Ushuaia

We debarked early in Ushuaia to get our tickets for the Train at the End of the World. A bus took us to the train station where we squeezed into our “First Class” seats – which entitled us to a glass of wine and airplane-style ham and cheese sandwiches. Argentina built a prison in Ushuaia in the early years of the 20th century as a way to maintain a presence in the inhospitable southern reaches of their territory. The prisoners (the worst repeat offenders) provided the labor to construct the prison and the train was built to carry them out into the mountain side where they cut down enough timber to leave behind what is still called the “tree cemetery”. 
We made a stop to see a small water fall, then another to turn around – detaching the engine from the front of the train and hooking it up to the rear for the return trip.
The bus was waiting to carry us back to town where we went straight to La Estancia for “all-you-can-eat” lamb cooked Patagonian style over an open fire. Delicious, but we probably overdid it a bit.

As it was Monday of Carnival not all the stores in town were open, but most of the tourist shops seemed to be. We walked up and down the main street and bought chocolates, cheeses, marmalades, mustards and other goodies, then headed back to the ship. We were most fortunate with the weather which was sunny all day – without the unpredictable changes which everyone had warned us about.
That night at dinner they offered – lamb – which we couldn’t really face again, so flounder was a much more popular choice.