Ushuaia and FINALLY getting on the ship!

Last night in Buenos Aires ended back at Mirasol with the lovely wine and steaks and a walk home. Packing and bed by 10:30 or 11, and up at 2:45. We got dressed and headed to a 3am breakfast and a chat with a few new people on Ioffe. Quick snack, then go get luggage and get on the bus. A few over-exuberant travelers offered some suggestions, so we nervously confirmed that we were in the right place and off we went. Each bus we’ve been on has had an English speaking guide to tell us a few things and answer questions. Erika was today’s and she was very helpful. We arrived at the airport, collect our luggage off the bus in chaos and line up in front of #10 check in counter as we were told. The line is out the door. After 10-15 minutes, they tell us to spread out to 8, 9, & 10. Still no agents but the lines are more reasonable. Then line 4 opens and half the people move over, then shortly after, 8, 9, & 10 open and of course, mad chaos from this line to that line and oh my and it’s now 4:45 and the first flight is at 5:30. Anyway, we finish with that finally and head to the caja line (cashier line as we learned at the Buquebus boat station.) to pay the overage in the luggage weight (you’re only allowed 15 kilos which isn’t enough to go to Antarctica. Heck, my boots alone probably weight more than 15 kilos!) So line #2 down and we head upstairs to the 3rd line, security. We wait there for a really long time talking to Frances, a recent graduate in hotel & restaurant management and current concierge at the Bellagio in Vegas. 22 years old, cute, confident, intelligent. He is probably doing veeeeery well! Finally we get through at 5:15 and sit and wait for out 6:20 flight. 4 ½ hour flight to Ushuaia crushed in an inexplicably close seats on Aerolinas Argentinas. I haven’t been in a seat that small in longer than I can remember, but I slept for at least 2 hours. I’m glad I brought my special little pillow.

Suddenly we’re about to land. We watch the mountains and islands and water as we’re coming in for a landing and it’s really beautiful! There’s a striking tree line on the hills that we determine is due to the steepness and how nothing can set itself in the steep sides of the mountains. We land and head into Ushuaia on a bus and Sol, the tour guide tells us to meet back at 4pm to get on the boat. It’s 10:45 and we’re all very eager to get on the boat and get the adventure started but off we go to make the most of the day. We stopped at the tourist station and Antarctica post where we got special stamps in our passports.



60,000 people live in Ushuaia. 100,000 people come through as tourists, 60,000 of them are on cruises and 30,000 are heading for Antarctica. 93% of the tourism that goes to Antarctica departs from Ushuaia. Needless to say, the tourist business and souvenir shops are booming. So much crap to buy, most of it with penguins on it. So we hit a few shops, send some postcards and decide we’ll go up to the glacier after lunch. 11:30, cafes and restaurants are closed to we head to the Maritime and prison museum to check it out. After seeing the $33 pesos price of admission ($11 US) we decided to look at the outside of the building. We went to a little café and had a beer and a hamburger (with cheese, egg, ham, lettuce, tomato and hearts of palm, oh my) and jump in a cab to head up to the chair life to see the glacier up close.



Apparently the glacier has been shrinking every year and it’s not at all what I expected. It’s just a bit of snow on the mountain, not some huge moving mass of snow and ice, but we’re promised views more impressive than the glacier, so we head up in a cab. ½ way up, I start to be a little concerned about finding a cab to take us back down when we’re done. I voiced this to dad and it was apparently on his mind too, so he bargained with the cabbie to wait 15 minutes, then take us back. We’d skip the lift, enjoy the view, and take some pictures.



We did all that, the cabbie returns a little late and we head back into town. We did see the hotel we’ll stay in on out way back and it seems nice, with amazing views of the city and harbor and water and islands. Back to the city we have 2 ½ hours to kill. We’ve eaten, seen the views and shopped and walked around this tiny town. Now we’re in time killing mode. We went to a museum recommended by my guidebook on natives in the area and found it very interesting. Few fact….the were always nude besides the loin cloth worn by the women because the climate is so wet and their homes leaked so much that they were never dry, so they had fires with them all the time, even in their bark canoes. (hence the name Tierra Del Fuego) and in their huts that they build for 2-3 days in 1-2 hours and they spread seal or whale grease all over themselves to stay warn. They were eventually wiped out by white man’s diseases. Anyway, interesting way to burn some time. All I want at this point is to get on the boat. The water is RIGHT THERE. The boat is RIGHT THERE, we’re all there so let’s go. Nope, 1 ½ hours more. We get our gifts for our Russian hosts and the research station and hit a bar to pee, relax with a drink for the last bit of time. I got a Mojito in honor of my favorite training buddy Laurie, but they make a Mojito a bit differently here.



Still rum and mint and lime juice, but they use bitters instead of sugar and they line the rim of the glass with salt! Quite a rude awakening for me. It tasted like sea water. I put 3 packets of sugar in it and it was better. I ended up running to the pharmacy to grab some last minute supplies.

Then….IT WAS TIME TO GET ON THE BOAT!!! So we lined up again for a pitiful security check at the Puerta (did they even look at the x-ray monitor? Same as our trip to Colonia!) We walked down the pier to get on the ship. Pictures with the boat, with spouse, on the gang-way, etc.



Up the gangway to check in, find out cabin (401) move in, situate everything and go to look around. There’s a sauna, conference room, library, bigger rooms than ours, etc. We reunited with Karin and Anders. They were on the 5:30 flight and oddly enough we didn’t see them all day in that tiny town. 5:30, time for the 1st briefing in the dining room! Quick messages on safety and schedule and the boat then off to find the bar. 6:30 we cast off. Everyone is out on the deck taking picture and very excited!!

We’re actually on our way to Antarctica. We took a batch of photos, talked to our shipmates then it was time for the lifeboat drill. 100+ people in life vests, crammed onto the small foredeck by the lifeboats.



Quite a sight. Oh, and we’d already put on our seasickness patches. So that all done, it’s time for dinner. We sat with a lovely new bunch of people (and K&A) wine, steak, great creamy mustard soup (weird!?! But very very delicious) chocolate ice cream and more chatting. Back on deck for a bit more observation before total darkness. Now to bed.



It’s a very small cabin, it’s a smallish boat but I think we’ll all have a lovely time. The Drake Passage is the big talk right now. “roughest seas in the world"…"Everyone gets seasick” etc. We’ll hit that around 1 or 2am tomorrow, but for now, I sleep...On the way to Antarctica!!!! Yippeeeee!