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Tierra del Fuego

Why Go? ...... 489 The southernmost extreme of the , this windswept Parque Nacional archipelago is alluring as it is moody – at turns beautiful, an- ...... 504 cient and strange. Travelers who first came for the ends-of- the-earth novelty discover a destination that’s far more com- ()...... 507 plex than these bragging rights. Intrigue still remains in a past storied with shipwrecks, and failed Tolhuin & missions. In Tierra del Fuego, nature is writ bold and reck- Lago Fagnano...... 508 less, from the scoured plains, rusted peat bogs and mossy Río Grande...... 509 lenga forests to the snowy ranges above the . Estancias Around While distant and isolated, Tierra del Fuego is by no Río Grande...... 510 means cut off from the mainland, though the Argentine half Porvenir (Chile)...... 510 is far more developed than its Chilean counterpart. Ports buzz with commerce and oil refineries prosper while adven- ture seekers descend in droves to fly-fish, hike and start Ant- cruises. Shared with Chile, this archipelago features Best Places to one large island, Isla Grande, Chile’s Isla Navarino and many Eat smaller uninhabited ones. ¨¨Kalma Resto (p502) ¨¨Kaupé (p502) ¨¨María Lola Restó (p498) When to Go ¨¨Chiko (p498) Ushuaia °C/°F Temp Rainfall inches/mm ¨¨Chez Manu (p502) 40/104 10/250

30/86 8/200 Best Places to 20/68 6/150 Stay 10/50 4/100 0/32 2/50 ¨¨Galeazzi-Basily B&B -10/14 0 (p496) J F DNOSAJJMAM ¨¨ Hostel (p495) ¨¨Estancia Las Hijas (p510) Nov–Mar Warm- Mid-Nov–mid- Jul–Sep Optimal est months, Apr Fly-fishing for skiing, snow- ¨¨Hostería Yendegaia (p511) best for hiking, season. boarding or dog ¨¨Los Cauquenes Resort & penguin watch- sledding. Spa (p497) ing and estancia visits. 489 Tierra del Fuego UshGUSettHuUiaAniIgaA There & Around

Legislatura (Provincial Legislature; Av Maipú 465) Maipú Av Legislature; (Provincial

S ights The The tourist a office distributes free city- The The mission made its Ushuaia first per- shell to reduced now is legacy tribe’s The a became city the 1947 and 1884 Between rovincial was was the governor’s official residence. The 1 the Paralleling Beagle Channel, Av Maipú becomes Malvinas west of the then cemetery, turns into RN3, continuing 12km Tierra del to Nacional Fuego. Parque the To east, public access ends at Yaganes, north going RN3 meet to north heads which services visitor Most Fagnano. Lago toward from a block Martín, San Av on or are near waterfront. the tour map with on information the historic The 1894 town. around houses History In 1870 the South British-based American Yah- the on sights its set Society Missionary gan (or Yamaná), a nomadic tribe whose members faced brutal weather any have conditions didn’t they – naked entirely almost and dry, clothing keep to shelter permanent believed that the natural oil of their ani- wet soaking skin than protection better was ‘the them branded Darwin Charles mal fur. Mission- earth.’ on humanity of form lowest years After agree. didn’t Bridges Thomas ary among them, he created a Yahgan-English deeming century, 19th late the in dictionary subtle. and complex language their manent Fuegian outpost, but the Yahgan, who had 6000 con- survived years without ill- to foreign-brought vulnerable were tact, nesses and faced increasing infringement by sealers, settlers and gold a dubbed teenager including Yámana, Four prospectors. naval the by kidnapped were Button,’ ‘Jimmy captain Robert Fitz Roy and shipped back to to England be and educated as paraded One of died savages. of gentrified examples disease. After months of public criticism, Fitz Roy agreed to return the rest to their homeland. mounds, Thomas Bridges’ famous diction- ary and Jimmy woman Button Yamaná souvenirs. elderly At one writing, of time the na- only the Navarino, Isla on alive still was language. the of speaker tive many notorious incarcerating colony, penal here both prisoners, and political criminals and on remote Isla de los naval important an Estados. been has town the Since 1950 base. P

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p a u Getting enting a car in mainland , be 88 urrently links with Lago Fagnano, but a 4W Tierra Tierra del Fuego’s comparatively high It’s a location matched by few, and chest- and few, by matched location a It’s 02901 / Po f r At theAt time of writing, Chile was building an Visitors can fly into Río Grande or Ushuaia. I t c all pass through Río Grande before arriving in Ushuaia. I aware that you must cross in and out of Chile a couple of times to reach Tierra del Fuego, and that this requires special documents and ad- ditional international insurance coverage. Most car-rental agencies can arrange this paperwork if given advance notice. alternate road to the southern end of the island. vehicle is required. Buses take the ferry from Chile’s Punta beating Ushuaia takes full beating Ushuaia advantage of its end-of-the-world status, with an increas- ing number of Antarctica-bound calling vessels in to port. Its endless hustle mercantile knows no irony: the souvenir shop named for Jimmy Button (an indigenous man kidnapped for show in England), the invasive destructive a for named center ski species…you get the idea. That said, with a pint of the world’s southernmost micro- brew in hand, you can dazzling happily outdoor plot options: hiking, the sailing, are diving scubaeven and skiing,kayaking all just minutes from town. from all over to draw wages re- loss the lament locals some and here, settle of small-town culture. Meanwhile, expan- sion means that haphazard development in is the advancing few the directions mad allows. geography % A busy port and adventure hub, the of Ushuaia city is a sliver of steep streets and jumbled buildings below the snowcapped Martial Range. Here the meet the in a sharp skid, way for making the city before reaching a sea lapping currents. of Ush ia The most common overland route from Patago- nia is via the ferry crossing at Punta Unlike the rest of Argentina, Tierradel Fuego has no designated provincial highways, but has secondary roads known as rutas complementa- rias, modified by a lowercase letter. References to such roads made hereare given as ‘RC-a,’ for example.