We got up early on Saturday morning to catch our flight South. Our driver was supposed to pick us up at 6:30. At 6:40 Wimon called our driver, to see where he was and he said he was on his way. We were already with our stuff outside CasaACU. When our driver finally showed up, he confessed to Wimon waking him up when he called. But he was really friendly, and got us to the airport in plenty of time, although not quite as early as we had planned.
We managed to get checked in and made it through security, although Wimon did not make it through with his yerba mate. For future reference, the security in the Montevideo in theory will not let you take any foodstuffs through, not granola bars, not alfajores, not yerba... sometimes people can get stuff through, but if you want to be sure you have it, check it. We then flew to Buenos Aires where we switched planes and of course had to wait on delayed planes. Oh one funny thing that happened... all the planes we had to go up steps to get to the plane. Because Amber was on crutches, they made alternate arrangements. Because I was carrying her backpack, I got to go up with her. We got to ride in a lift truck that is what they use to load the food on and stuff.
After a long flight with a stop in some town, we finally made it to Ushuaia in El Tierro del Fuego. Ushuaia is a town surrounded by mountains which claims to be the Southern Most City in the world. Technically Port William, Chile is further South, but apparently nobody counts it. After getting our first views of Ushuaia, we picked up our rental cars and headed to our hostel. After getting checked-in, we headed to the grocery store. By this point it had started raining, which amazingly enough it was the only real rain we had all week. The Walkers had an apartment, so we gathered there for dinner every night.
Sunday was beautiful and we got our first real views of the city. Its a quaint little city and very beautiful. Our activity of the day was a boat tour of the Beagle Channel and while the weather was a bit cold, it couldn't have been more beautiful.
Our first stop was an island of cormorants. The are black and white like penguins. But don't be tricked... they fly! Cheaters!
Nearby was an island of sealions... which is Spanish is los lobos del mar (wolves of the sea... I love that name.) The big one in the center of this picture is the male. You can see his mane. We happened to be standing near one of the guides, and she says, "Get ready we are about to go down wind." We just looked at her... then all of a sudden the smell hit us. Yikes! :)
We then went past the Southern Most lighthouse. (There's a whole lot of Southern Most going on the area.)
It really was a gorgeous day. I have hundreds of mountain pictures, but this one does show how blue the water was.
We then got to go to an island of penguins. They were so fun to watch. There were three species there that day... but I must confess to remembering none of the names.
After dropping most of the passengers off at an estancia, we headed back. It was still beautiful although because we were going into the wind it was even colder. (The boat was really nice and had an indoor well heated part that we could go into when we got too cold.) We got to visit with a couple of bundled Brazilians, they were a father and son pair on vacation. The above picture is signficant in a few ways... That's Chile over there, the boat is from Chile, and the water is so blue.
After 5 fantastic hours of the boat tour we headed back into Ushuaia. This picture does a good job of showing how it is nestled between the mountains and the channel.
When we got in we were ready to eat lunch. But it turns out that all the restaurants are closed from 3 to 6 or 7. So we headed back to the hostel and ate sandwiches in the Walkers apartment. After taking long naps, we headed back into town at sunset to eat at a nice restaurant so that some of our group could king crab, which by the way was much more expensive in Ushuaia where it is readily available then in Texas... hmm.... They assured me it was good though.
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