Day 9: Conquering Cape Horn

We've made it all the way down to Tierra del Fuego. For those of you who are geographically challenged, the "Land of Fire" is a group of islands separated from the southernmost tip of South America by the Strait of Magellan.

The very very bottom of this southernmost point is Cape Horn, and that was our destination bright and early at 7 a.m.

The Cape Horn Memorial honors all the sailors who have died while attempting to navigate around the Horn.

The other sights at Cape Horn included a lighthouse and a chapel.

We climbed 160 steps to get to this point.

Back on the boat, I captured how ridiculous Mr. Monkey is when it comes to attire on the boat. Please recall that we were at the southernmost tip of South America. It's glacier country, people.

Rounding Cape Horn was a really big deal because weather usually does not permit passage. Often, high winds make the water too choppy and dangerous to do so, but we did it! Our captain informed us that we were the sixth out of sixty-six expeditions by this particular ship to be able to round Cape Horn.

Our naturalists were really excited and came to the upper deck to take measurements.

Before our afternoon excursion to Wulaia Bay, I attended a culinary demonstration by our ship's head chef. Now I know how to make salmon ceviche.

The chef showed us that the same dish can be plated many ways.

After sampling the refreshing ceviche, I joined Mr. Monkey for a hike at Wulaia Bay. It was hot! Mr. Monkey wore shorts! Some French people kept pointing and giggling at the beginning of our hike. But, by the end of the hike, we were all sweaty, and those French people weren't laughing anymore and were probably wishing they had shorts on, too.

When we came down the mountain, Mr. Monkey crawled into a traditional wigwam of the Yámana, the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego. There is only one Yámana woman still living today.

And there was the liquid reward for finishing the hike again.*

*Not a traditional Yámana treat.