Chilean Tierra del Fuego has a population of 7000, most of whom live in the small town of Porvenir – the only town on the Chilean half of the main island. Founded in 1894 during the gold boom, when many people came seeking fortunes from Croatia and Chiloe, Porvenir is a quiet place with a wide open pioneer feel, streets of neat brightly painted houses of corrugated zinc, and quaint tall domed trees lining the main avenue. There is a small museum, the Museo Fernando Cordero Rusque (Samuel Valdivieso 402, daily 0900-1800) with archaeological and photographic displays on the Onas; and good displays on natural history and the early gold diggers and sheep farmers. There’s little else to do here, but you could stroll around the plaza, with its Iglesia San Francisco de Sales, and down to the shoreside promenade, where there’s a strange collection of 19th-century farm machinery, and a striking wooden monument to the Selknam.
There’s a tourist information office (Padre Mario Zavattaro No 424, T/F061-580098, http://www.patagonia-chile.com, http://www.porvenir-chile.cl) but the tiny kiosk on the waterfront is more helpful and it also sells handicrafts.
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