Tierra del Fuego and the Avenue of the Glaciers

Why Tierra del Fuego?  There is evidence of sparse habitation around here dating back 10,000 years.   The Yaghan  people survived in this inhospitable climate until around 100 years ago when Western diseases all but wiped them out; there is officially one full blooded Yaghan person still alive..

When Magellan first travelled this route the coast of the island was littered with fires hence the name.  The then inhabitants did not wear clothing or skins (I’ve been outside and it’s SUMMER, it’s winter woollies time in my opinion), but kept warm by lathering their bodies with layers of grease - eeeeww.

Fire was a precious commodity they could not afford to extinguish and they even travelled in their timber canoes with lined with a layer of sand and a lit fire!  Don’t think Maritime Safety Regulations would approve!

The men tended to thee boats and the woman swam to find shell fish as well as tend to the family.  The water temperature is between 4-7 degrees Celsius, so they must have been very hardy individuals - well until 'civilisation' caught up with them. 

We awoke this morning to a partly sunny day, no rain little wind and patches of blue sky.  Pretty much unheard of in this part of the world…

We are skirting the edge of the island of Tierra del Fuego at present following the Beagle Channel first charted by HMS Beagle in 1830 and then again (in 1831-36) this time with Charles Darwin on board.

The incredibly spectacular ‘Avenue of the Glaciers’ along the Channel, however was named by the French expedition of the Romanche in 1882 under Louis-Ferdinand Martial and each of the glaciers was named in honour of the countries who sponsored the trip and the ship itself – Espana, Romanche, Alemania, Francia, Italia and Hollandia.  All of these glaciers were originally tidal glaciers, however only one remains tidal, the other ‘hanging’ due to the warming of the oceans around the glacial area.  Most spectacular nonetheless...

Hanging Glacier

Tidal Glacier

It snows all year round here and the Cordillera Darwin -a tail end of the Andes - behind the glaciers rise to about 2,500 metres from the water level.  Monte Darwin, the second highest was named after his by the HMS Beagle's captain Robert FitzRoy to commemorate Charles Darwin's 25th birthday in 1834.  And yep bigger than Mount  Kosciuszko again!

Cape Horn is next - my dream!!!!