Ushuaia, Argentina - Day 2

Ushuaia is purported to be southern most city in the world. While there are other groups of people further south than Ushuaia, like Antarctica, this city has all the trappings of a genuine city with a hospital, university, army base, etc. There is one road that connects Ushuaia all the way up through North America and ends in Alaska. On my lake trek we ended our canoeing part of the trip at a sign which says its 17,848 km up to Alaska.

Ushuaia started out as prison city; where Argentina would send their most harden criminals. They have since transformed the prison into the oddest museum that I’ve ever been too. A couple wings of the prison were transformed into the museum with the cells holding the presentations. As cells are usually built to hold one or two people the rooms were obviously small and only one or two people could fit comfortably in each cell at a time.

This museum was a peculiar amalgamation of curios from Ushuaia and the surrounding areas with a rather haphazard approach in presentation. If you asked me what the theme of this museum was, I would have no idea. It’s like the museum curator went door to door and collected antiques from the sheds of the locals. There was a collection of old typewriters, next to stuffed penguins, birds, and other local animals, next to a corporate oil drilling diorama, next to a model collection of sailing boats, next to life sized models of the prison’s most notorious prisoners. And to top it all off there was a fine arts gallery in one wing showcasing Pategonia’s local talent.

The museum was $3 dollars for Argentineans and $15 dollars for foreigners. Perhaps we should make Disneyland $50 dollars for US citizens and $250 for foreigners. Well at least you are allowed to visit the museum over a 48 hour period so I split my trip up over two days since it was getting a bit late and I wanted some dinner.

Ushuaia, Argentina - Day 2