It's almost summer here is Ushuaïa. I spent many years if my life in Houston. It feels like a Houston winter with temperatures in the 30's a fierce wind blowing, and rain. It's a tough life for the 80,000 people who call this place home.
This morning I went on a boating adventure. We took a boat that started in Ushuaia Bay. This is very calm. When we went out into the Beagle Channel, things got wild. The seas got extremely rough. I am a U.S. Navy veteran and feel like "an old salt." The boat was rocking and bouncing so badly that I feared seasickness coming on. We looked at some penguins and sea lions. We then went to a copy of "the lighthouse at the end of the world." (The real one is still in operation and located on the Argentina Navy base and not accessible to the public.) Our final stop was Bridges Island where got out and hiked for 40 minutes. It was frigid and the wind was howling. I had on a heavy weight parka and the wind cut right through it. My insulated boots did not protect my feet from the cold. I felt sorry for some of the ladies who did not have heavy clothes. In one case the guide gave his coat to one lady really freezing. We found out that the local Indians who inhabited the area before Europeans arrived (the Yamkas) ran around almost nude in this bad weather.
I was relieved to get back to the boat. Then the seas got really nasty and we were bouncing all over the place. I was tired and relieved to be back on shore when the tour ended. I went and had a hot lunch with some soup, etc.
I tried to imagine what it was like for Charles Darwin to be sailing in these rough and inhospitable waters in an old wooden British sailing ship.
Now I am back in the nice and warm house where I am staying and relieved to be here.
This morning I went on a boating adventure. We took a boat that started in Ushuaia Bay. This is very calm. When we went out into the Beagle Channel, things got wild. The seas got extremely rough. I am a U.S. Navy veteran and feel like "an old salt." The boat was rocking and bouncing so badly that I feared seasickness coming on. We looked at some penguins and sea lions. We then went to a copy of "the lighthouse at the end of the world." (The real one is still in operation and located on the Argentina Navy base and not accessible to the public.) Our final stop was Bridges Island where got out and hiked for 40 minutes. It was frigid and the wind was howling. I had on a heavy weight parka and the wind cut right through it. My insulated boots did not protect my feet from the cold. I felt sorry for some of the ladies who did not have heavy clothes. In one case the guide gave his coat to one lady really freezing. We found out that the local Indians who inhabited the area before Europeans arrived (the Yamkas) ran around almost nude in this bad weather.
I was relieved to get back to the boat. Then the seas got really nasty and we were bouncing all over the place. I was tired and relieved to be back on shore when the tour ended. I went and had a hot lunch with some soup, etc.
I tried to imagine what it was like for Charles Darwin to be sailing in these rough and inhospitable waters in an old wooden British sailing ship.
Now I am back in the nice and warm house where I am staying and relieved to be here.
No comments:
Post a Comment