Sweathog and Mountain Woman: March 8, 2016

I was picked up this morning in front of the hotel at 7:45. There would be fourteen of us in a small bus that seated nineteen. I was the only "Americano". I sure missed Peg today as she was always able to communicate with people even without being able to understand a word of their language. I'm trying but I have a long way to go.

This trip encompassed two parts. The first was a ten kilometer train ride on a narrow gauge railway built by the local prison population to supply lumber to the town of Ushuaia for building materials and for heating. The Argentine Government wanted to have a prison in Ushuaia so they could develop the town with free labor. The prisoners also built their jail. The train was called the "Convict Train" and was used year round. The train travelled through the wood lands that had been harvested beginning in the late 1890s. The trip ended just inside Tiera del Fuego National Park where the tour bus met us.

The park borders Chile and we only traveled through a small portion of it. We did get out several times to take in the views. On all of the trips Peg and I did together whenever we saw some spectacular I would always say "Almost as pretty as you". I said that several times today but it wasn't quite the same.

In 1948 the Government decided to import from Canada twenty five pair of beavers in an attempt to develop a fur trade. It turns out that the weather was not cold enough and the fur was not of good quality. Unfortunately the cat (beaver) was out of the bag and has since wreaked havoc in the Park. And due to the warmer climate they grow to twice the size of their Canada cousins, up to one hundred pounds. Trying to eradicate them has not been easy due to a public outcry of any means proposed to rid them from the area. We should sent Trump down here.

My third tour of the day was a 4 1/2 hour boat trip in the Beagle Channel heading east from Ushuaia. The Beagle Channel is 120 miles long and connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Some ships are able to use it to avoid the Drake Passage. We saw bird colonies, mainly Cormorants, South American Sea Lions and a Penguin colony. The weather is cold with spotty rain and very windy. There is a 3-4 foot chop in the open water. I am writing this on the return trip. I'm glad that I popped a Bonine tablet before we started.

Tomorrow we head south.

ILYB

The Convict Train