Ushuaia, another meeting point for sailors : Tristan, Chief Mate of the “Le Lyrial”, Federico and Laura, met in Piriapolis 4 years ago, and many others….It’s difficult to imagine Ushuaia in Bridges’time in this turistic hot spot, the jail of Radoviztky now hosts a museum and artists and it’s only in the Estancia Harberton and the bahia Cambaceres that we will feel the atmosphere of “Uttermost part of the earth” from Lucas Bridges. Places of magic, the montains to the North, the plains, the woods full of wild horses, foxes, geese, caranchos, the pinguins of Isla Martillo to the South, a complete world where you expect to meet Onas indians in theirr huts or Lucas in his cabin.Thomas Bridges’ heirs still live in the estancia, and if the sheep and his wool are things of the past, remains the sheds, the workshops, Amalia, the whale boat built by Despar, the yaghan dictionary of Thomas Bridges, so often misappropriated, if not stolen, and a museum which we visit under the conduct of young and enthusiastic students.
The wind push us, a night in Buen Suceso, bleak anchorage facing the Strait of Le Maire, then Staten Islands, well guarded by violent currents. We will stay a week in Puerto Hopner, cut from the world in this wonderfull shelter, admiring the condors flights, watching for the clutch of steaming ducks, listening the song of cascades, before heading for other mythical islands, coveted, disputed, the Falkland.
