“I climbed a path and from the top looked up-stream towards Chile. I could see the river, glinting and sliding through the bone-white cliffs with strips of emerald cultivation either side. Away from the cliffs was the desert. There was no sound but the wind, whirring through thorns and whistling through dead grass, and no other sign of life but a hawk, and a black beetle easing over white stones.”
― Bruce Chatwin, In Patagonia
Daily Archives: February 2, 2014
Rainbows in Patagonia



Ushuaia is also part of Tierra del Fuego, two thirds of which belong to Chile and the rest to the Argentine. Our guide told us that they only have two winters here and no summer. One of the winters is cold and the other one is colder still.

They are building ski resorts, and can offer some unusual outdoor winter pursuits such as sledging with huskies. Why do people live here and what brings them to what they claim to be the most southerly place in the world? The reasons were complex at first but now it is simple – money. The Argentinian government recognises that the conditions here are very hard and, when they wanted people to come here, they accepted they would have to pay them more… much more. Originally workers here were paid up to 5 times as much as those in other parts of the Argentine. Young people flocked to make money and take their savings home after a couple of years. Many stayed, however, and the city is now over-full. Currently they are paid a little less than the original 5 times more, but still more than double the wages in any other city in the country.

Last thoughts on Cape Horn
I, the albatross that awaits for you at the end of the world…
I, the forgotten soul of the sailors lost that crossed Cape Horn from all the seas of the world.
But die they did not
in the fierce waves,
for today towards eternity
in my wings they soar
in the last crevice
of the Antarctic winds
Sara Vial
Dec – 1992