From our balcony in Santiago we can almost see the Argentinian border, but somehow we never made it across. Now we are finally there, ...coming from the back of beyond :-)
At first glance, Ushuaia seems like a regular little town. But we soon discovered that we had arrived at some sort of Antarctic propaganda outpost. Argentina is staging its territorial claims here. It starts with a prominent information board right at the ship docks, informing visitors about the "illegal" British occupation of the Malvinas, aka Falkland Islands. Flags "celebrate" the 30th anniversary of Ushuaia as the Malvinas' capital. The main road to the airport is called "Argentina Malvinas" and coincidentally it passes by their brand new Malvinas square. And if the Malvinas conflict with Britain wasn't enough trouble, Argentina also claims the exact same piece of the Antarctic Peninsula that Chile pretends to own. I truly hope they will never find oil down there...
At first glance, Ushuaia seems like a regular little town. But we soon discovered that we had arrived at some sort of Antarctic propaganda outpost. Argentina is staging its territorial claims here. It starts with a prominent information board right at the ship docks, informing visitors about the "illegal" British occupation of the Malvinas, aka Falkland Islands. Flags "celebrate" the 30th anniversary of Ushuaia as the Malvinas' capital. The main road to the airport is called "Argentina Malvinas" and coincidentally it passes by their brand new Malvinas square. And if the Malvinas conflict with Britain wasn't enough trouble, Argentina also claims the exact same piece of the Antarctic Peninsula that Chile pretends to own. I truly hope they will never find oil down there...
