No Jogging!

On the ship (some) people like to keep in shape and one way to do that is to run. The ideal deck would be the Promenade Deck because it's wide and level all the way around the ship. However, No Jogging is allowed there, which is nice for strollers and loungers. The only deck to jog on has several ups and downs of several steps. Oh well. . .

Moon over Ushuaia

At last we say good-bye to Ushuaia, Argentina, and the next day we will round Cape Horn.

To refresh your memories of this adventure I'm chronicling here:
This is a cruise around the bottom of South America. We started in Santiago,Chile, drove to the coast and boarded the ms Amsterdam, our home for the next 16 days. We stopped in several cities along our southward route. On the 8th day on the ship, we will pass Cape Horn. After that we'll go to the Falkland Islands, cruise up to Buenos Aries, Montevideo, and on to Rio de Janeiro, before flying home.

Control?

Just how much control is there here? Seen on the way to the pier and our ship in Ushuaia.

Building

Hello architecture fans,

This is another unusual building in Ushuaia, Argentina. It's similar to the large one one I showed you before. Again I was a bus passenger and could not get a better shot or find out what the building is used for.

Clouds over lake

I'm not sure of the name of this lake but we saw it near Ushuaia. The clouds are dramatic.

Reflection and tree

By the grove in yesterday's photo, I noticed a reflection of a tree in a puddle, a nice whole tree-top. Then I saw the tree, very tall and slender.

Trees

There was dense grove of trees by Bahia Ensenada.

Bahia Ensenada

After the train, we visited Bahia Ensenada. Straight across the lake I saw a beautiful mountain scene; standing in the same spot and turning just a little to my left I took the photo of the Post Office of the End of the World, where Argentinians can apparently get a passport.

Peat and stumps

From the Train of the End of the World we saw meadows of peat and the stumps of all the trees the prisoners cut. The timber was used not only for building but for fuel. Then natural gas was found in the area and trees were no longer needed for heating in this rather cold climate. This area is about 55 degrees latitude South, so its climate is about like Ketchikan, Alaska in the North, with the seasons reversed, of course.

Artichokes (sob)

Well, there will be no pretty artichoke blossoms; instead they have been doused in melted butter or mayonnaise! There is a smaller one which was in the bottom of last week's photo and will no doubt also disappear soon.

Estacion del Fin del Mundo

Here we are (Dick and Margie) at the Station for the Train of the End of the World.
The train was originally built as a freight line to serve the prison of Ushuaia, specifically to transport timber. It now operates as a heritage railway into the Tierra del Fuego National Park and is considered the southernmost functioning railway in the world. It is a small train of small cars carrying tourists over part of the old route, though peat bogs, waterways and vast areas of stumps where the prisoners cut timber. We were served a lunch and a drink of our choice during the scenic trip. A sort of Argentine Wine Train! For more info see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train_of_the_End_of_the_World

The end of the road

We took a day trip out of Ushuaia and visited the National Park and saw the sign that marks the end of the Pan American Highway. Alaska 17,848 km!

Ushuaia vegetation

Happy Autumn!

No, not here, but it's Fall in Ushuaia when it's Spring here. This is a field of Fall flowers and the reddish plants look like what we called ironweed in Indiana (perhaps because in the Fall they turn the color of rusted iron-also they're hard and tough).

Artichokes

This is a little digression to the Corte Madera Bike Path for today. These artichokes are growing beside the path and if they last, they should make some nice blossoms. So if no one harvests them, I'll take photo each week to show you their progress.

Building

WHO designed this building?? In Ushuaia.

Armada Argentina

At a small airfield in Ushuaia sits this airplane of the Armada Argentina (the Argentine Navy). It's not listed among the Armada's current airplanes, so I suppose it is just a display piece. See info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_Navy.

One of my Daily Photo-ers John C. is an encyclopedia of airplane lore, among other things. Thanks to him, I was able to find this on Wikipedia : The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota is a military transport aircraft that was developed from the Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in front line operations through the 1950s with a few remaining in operation to this day.

Your education for today!

Architecture in Ushuaia

In this part of the world we often saw buildings that were different from what we are used to. Most likely they reflect styles of the designer's original home country.

Saturday

Every day in every elevator of ms Amsterdam there was a mat showing us what day of the week it was. There were 12 passenger elevators - think about the stack of mats for all those elevators! And we never caught anybody changing them, although one day we got on an elevator that was one day behind; that was confusing!

More clouds

For fans of cloud photos (and I'm sure there are a lot of us!) here's another near Ushuaia, Argentina.

Rainbow

Our next port was Ushuaia (oo shwy uh), Argentina. Berthed next to us was the Star Princess, carrying twice as many passengers as the Amsterdam--big! Just before we disembarked a rainbow appeared and it was that rare sighting - a full bow!

Clouds

You may have noticed from the glacier photos that the weather was quite overcast on the Beagle Channel; but at times, the clouds were quite interesting, as in this photo.

Alemania Glacier

We're back sailing along the Beagle Channel in Chile. As you may know the Beagle Channel is named for the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin's ship during his explorations in this area in the 1830's. To see Darwin's timeline : http://www.aboutdarwin.com/timeline/time_04.html#0040

The Alemania Glacier is very large and now does not come all the way to the water, as it must have in the past.

Egret

Here is one last bird picture from my Tuesday sojourn at The Ponds: an egret wading in the shallow water near the edge of the first pond.

Flying geese

Last Tuesday at The Ponds the air was full of birdsong, a very good reason not to wear an iPod in one's ear as some people do, though I must say, I've never seen pond-walkers do this. Among the calls came the goose's familiar 'honk' along with a couple of warbeling sounds (trumpeting?) I've never heard before. Two of them were flying toward the ponds and as they went over they presented this picture.

Ducklings

It's spring and that means birdie babies! Here we see some of the duck variety with Mom & Dad at The Ponds on Tuesday.

Red-wing blackbird

We'll leave South America for a few days to show a few photos from The Ponds on Tuesday morning. This red-wing blackbird was giving its little song just for me (ha!).

Francia Glacier

The next major glacier we saw while sailing the Beagle Channel was the Francia Glacier. It comes down to the water, unlike the last glacier we saw, but since it was the end of summer, there was no floating ice.

Italia Glacier

Cruising on the Beagle Channel after leaving Punta Arenas, we passed several glaciers, Italia Glacier being the first one. If you Google it, you will see that my photo shows that it is rapidly receding. The waterfall coming out of it attests to its melting. It's pretty frightening.

I'm away for the weekend and the next daily photo will be Tuesday May 5

Orange face

As I walked on deck while we were tied up in Punta Arenas on March 6, I spotted an orange face looking right at me. It was one of several buoys to which the Amsterdam was tied up; we couldn't berth on shore there. Later a boat came out from the harbor and cast off our lines. Goodbye, Punta Arenas.