Day13 of 13: Return From the End of the World (Friday-Saturday, February 4-5)

We cleared our stateroom by 8:00 am and disembarking wrapped up by 9:30 am. Many of the passengers, including us, were booked on an Eastern Airlines overnight charter flight from Ushuaia to Miami. Since the flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until mid-afternoon, Viking split us into groups of ~20 for a 3-hour bus tour of Ushuaia.

Our local guide was pleasant and presented a nice history of Ushuaia, including the indigenous “Yámana” people who settled the area about 10,000 years ago. Ushuaia’s modern history started with British missionaries, who adopted the Yámana name for the city, Ushuaia, meaning “deep bay.” But to ensure Argentine sovereignty, the Argentine government established a prison in the early 20^th century. The prisoners were put to work building much of the original city infrastructure. The prison closed in 1947 and became a Naval base, used during the Falklands War of 1982.

Ushuaia, capital of Tierra del Fuego province, is now a thriving city of 60,000+, known as “the city at the end of the world.” Its economy seems to be built largely around tourism and skiing. Our bus drove up to a glacier park overlooking Ushuaia where we had time for a brief hike, then back down to the city, stopping at scenic overlooks and the old airport on the way.

Glacier Martial Park & Ski Resort:

View of Ushuaia and Beagle Channel from Glacier Martial:

Beech tree forest in Glacier Martial park -- Keith and I both found the terrain to look oddly like something from Jurassic Park

Old Ushuaia airport, now a flight school and private pilot airport:

Downtown Ushuaia with Glacier Martial in the background:

Viking Octantis docked in front of Mount Darwin, the highest peak in Tierra Del Fuego province; to the far right is the second highest, with the five peaks of Mount Five Brothers 

We arrived back at the new, modern Ushuaia airport, capable of accommodating 747s and even twice received Concorde flights. We waited in various lines to complete the exit procedure and our flight departed about an hour late. 

Ushuaia airport in the Beagle Channel:

Andes Mountain range near Ushuaia

After a 3.5-hour flight to Montevideo, Uruguay, we stopped for fuel, exited the plane and went through another 2 hours of TSA-style security, since the Ushuaia airport’s procedures apparently didn’t meet TSA requirements. The overnight flight arrived in Miami on time at 4:55 am and now we have an 8-hour layover in Miami before our flight to Detroit. 

Eastern Airlines 767-300 offloading and re-boarding in Montevideo, Uruguay:

In total, it will be 36 hours of travel, door-to-door, not bad for a return trip from the end of the world. Thanks for following us on the journey.

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