculpted during the last ice age, about 25,000 years ago, when the area was covered by an ice cap 1200 meters thick. We reached the visitor center about an hour early and stopped for a drink and an empanada. We enjoyed the interpretive displays and then sat in the sun to wait for the 16:00 bus. We were a bit concerned that it would be full, since the return trips were not specified. Every seat was taken, but we were careful to get on early.
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| View from the Visitor Center |
The bus drove us back across Ushuaia and deposited us at the terminal. We walked along the shore, looking for a restaurant, but finally gave up and returned to the center where we had dinner and a gin and tonic at Jeremy Button’s Gintoneria. It was hard for two gin and tonic fans to resist a “gintoneria.”
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| Me at Jeremy Button's |
I had some pretty decent nachos. Then we went home and I went to bed. I had to get up at 1:45 to catch my 3:00 bus to Rio Gallegos.
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