Sunday, April 5, 2009

Ushuaia by Night

I have been limiting my time spent on reading/writing blog articles to about once or twice a week, because it was getting out of control! So though I may not read/comment on your posts at once, I will get to it once a week.

In my previous post I had written a little bit about Ushuaia - the city at the End of the World. It was nice to see your interest in my travel stories.

We visited Argentina in the summer (Dec-Jan), and since Ushuaia's latitude is 54 degrees south, we had sunlight until almost 11pm every day! It was wonderful to have the loooong days, because we could fit so much into each day, and then have time for even more before we had to get to bed.

For local kids of course, this is incredible because they can play outside for that much longer. As we were walking to our room at around 10:30 pm one night, we saw boys playing soccer in a field, and stopped for a bit to watch them. The setting was so idyllic, with the mountains surrounding us.



Jude had asked about Ushuaia's economy. The city does get a large part of its revenue through tourism. But there is also livestock farming, fishing, lumbering (yes - from the lovely old growth forests of Tierra del Fuego), and eletronic goods firms. So while food is expensive here, electronic goods are pretty cheap - we didn't try to buy any, but read about this somewhere.

One evening we set out with my tripod, to take some night pictures of the pier in the city. It is a spectacular location for night shots, since the pier is surrounded by snow capped mountains. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day, but you can imagine how amazing it would be to have a full moon in the sky casting its reflection in the water as well ...



This bright red boat kept moving and I had to wait to get it in the position I wanted for this picture.


The pier in Ushuaia comes alive at night, with twinkling lights from the city and the matching lights from the boats that softly bob on the waters.



It was almost midnight before we had darkness, and by then the streets near the pier were pretty empty. The sky was very overcast, as you can see in the previous picture. Since we were there for just about five days, and it was raining on and off most of the time, we had to made do with the weather we had for these pictures.



From Ushuaia, we went on a few interesting day trips. The best day was spent hiking in Tierra del Fuego national park - the southernmost in the world. We also went on a day cruise on the Beagle Channel to see the penguins and sealions there, and a visit to the Haberton Farm which was truly idyllic. More on these trips in later posts ...

Hope you enjoyed the Spring weather over the weekend.

22 comments:

ArtSparker said...

Reflections mystify me. Beautiful shots. I know what you mean about getting control of the blogging/blog visiting habit.

Vamsee Modugula said...

Beautiful night shots. I remember wanting to take night shots in Alaska, but could never stay up for it to fall dark. The town is very beautiful and more so in your images.

I love how your posts are informative and great to read. I understand about blogging being addictive. I am also cutting down on the time I spend writing and reading.

Jude said...

Yes, it does get on top of you....
but one thing leads to another.

Shalini said...

Very interesting reading! The photos are so beautiful too.

I agree, blog reading and writing is best if done to a schedule....else it overtakes one's life.

Blu said...

Hi Bindu, so much to do and not enough time!!

Love the night shots, I have a tripod and havnt played with it yet, I must put that on my list of things to do!

Raph G. Neckmann said...

I love these night photos, Bindu! Beautiful.

I've had to ration my blogging time too - it's addictive, isn't it!

ArtPropelled said...

Ushuaia pier by night....spectacular! I love to see twinkling city lights reflected in water.
I also understand about blog reading and writing getting out of hand.....and it's still out of hand...but I'm addicted.

LadyFi said...

I love reflections - you've caught them beautifully! Stunning pictures.

3rdEyeMuse said...

oh! it was definitely worth the wait for an un-rainy moment - even with it being overcast, those night shots are incredible! ... love that you waited for the red boat, too ... glad you did. :)

Chris Daly said...

Bindu, Your evening photos are beautiful!

I've done a similar thing with my blog reading. I follow way too many blogs and I still add more. I've set aside a few times a week to write and read.

GMG said...

Hi Bindu! These shots are excellent; furthermore at night, which is my photo nightmare time... ;)
I should have already made the lands of «Fin del Mundo». One day! ;)

Blogtrotter is showing you Brasilia. Enjoy and have a great long Easter weekend!

meb said...

Fascinating pictures. The ones of the night shots are so beautiful, casting the lights upon the water. Thanks so much for taking me on your trip. Loved it!

Unknown said...

Yes, I relate to the blog reading and visiting thing. I, too, have begun to cut back, and just allow myself this guilty pleasure every now and then. I find that I miss my blogger friends!

I am so glad to have been here, visiting Ushuaia with you. Those photos of lights on the water, and also the flowers in your previous post are simply divine!

Unknown said...

Beautiful set of images Bindu. The lighting, the reflections are so cool.

Leanne Pizio said...

Beautiful pictures. I love this post and can't believe I missed the last post. Can't wait to get down the page and read about those lovely flowers.

I am addicted to the blog world as well.....I have started to limit my time on the net but am failing at keeping it up. I seem to not be able to help myself:)

author_number_2 said...

beautiful shots. loved them all.

Sekhar said...

ya me too :)

~vagabond~ said...

Beautiful, beautiful photos. I've enjoyed seeing more of Ushuaia through your posts. You are trying to spend less time blogging and I wish I had more time to blog.

Shayla said...

The pier looks magical. I've never seen the mountains. Aren't they dramatic looking in this photo.

GMG said...

Hi Bindu! Another hectic week after the Easter break... Look forward to seeing new posts here!
Meanwhile Blogtrotter has finished posting on Brasilia 2008. Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Mridula said...

Amazingly beautiful sceneary Bindu! The places you go!

Sydney said...

Darn it Bindu -- I am following you rblog but never get the updates. I don't know what that's about. I'm sorry I haven't been commenting. I will try to reload your site or just get back in the habit --that I quickly got out of when Blogger gave us this following ability, spoiled me-- of checking manually. I'm sorry to be out of touch!

Also, would love to chat if you feel comfortable giving me a shout at NwYrkRock@aol.com