I arrived two days before the Explorer’s scheduled departure from Ushuaia. Located on the Beagle Channel and billed as the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, Argentina, 2,000 miles south of Buenos Aires, is the capital of Tierra del Fuego.

Ushuaia was originally established as a penal colony by Argentina modeled after the British and French examples of Australia and Devil’s Island. In 1882 the president was fearful that neighboring Chile would contest sovereignty of Tierra del Fuego so ordered the establishment of a penal colony. From 1902 to 1947 the Bahia Golondrina (now a museum) held the most hardened criminals in South America.

On the first day in Ushuaia I toured the downtown first taking in the End of the World Museum. The display that caught my attention was of the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego. After viewing the images of the indigenous people I began to understand the origin of the name, Land of Fire. Ferdinand Magellan named the place for all the fires he saw from his ship, thinking they were the Indians waiting to ambush him.

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I watched as the magma found its way down the side of Kilauea to the sea igniting trees like match sticks. The flight gave me a sense of the scale and power but I felt removed, not a part of it. I wanted to be closer.

On my second visit I received permission from the Park Service to walk across the Kalapana Field escorted by a park ranger. This time I could feel the heat of the magma just below my feet. We hiked across the crusted lava field created by the cooled magma. There was still magma flowing in tunnels, lots of it.

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Beijing, China 18 June 2008

Yesterday, I arrived in Beijing from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia having just crossed the country from Dalanzadgad to Huvsgul Lake.

On Craig’s List, I had found Steve Klein [golden.2004[at]hotmail.com] offering walking tours along less traveled portions of The Great Wall of China. We exchanged emails and phone calls while I was in Mongolia and agreed that he would pick me up at my hotel at 7:00 a.m. on 18 June.

The weather forecast was optimistic, but in reality the weather could not have been worse. It was foggy, smoggy, and I, after a two week odyssey bouncing around in an SUV across Mongolia, was groggy. It was not an ideal day for photography. As we drove 90 miles northeast of Beijing near the city of Miyun we became acquainted, exchanging our stories of how we both ended up in Asia.

Steve is a Canadian from British Colombia and is married to Rebecca, whom he met in BC. She is from Beijing. They have a four- year old son, and moved here three years ago to give their son an opportunity to experience both of his cultural heritages.

Here is the entire article Walking The Wall, The Great Wall That is, hope you enjoy the story.

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