11th-13th November: Al fin del mundo en Isla Navarino

The ferry was still tethered 100 m away from the shore when we woke up.  This left us time to pack up our bags and have a quick coffee before disembarking at the port of Puerto Williams, on Isla Navarino (at 54°56'S 67°37'W, the southernmost town in the world).  We walked towards the centre of town, where we assumed our hostel (Residencial Pusaki) could be found.  A passing car gave us a ride to our hostel, which was very helpful as we did not have a map of the town, and although it only has 2,500 inhabitants wandering around town is not much fun with heavy backpacks.

Although we were sorry to hear that Patty, the owner of our hostel, was on holidays in the Falkland Islands for 2 weeks, we were very well taken care of by the lady who welcomed us.  She offered us coffee and toast and gave us useful tips on where to find tourist information.  To our great surprise, she also told us that the hostel's doors were always open and thus that we would not need a key. It is a quiet island. I doubt the police that we occasionally saw patrolling around town have much to do.

Our street in Puerto Williams

It was quite early in the morning and the small outdoor shop (Turismo Shila) where we wanted to get some trekking information would only open in an hour or so.  We thus went for a walk around the town (which was mostly deserted apart from horses munching on the grass in the main "plaza", to John's great amusement) and arrived at the yacht pier, where we spotted a couple of fancy yachts as well as an intriguing old cargo boat.  We understood from the ad on the door that it had been turned into a bar, which opens every night at 9pm (and here was our plan for the evening).

Horses grazing on the main square

More horses further on our way to the pier (with the airfield in the background)

The bar "Club de Yates Micalvi" and private yachts

Church of Puerto Williams in the naval area

The tourist office (a woman behind a small desk inside the town hall) was open and we got some useful information about the town's (rather limited) touristic attractions.  She also confirmed that the only way to get to Ushuaia (about 50 km away) was to take a small boat which was rather expensive (the price of the ride had one of our fellow ferry passenger ranting about it for a while).   The island, when you are not sailing on your own boat, can only be reached by plane or ferry from Punta Arenas or by boat from Ushuaia, all of which is rather costly and depends on weather conditions.  This explains why there were only few of us around town (there may be a few more tourists in high season, but it is never busy).  Puerto Williams (and Isla Navarino more generally) thus offers a great retreat away from the crowds, and a chance to enjoy nature through several trekking opportunities, including the famous trek to the Dientes de Navarino (the island's central mountain chain).

Warning about the lack of ozone coverage (with the town hall in the background)

Antarctica, apparently

Our initial plan was to stay a few days on the island, go trekking to a lake (Lago Windhorn) on the other side of the island (less demanding than the Dientes trek, which is covered in snow) and then leave for Ushuaia, on the other side of the Beagle Channel, in Argentina.  Luis, at Turismo Shila, informed us however that departures to Ushuaia were only confirmed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.  Departures on the other days of the week would depend on the amount of people (they needed a minimum of 4 people to go).  Moreover, we realised that the lake where we wanted to go to was exposed to strong winds, which dealt with the remains of our motivation.  We opted for a more relaxed program: we would visit the town, the nearby Omora Ethnobotanical park, and admire the view from the Cerro Bandera.  We had inquired about the various options to go to Cape Horn, but unfortunately we did not get any response.  The owners of the agency recommended by the Lonely planet were off sailing around Tahiti.

We resumed our walk around town to visit the only museum in town: the Anthropology Museum Martin Gusinde, named after a Austrian priest and anthropologist who lived among the Yaghan and Selknam tribes between 1924 and 1928.  Built in 1974 by the Chilean Navy (very present on the island, representing approx. half of the population), the museum held great displays on the Yaghan tribe.  We learnt how they built their canoes out of tree bark, how they lived, and how they unfortunately disappeared as a result of colonisation (including the transmission of diseases) and despite the attempts of missions such as the one described by Lucas Bridges in his book Uttermost Part of the Earth (which may be found on Amazon.com).
The museum also became our hotspot for internet connection as they allow visitors to use their access, which was extremely helpful as we did not have many alternatives (the only "internet café" in town offered just a more-than-antique computer at the back of  a dark room).

After enjoying a garlicky escalope milanese in one of the two restaurants in town (called "los Dientes de Navarino"), we walked the 500m to the very small village  of Villa Ukika, where we thought lived the last descendants of the Yaghan tribe.  Our only option amidst this quiet village would have been to knock on people's door to ask for information, so instead we walked to the Omora Ethnobotanical garden.  We learnt later that there is only one Yaghan descendant left in Villa Ukika, who is about 70. If she is not in her house in the middle of the village, you can knock on people's door to ask for her (those people are actually part of her family, but they are not only Yaghan).  She apparently likes talking to people and sharing her stories, but we were not at ease with pestering her so we did not go back.

Villa Ukika

In the park Omora, we followed a short signposted trail which provided us with interesting facts about the local flora.  We were the only ones in the park, which was enjoyably peaceful.

Natural space for  ethical reflection

In the evening, we prepared a soup that we shared with Pierre-Yves, a very friendly and singular character who left France (Brittany) 30 years ago on his boat for the Caribbean, and now lives in Chile.  Dinner was great fun: we learnt about his life in Chile and his beef with the proliferation of roundabouts in France.  To accompany the soup, our proxy-host brought us some delicious freshly-fished king crab.

King Crab

Later, I managed to drag John along to the bar Club de Yates Micalvi; admittedly it involved a 15 min walk in the cold.  We were one of very few, which made for a very cosy atmosphere in this bar haunted by the presence of the navigators that had challenged themselves in the stormy waters around Cape Horn.  They traditionally stop by the bar and leave a flag with their signature and the date.  On the first floor, formerly the bridge, was a great sailors' game.  A ring was tied to a rope hung from the middle of the room.  On the other side of the room was a peg.  The objective was swing the ring, like a pendulum, across the room to land it on the peg.  After a couple of tries John succeeded and, as we would say in French, il n'était pas peu fier.

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After a late night, we did not set off very early the next day.  Equipped with layers of warm clothing as well as a picnic, we started walking to Cerro Bandera, a hill from which you can enjoy a great view over the Beagle Channel, Puerto Williams and the Dientes range.  Cerro Bandera (named after the Chilean flag at the top that reminds the Argentinians across the channel to keep their distance) rises 610m above the Beagle Channel.
The trail started from a square with a shrine dedicated to the Virgin.  The horses that we had earlier spotted in the middle of the town were now enjoying the grass on the lawns surrounding the shrine.

More horses by the shrine on the way to Cerro Bandera

The unicorn of Isla Navarino?

It took us about 2 hours to reach the top.  The walk was very pleasant as the trail was climbing up the hill slowly.  Moreover, the forest provided an efficient shelter from the wind and the sun.  The wind eventually caught us, though; at the top of the hill we were being blown sideways.  The view over the Beagle Channel was incredible, as we'd been lucky again to have a clear day, and fighting against the wind was worth it.  We walked a few metres further to enjoy the view over the Dientes range.  The strength of the wind confirmed our decision not to venture out for the 4 day trek.  Back at the hostel, we met a German couple who had just got back from the trek and they had clearly had enough cold for a while.  Their only desire was to go back to Buenos Aires to enjoy some warmth.  They had been preparing for the trek for 2 weeks; we had not.

The trail passes by wind-swept trees, with the Beagle Channel in the distance

The Dientes de Navarino mountain range

The flag, the Beagle Channel and Puerto Williams (while we try not to be swept away)

We went to the museum for a few hours to use their internet.  Interestingly, we were joined by the dog who regularly lay outside our hostel.  She had followed us all the way to the museum and even managed to get inside, apparently impatient to go back.  There were not many people in the museum on this Saturday afternoon and I managed to take the dog out.  Sadly she had disappeared by the time we left, but we were glad to see her safely back the next morning.

In the evening, we tried to go to the town's second restaurant, "la Trattoria de Matteo", but it was unfortunately closed (there seemed to be a private party). We thus cooked dinner ourselves and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine by the fire. We had the little hostel to ourselves, which was very enjoyable.

The quietness of the place was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door.  I thought it was a traveller looking for a bed.  Instead, the man introduced himself and told us that he was bringing back some beaver skins for Patricia (I made him repeat as he was speaking Spanish quite fast).  When I asked whether he wanted to leave a note (after all, we were the only people in the hostel, together with a German girl), he answered that it was not necessary and that, being the director of the college, he could be trusted. I did not enquire further and left the beaver skins in the entrance. The next day, I notified the lady in charge of looking after the hostel; she took a look at them and said that they had not been treated yet.  By contrast, she pointed out to the ones on the dining chairs which had been treated and were very soft.  She said that it was not possible to buy beaver skin at the moment because nobody is hunting them; they have moved further away from the town into the mountains and are thus harder to find.  We also asked if it was possible to eat beaver but she said that no restaurant was selling it at the moment for the same reason.  As a little note, beavers were introduced on the island (and throughout Tierra del Fuego) in the 1940s for the commercial exploitation of their fur.  The price of fur collapsed soon after and the animal was no longer hunted.  The beaver population thus greatly expanded due to the lack of predators and the amenable climate, causing significant environmental damage.  Apparently animal rights activists have managed to prevent a full-scale purge so far.

Puerto Williams is a charming little town and I am really glad we spent a couple of days there, if only to see horses roaming around town and enjoy the peace and quiet.  The tourist infrastructure is not very developed in comparison with other places we have been to, which is very refreshing.  They are definitely working on it though: the museum looks brand new, there are signposts around town informing visitors about historical facts, and there is even a tourist office (albeit small).  We heard complaints against the luxury Lakutaia hotel (3km out of town), which organises tours around the island but does not benefit the economy of the town. People who can afford to travel to the island are likely to be able to stay at this luxurious hotel, where they live separated from the rest of town.  Few backpackers end up on the island.  The region still needs to make some efforts in transport options to make the island and the small town more easily (and affordably) accessible (although from our perspective it would be better if the town stayed peaceful).  

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On our third and final day on the island we had a relaxed morning while waiting for our boat to Ushuaia. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world, whereas Puerto Williams is further south but is only a town. It was established in the 1950s, and it is the capital of the Cape Horn area (and, technically, the capital of Chilean Antarctica). As we learnt that afternoon, weather conditions are also a reason for the isolation of the island. The waves and wind we faced were probably nothing compared to those which may rise in the winter but rising and falling dramatically on large waves was enough of a thrill for us, especially when smoke started coming out of the motor.  The captain eventually gave up trying to fight his way into the teeth of the weather and turned back towards the shore of Isla Navarino.  There we could proceed westwards in more sheltered water before cutting directly across to Ushuaia (with rather than against the waves).  We finally made it to Ushuaia with only a slight delay.