Why is this remote corner actually called Patagonia? It means ‘Land of the Bigfeet,’ and like many names, it originated from a misunderstanding.
Ferdinand Magellan set foot here on October 21, 1520. He found enormous footprints and concluded that this must be the land of the big-footed people. What he didn’t know was that the indigenous people, the Tehuelche Indians, wrapped guanaco skins around their feet, leaving behind those massive footprints.
The southernmost tip of Patagonia is Tierra del Fuego, an island separated from the rest of the South American mainland by the Strait of Magellan. The name Tierra del Fuego was also Magellan’s invention. He saw clouds of smoke from indigenous campfires everywhere. They wore no clothes but kept warm in the piercing cold by the fires, which they even lit in their canoes.
Tierra del Fuego consists mostly of wilderness, rainforest, glaciers, fjords, mountain peaks, and marshes. There is hardly any infrastructure, let alone inhabitants. Our guest Hub is under the impression that he’ll still be able to find a Mars bar somewhere in the bays where we’ll anchor. And he tells us that if he goes for a hike, he’ll just call or text us if he gets lost or wants to be picked up. We’d better not let him head out on his own.
