TIERRA DEL FUEGO

After "sleeping in" and having a late breakfast, we packed up for a visit to Tierra Del Fuego National Park. Since it is summer here and the start of a national holiday, people were arriving to camp and hike and enjoy this large area boarding Chile. Steve and I ventured on a short hike by the beach, and kept saying how much the area reminded us of home, in the winter. It was cloudy, cool, raining off and on, very green, with many islands dotting the Strait. The mountains in the area even looked like the Olympics! So we felt right at home, while all people from the south were so bundled up,they looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy. People, it's 45 degrees!
Last night while my friend, Ulrika from Germany, and I were bonding over some glasses of wine in the hotel lounge, some of the others in our group had discovered another gastronomical treasure of this land at the end of the earth. KING CRAB. FRESH. LIVE. BIG. CHEAP! I couldn't remember the Spanish word for crab, so when I saw it written all over town, It didn't register. Basically, one would enter a restaurant, and select your own live enormous crab from the enormous tank and while your little seafood buddy was being "dispatched", you were sipping a pisco sour or wine and snacks and waiting for the most succulent crab legs ever. About 21 dollars US! We missed out, and were bummed.
Late in the afternoon, we boarded the Chilean Ship, Australis, which, with all passengers AND crew, were about 80 of us ready for 4 days of cruising through the many channels, inlets and the Atlantic AND Pacific Ocean. We were welcomed by the Captain and crew with drinks and yummies, and ended by dining late in the dinning room on...........yes! King Crab apps, and the best Argentine Wines. Unlike other ships, this one is truly all inclusive, with a full bar opened, and any and all tours included. They said, it was because this was an "adventure, NOT, a cruise. How right they were........