Monday, January, 7th
El Calafate, Argentina —> Ushuaia
Stayed at: Antarctica Hostel

Dear Obiwan,
Obi today we went to the furthest south place in the WORLD besides Antarctica! USHUAIA! Pronounced: YOU-SH-WHY-UH. It is known as, ‘The End Of The World!’

Pause for important picture of a dog walking in the bag belt at the airport, he was in training! Sorry, I know you HATE dogs Obi, but get ready for a few adorable dog pictures!

And these two:

Oh wait, one more. I petted this cutie once we landed in Ushuaia and he followed me for a while!

Look at some of the sights on the way to the docks:

Once on Ushuaia we immediately went to the tourist center and docks to see which boat tour we might want to take tomorrow!

However, we arrived and they told us that the sky just cleared up and, “you never know when the weather will be this great, so go on a tour right now!” Both me and Kelsey jumped on it and went to every single hut.

We had different criteria for our boat today. She wanted to see the famous lighthouse and found a cool boat tour that also served unique beer!

My criteria was: Sailboat! And to see the famous lighthouse or penguins…or both.

We both picked out boats and parted.

Now, I thought I chose a boat tour that said we will see the lighthouse, but I didn’t know about it before so I wasn’t as determined as many other tourists are. But it’s supposed to be really cool- it’s the farthest lighthouse in the world but not really? I don’t know.

But I thought my boat was going there. I also understood that this boat did NOT have penguins. But I thought it was a sailboat and sees the lighthouse, and we go on the BEST penguin tour in 2 days, so thought it will be worth it!

The sailboat travels were me, a young man from Morocco, a couple from Italy, and a couple from Argentina. It was a small group, which was perfect! Also the sailboat wasn’t too big.

Soon we were off on our sailboat adventure!

But, my dear Obiwan. The moment we climbed onto the boat…big clouds rolled in and the sun was gone…and it quickly was cold and windy.

But the wind was against us so we couldn’t use the sail for a while. We could sit up top and it was fun!

But freezing, so eventually all of us were in the inside of the boat. I had some truly incredible conversations with the Italian couple.

They are both Life Coaches! And they are both DIVERS and met diving! He had not been able to dive due to having a cold, and he met her and she encouraged him to come with her and she told him, “today we will see hammer head sharks”- they are a BIG DEAL in diver world. He went with her and said it was an awful dive, didn’t even see one fish! But towards the end of their dive they both felt it, just something powerful was around them. And then they looked up and it was A SCHOOL OF HAMMERHEADS! He said after that moment, he never wanted to leave her side. 💜💜💜

Any who, our tour was good. The issue was the weather, it was cold and rainy. But we did see a lot of amazing birds! Including Camarans, which can dive up to 50 meters (164 feet) under water!

We also saw an island of sea lions! A bunch of the females we’re pregnant! Also, sea lions live in colonies with 1 male and a bunch of females!

We then walked on ‘H Island’ which this tour company is the only one that can actually walk on this island…I completely forget why.

But Frederico, our Argentinian tour guide guided us away! He told us the history of the island. So, ready Obi for some history?

Tierra del Fuego means ‘land of fire’ and it used to be called ‘land of the smoke.’ This all had to do with the ancient people, whom are commonly known as the Yamana. Darwin found that their arms are way longer than other humans, this is due to them using their arms as paddles of the boats!

The most facinating fact about the Yamana was that, they were naked! And Obi, IT IS FREEZING HERE! How the Yamana survived was- by using fire all the time! They were naked all the time because they were always swimming and getting king crabs, clams, and other sea animals to eat. It was difficult to dry off and they didn’t have animals to get fur from SO THEY WOULD USE FIRE! They would heat up and dry off by fire! They even would have fires in THEIR CANOES!

So hence their name…LAND OF FIRE!

But, Obi, their story is so sad. Once colonized, they were given clothes to cover up their nudity and…they ALL DIED AS RESULT OF DISEASES. And it was believed that being clothed quickened their deaths.

On our way back to the boat Bileva bent down by the ocean and…shoved his HEAD in the ice cold water. I asked him why did you do that? And he explained, “because..I wanted to be one with the sea.” Alrighty.

Once back in the boat I was so excited to see the famous lighthouse!

BUT OBI READY- this BOAT DOESN’T GO TO THE LIGHTHOUSE. Our handsome tour guide had to explain to me that we don’t go there, it’s too far for the sailboat 🤦🏻‍♀️!!!

Somehow I really thought we went there, but oh well. I must have just…imagined it? Sometimes we imagine what we want to happen, and sometimes- this works! But this time, no…nope…no lighthouse. But it’s all good Obi, hard to be too bummed about missing something I didn’t even know existed till TODAY.

Also, I asked our tour guide if I was missing something INCREDIBLE and he goes, “Honestly? No. It’s just a light house…people only like it because it’s in pictures and also people think it’s this famous lighthouse, like the last one that this sailor wrote about but it’s NOT that’s another one.” So that made me feel better!

Also guess what, we got to have the sail up on the way back! It was freezing, but amazing!

Alright my dear Jedi, I’m exhausted,
Goodnight,
Love Tú Madre,
Carly