As my husband and I huddled – under-dressed and unprepared for the harsh winds – into the taxi upon arrival in Ushuaia, Argentina our driver captured the scene with a quip, “The weather is schizophrenic here. You can experience all four seasons in one day.”
“No, no.” he said, “Make that one hour.”
“Oh, and be careful about that water” he nodded his head in the direction of the port. “If you fall in, you’ll freeze to death before you drown.”
What a welcome.
Ushuaia is the southernmost point of South America, the de facto capital of Tierra del Fuego (“Land of Fire”) and serves as a jumping off point for further treks into Patagonia and cruises to Antarctica. All these fabled names capture the imagination and they converge on a town stuck between two combative natural forces: the foreboding Martial Mountains to the north and the Beagle Channel to the south.
In Ushuaia, the psychological and physiological also converge. In this part of the world, the Earth changes shape, seemingly shifting the way one perceives. The light bends. The horizon does, too.
Even the sun plays games, coming out for moments to make a sneak appearance only to drift back into patches of low-slung clouds that hang like cotton and steel wool. The surreal light created by this spectacle draws us all in with our cameras while defying even the most accomplished among us to accurately capture it. Ushuaia is fleeting. “Don’t even try to pin me down,” Mother Nature says right up until the curtain draws to a close on the bent Earth’s days of disproportionate length.
This is Ushuaia’s charm and allure, and instead of feeling windblown and miserable, a visitor – nay, a guest — learns to appreciate and respect the raw force of nature.
But all this merged harshness and beauty made me wonder: How did this town come to be?
Though once a frontier town, Ushuaia now plays host to a population of 64,000 – a surprising number given its otherworldly remoteness. The city began as a rough and tumble frontier town. A visit to the local cemetery underscores the city’s rough history: many died young. You had to be tough to survive.
Who were these people and why did they stay despite the harsh conditions? Many were opportunists hoping to exchange their physical and mental stamina for a chance to strike it rich. Gold prospectors, cattle ranchers, and whalers made their way in the early 19th century. Perhaps not surprisingly, Ushuaia also served as banishment for Argentina’s harshest criminals until the mid-20th century.
Today, things are different. You can actually visit the jail, now a museum. And the downtown area evinces a sort of northern European sensibility. At the end of a day, you can retreat from the cold into any number of Irish Pubs or cozy cafes. Outdoor shops sell every bit of high tech trekking gear to protect you on your next trip, either to visit the Magellanic penguins on the Beagle Channel or to tramp through the bogs of Tierra del Fuego National Park.
But if you take a moment to walk along the edge of the port, you’ll notice the rusted hulls of wrecked ships, likely once deemed unsinkable, indestructible. There they sit, eerily beautiful in Ushuaia’s inimitable light. Look up to the hills where wooden homes hang on mountainsides with an eye to the next big storm that might just blow them away.
In every direction, Mother Nature reminds us mere humans that she trumps all, especially in this part of the world.
She also reminds you that the reward for having gone to the ends of the Earth is simply the opportunity to be there.