Mrs. Ruchi Ghanashyam is the former High Commissioner of India to the UK. With a career in Indian Foreign Service for over 38 years, she has been posted in many countries including South Africa, Ghana, before arriving in the UK. She was only the second woman High Commissioner to the UK since India’s independence and during her tenure, she witnessed a number of significant developments in the UK-India relations.
Despite a life spent moving from one part of the world to the other, we had not really been to South America. My only trip south of the USA was for a conference to Nicaragua, while my husband had gone for meetings to Mexico. I almost spent a lifetime focussed on the continent when I was allotted Spanish as my compulsory foreign language at the start of my career and posted to Buenos Aires to learn the language. That destiny was not to be, but that’s another story.
As it turned out, South America remained on the edge of my consciousness during my career. Despite knowing of the world famous Machu Picchu in Peru, the continent seemed distant. I did not even dream of travelling to that part of the world. The task seemed so daunting that a visit there did not even figure in my bucket list!
Fortunately, life presented an interesting opportunity and thankfully I grabbed it though it seemed like an insurmountable challenge. In February this year, we joined some friends on what will possibly remain the most epic journey of our lives - a tour of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. The trip also covered Stanley Island, capital of Falkland (Malvinas) Islands. As a result, South America became real and a wondrous place.
One place that I really wanted to explore in South America was the Amazon. The Amazon rainforest, also called Amazon jungle, is a tropical rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin of South America and includes territory of nine nations. The majority of theforest, 60%, is in Brazil. We went to Manaus, a small town on the edge of the rainforest. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and is the largest and most biodiversity tropical rainforest in the world. It affects the health of our planet and the well-being of humanity. It evokes significant global interest, as environmental degradation through deforestation directly impacts climate change and biodiversity loss.
Unfortunately, we did not plan enough time to explore the rainforest, but we did see the waters of the Amazon and Negro rivers. The Amazon River is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world. It’s confluence with the Rio Negro at the Meeting of Waters at Manaus, with the distinctly dark coloured water of the latter, was in itself wonderful! The exploration of the rainforest is done better with overnight visits into the forest rather than day trips as we had planned.
Iguazú or Iguaçu Falls of the Iguazu River on the border of Argentina and Brazil together make up the largest waterfall system in the world. The name Iguazú comes from the indigenous language meaning ‘big water’. About half of the river's flow falls into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese). The Iguazu Falls are arranged like a reversed letter "J". The Argentina–Brazil border runs through the Devil's Throat. Having seen the Niagara Falls in Canada and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the Iguacu falls on both Brazilian and Argentine sides were simply stupendous. With 275 individual falls, the two-step falls, the sheer expanse and the nearness from which one can experience the falls is unique to this natural wonder!
The wonders of nature extend through Argentina to Chile. Just 30 minutes drive from Buenos Aires is the Tigray delta. No one can take a boat ride through this delta, with its thousands of miniature island homes, without wanting to come back for a longer stay.
Further down, in Patagonia, one can visit Ushuaia, the capital of Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. With a population of nearly 80,000 and a location below the 54th parallel south latitude, Ushuaia claims the title of world's southernmost city. At the post office called Fin Del Mundo, or End of the World, one can get a notional passport stamped with penguins and snowflakes. A smaller settlement with less than 3,000 inhabitants, Puerto Williams in Chile, is nearer to the 55th parallel south, as compared to Ushuaia, but is not regarded as a city. Ushuaia, is an administrative center and a tourist hub, with a light industrial port.
Founded on October 12, 1884, by Augusto Lasserre, Ushuaia is located in the wide Bay of Ushuaia, on the southern coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. Ushuaia is roughly 1,100 kilometres (680 mi) from the Antarctic Peninsula and is one of five internationally recognized Antarctic gateway cities.
Ushuaia is truly spectacular. The natural sites are really beautiful with Mother Nature at her best. The lakes, some with almost emerald green water, the mountains overlooking the lakes, fields and forests with mountains in the background, Ushuaia is a photographer’s delight!
One of the joys of travelling in this part of the world is the periodic encounters with penguins. At Stanley Island, capital of Falkland/ Malvinas, we saw these glorious creatures up close at Bertha’s beach. The island has a memorial to those who died in the Falkland War. Adjacent to the memorial is a small bust of Margaret Thatcher, adjoining the Thatcher drive. Almost everything on Stanley Island seems to come from the UK.
Going around the southern tip of South America, one gets to experience the treat of a lifetime travelling through the fjords, glaciers and water channels of Chile. The Amelia glacier spread over 73 square miles is the largest of the 1800 glaciers in Chile. Sailing through the water channels amongst the fjords, one can pass almost within touching distance of this glacier.
Another wondrous sight is the volcano of Osorno, which is almost side by side with another volcano, Calbuco. The 2652m tall Osorno volcano is a conical stratovolcano that looks like Mount Fujiyama of Japan. The majestic Lake Llanquihue provides a beautiful setting for these two volcanoes. Calbuco has another lake adjoining it, the Chapo Lake. The gurgling waters of a set of minor waterfalls provide the right frame for this beautiful spot! The access to this spot from the shore is through the beautiful towns of Puerto Vara and Puerto Montt, passing by the picture postcard, little German town of Fruitillar. While we couldn’t visit all the beauties of Chile, we did manage to drive for hours beyond Santiago through the dry landscape consisting of barren mountains bisected only by a thin stream of river! We also visited the lovely Valparaiso town and saw Nobel Laurette, Pablo Neruda’s house there.
South America is not just a place filled with natural wonders, it is home to lovely cities too. The most beautiful is Rio de Janeiro, a huge seaside city in Brazil, famed for its Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, 38m tall Christ the Redeemer statue atop Mount Corcovado and for Sugarloaf Mountain, a granite peak with cable cars to its summit. The Harbor of Rio de Janeiro is one of the Seven Wonders of Nature. Rio is also known for its sprawling favelas (shanty towns), its raucous Carnival, featuring parade floats, flamboyant costumes and samba dancers. The Rio Carnival is an annual celebration in the Roman Catholic tradition that shows the influence of the African-Brazilian drums and music that became more noticeable from the first half of the 20th century. We were fortunate to see the last day of the Carnival in the famous Sambadrome.
Buenos Aires, with its vast boulevards, parks and open spaces seemed an eminently livable city. We stayed in a charming boutique hotel which had been the home of Eva Peron. The hotel is within walking distance of one of the most unusual cemeteries in the world, the Recoleta Cemetery. It was declared the city’s first official public burial place in 1822 and is completely unlike a normal cemetery, filled with elaborately carved scroll-work and stately pillars that make the place almost magical. It is the burial site of Argentina’s most famous figures, including Evita herself. It’s lively cultural scene, with numerous Tango shows and food are a big attraction too.
São Paulo, Montevideo and Santiago were also lovely cities with good ambience and delicious food.
With this trip, we discovered parts of South America. It is no longer at the edge of our consciousness, neither does it seem so far any more. Really, travel is the best education!
