Everyone who visits the Antarctic Peninsula returns via Argentina, cruising up the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia, which bills itself as the "Southernmost City on Earth". Ushuaia is located in an area generally known as Patagonia. It is in Argentina's most southern province, Tierra del Fuego -- the "Land of Fire."

The Orient Line's cruise ship Marco Polo, our floating home for a month, carried us to Ushuaia -- the final port on our long and varied cruise. We began the cruise in the Caribbean, passed through the ... (more)