Passing Through South America

To get to Antarctica, we needed to travel the length of South America. We began in Santiago, in the heat of early summer. Rimmed by the rocky peaks of the Andes, Ammi mused on returning in winter to ski. In the Mercado Central we ate pulpo—thick slices of octopus sautéed with narrow slivers of red pepper, and slurped a bowl of baby eels out of a scorching iron pot. We wandered the vibrant streets of the Bellavista neighborhood before winding up the road to La Chascona, the city refuge Pablo Neruda shared with his third wife Matilde. Neruda’s casa is playful and surreal; a gutted television functions as a diorama for silverware, a pair of comically oversized men’s shoes decorates the barroom.

Down at the end—or the beginning, of the continent is Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire. Magellan named it from the many fires of the local Yamana tribe while circumnavigating South America in the Sixteenth Century. Ushuaia is on an island nestled in this Patagonia region of South America, and separated from the rest of Argentina by the Andes. This grand mountain range extends from tip to toe of the continent and continues again in Antarctica. A length of knitting that picks up again after a dropped stitch. The vistas of Ushuaia are jaw-droppingly beautiful. Long Channels of water run along chains of mountains, like bony fingers extending into the sea. Nothing here is familiar. The forests are Beech, peat bogs dot the landscape, the birds fly North for the winter.

We were excited to get right on the ship and set off for Antarctica, but instead boarded a catamaran to cruise the fjords of Tierra del Fuego. The unusual landscape and piles of sea lions quickly transformed our stymied feelings into ones of awe. This is the first lesson of Antarctica. It isn’t direct, and you cannot move quickly over the great distance to get to your destination. You must pass through many places to get to Antarctica, and that journey is essential to the voyage.