54d 51m 18.9s S, 68d 34m 34.8s W (WP074)

The second half of our trip would bring us to the Land of Fire, Tierra del Fuego, named as such by the 18th/19th c European explorers who stumbled up on the native peoples (Yaghan/Yamana & Selk’nam) who consistently kept their fires alight (even in their canoes) for warmth in such a chilly climate. Ushuaia would be our port of departure for the Antarctic Peninsula, and is the southern most city in South America. Only Port Williams (Chile) can boast as being the southern most town in South America.

We enjoyed our sojourn to the Tierra del Fuego National Park where the Nothofagus forest (niru & lenga) really captured my attention and love. Apparently this type of forest is restricted to the southern most parts of Chile & Argentina, Tasmania and South Africa, where it has a common ancestor when those lands were part of Gondwana and the later Pangaea supercontinent. With shallow roots, long lifetimes, and dry climates, the forest had incredible amounts of decaying wood, which we were later learning was essentially for providing nutrients to the living trees. Two types of fungus were rampant, one on the trunks and one more like the mistletoe variety perched between branches. Both had been commented on by Charles Darwin which he visited these parts on the HMS Beagle’s 2nd voyage (command by Captain FitzRoy) from December 1832 to summer of 1833.