Boats, Mate, Sea Lions and Penguins

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  Ushuaia, Argentina
Tuesday, November 20, 2007

So I am quite exhausted today, so no promises that this will be a good entry.  Hopefully Iīll get inspired as I type.

Today was a very busy day, and also a very cold day.  We started out at 9 30 this morning to head down for our boat ride through the beagle channel.  We met our favorite friend Sebastien who helped us out yesterday to begin an expedition through the channel.  We went first to Les Claires lighthouse (or something similar to how I wrote it, not sure the xact name).  Then on to the  Island of the Birds.  I may not spell this right or really even get the word right, but it is an island with Cormoran birds. They are black and white and very pretty.

Then we went to the Los Lobos Island (island of the sea lions). There tons of lions our barking around on the rocks.  And several of the gigantic male sea lions.  Lastly we went to the Bridge Islands and went trekking. I guess trekking is another word for hiking.  A fancier, trendier word :-)  There we learned about the flora and fauna.  This was an island where the yamane indians lived who are native to this area (until the europeans came and took things over, now there is only 1 living Yamane left).  They lived naked.  Yes, naked.  Even in all of this wind and coldness.  They would take the fat of the sea lions and rub it all over their bodies.  They built up a thick layer of this fat on their bodies. They had tents that they lived in.  The tents were round, and as they ate sea lions and mussels, they through the shells out the side of the tents.  Eventually they move because they canīt get out of their tents for all the build up of shells around the tent, so they move their tent.  It leaves a large hole that has build up area around it, and this whole island has holes from this.  They hole island is built on shells and bones and whatnot. 

So the sad part of the story is that when the europeans came they made the yamane start bathing.  This made it so that they no longer had their protective layer of sea lion fat on their bodies.  They also had to start wearing clothes (why do the europeans think everyone needs to be īcivilizedīto their standards??  Just kidding, I am not out to make political statements in this blog :)  The europeans also brought their diseases which the indians had no immunity to. And lastly, the europeans brought alcohol which their bodies could not handle.  So they all died in a very short period of time. These were tough people.  Living naked, supporting themselves off the land, and it takes the europeans just a short time to make it all go away.  Craziness!

This afternoon we took a bus ride through tierra del fuego.  We were enroute to a penguin island.  The penguin island was awesome!  It was filled with penguins.  There were 2 or 3 different types of penguins on the island.  This is the time that they are nesting, so we got to see lots of different types of nests and all sorts of dynamics with the penguins.  We had to walk very slowly through the island, but we were able to get very close with no repurcussions.  I also saw a beaver dam for the first time today.

We had king crab tonight, and literally they brought the whole crab to our table.  It was a little bit gross because it still had some furry patches, but overall it was all good.  Tomorrow we head to calafate to see the glaciers.  Hopefully it will be a bit warmer there.

To sum up my thoughts on Ushuaia, I will quote my nephew Ben (who I am missing a bit now :-)  Hmmm....I think I wike this pwace.

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