At the end of the world

Chris and I have been in Ushuaia, Argentina since Saturday. They call it Fin del Mundo (end of the world) because it is the southernmost city in the world. I think Fin del Mundo means End of the Internet. We are sitting on several posts and hundreds of photos that we want to upload to this site, but wifi is not working anywhere. I am currently in an intenet cafe with the slllloooooowest connection ever. So when we finally get somewhere with a decent connection, please expect a ton of posts and pics.

In the meantime, I´ll try and fill you in as best I can. We were supposed to get to Ushuaia Friday night but our airline was striking. Aerolineas Argentinas is infamous down here for being an awful airline, but they´re pretty much the only airline and the government keeps giving them money and prohibiting any competition so they´re still the only airline. They put us up in a hotel in Rio Gallegos (which was nice) and we even had our own bathroom, a first since staying with Mara in Rio. It´s such a treat not to shower with flip flops on. The flight left the following morning (a few hours delayed) and then we arrived to Ushuaia.

It´s very pretty down here. The town is in harbor, in the Beagle Channel. The Pacific Ocean is to the right, the Atlantic to the left, with Cape Horn over some mountains to the right. Lots to nature things to do here and of course, lots of boats to Antarctica. We came here with the intention of cruising to Antarctica last minute but the last minute deals were still too expensive. The cheapest that is available for a 10 day cruise with stops along the Antarctic peninsula, is $4000 US per person. That is almost half of our budget, so we just couldn´t do it. It´s a bummer, and $4000 will probably be the cheapest cruise to Antarctica I will ever see in my life, but still not cheap enough.

While we´ve been here, we gone into full tourist mode. We hiked a trail in the national park along some lakes. We went on a 4x4 trip through the mountains and lakes, and today, we went on a three hour boat tour through the Beagle Channel, complete with sea lions, birds, penguins, and free hot chocolate and beer. Chris has written in depth about the first two trips, so hopefully we can post that soon. Stupid wifi. I liked the boat trip today. It was cold on the water, but the environmental restrictions here aren´t all that strict so we got to get really close to all of the wildlife and tromp all over an island. That was fun. And this trip was the cheap one and didn´t go to the island with the penguins on it, but on our way back, we saw lots of them swimming in the channel looking for fish. I told Chris I can now buy some sort of penguin souvenir that clogs the stores here because I actually saw a penguin up close. Maybe I´ll strap a big stuffed one to my backpack, but probably not.

We tried to book a scuba trip with dry suits for the Beagle Channel, but it ended up costing even more than it does to dive in Hawaii, so we skipped it. I think we´ll try and get back north on the coast to Argentina to a town called Puerto Madryn that is known for diving. They still have penguins up there but it is a lot warmer.

We sat down last night and mapped out the next 6 cities we want to visit and have a bit of a plan. On Friday morning, we are taking a 12 hour bus ride to Puerto Natales, Chile. It´s just north of Punta Arenas, Chile and still in Patagonia. There is a huge glacier there, and then we´ll continue on to El Calafate, Argentina which is near their galcier national park. Lots of nature in my future. Hmph.

Our hostel in Ushuaia is called La Posta and it´s a good one. Very clean and quiet with several kitchens. I´ve been making dinner the past few nights to cut down on costs and to give us a break from Ham Fest 2008. People say Argentina is known for beef, but I think it really goes ham, cheese, sugar, and then beef. Breakfast always consists of sugary pastries with carmel in the middle, some sort of sugar based cracker, and tea with sugar. Lunch and dinner are variations of ham and cheese, with the occasional egg thrown in. I´m glad I´m not eating vegetarian right now because it would be frustrating.

Speaking of eating, I´ve managed to do it too much and not work out and I am getting out of shape... to put it nicely. Last night I started doing some basic exercises, and hopefully I keep up with it because I don´t want to go back to the states 50 pounds heavier.

Anyway, that´s my update. You´ll get hit with a bunch of entries and photos when we get back to a place with a better internet connection. I´m sorry you have to wait a bit for the pictures because it really is stunning out here.