Beavers were introduced to Tierro del Fuego in 1946 to attempt to start a fur industry. The effort failed for various reasons, but the beavers flourished. They are now creating massive destruction in the forrests, which can’t recover like north american forrests, where the trees co-evolved with the beavers.
We took a sunset walk and saw a beaver emerging from its’ mound.
Speaking of sunset – there seemed to be only like 2 hours of night we were so far south!
On the Harberton ranch, there is a museum of marine mammals. It was founded by the mother of the current owner, Aby.
In Tierra del Fuego, we rented a car and drove about 2 hours out of town, on to dirt roads, to the Harberton Ranch.
It lies on the east mouth of the Beagle channel.
Looking out of the channel, there is an island in the middle. To the left of the island was the Atlantic Ocean, and to the right was the way to Antartica.
The island was disputed over about 50 years ago, which was settled when Argentina gave the island to Chile. It was a bad move, causing Argentina to lose passage to Antartica and rights to vast fishing areas.
Being in Estancia Harberton felt like we were at the bottom of the world. We were the only guests.
we eat salads every day, even while waiting for the plane at Calafate Airport.
El Chalten is a quaint little town built for tourists, especially trekkers. We very much enjoyed our short stay.
it was peaceful, although one day the locals burned tires on the bridge into town to protest the lack of affordable housing for the service industry workers.
one barkeep told us that since the election, her landlord is demanding rent for her room in US dollars.
