Final Days in South America

The Beagle channel lies before us and we are being boarded by our Argentian Pilot who will take us in to port, Ushuaia. We cruised slowly through the channel, Dusky Dolphins and Peale's Dolphins riding our bow waves, Magellanic Penguins swimming about (the 5th species we've seen this trip) and of course, the majestic Albatross seeing us in. Docking in Ushuaia was a little nerve racking, all of us hanging over the gunwales watching the captain back in and parallel park this big ship. We docked in the evening and were allowed to exit the ship for a night of pub crawling. We ventured into the small, active little town and I bought some of the crew drinks. Arlene was the last to stagger home down the dock in the wee hours. That shouldn't surprise any of us.

The next morning we were awakened bright and early by our expedition leader's voice for the last time. We were supposed to have been awake earlier but our alarm didn't go off. After boarding our buses we toured the Ushuaia prison, shopped in town for "end of the world" chocolate (which is very yummy and I didn't bring any home for any of you, just us), and then went up in the slopes of the Andes for a nice lunch (our last in Argentina). As we headed to the airport for our trip to Santiago I could see our ship in the distance. I was saddened to leave her and jealous of whomever was going to get our cabin. That was my cabin and I wasn't all that keen on giving it up.

The next 36 hours are somewhat of a haze. Dinner in Santiago at Azul Profundo (Deep Blue in spanish), overnighting at this crappy airport hotel Diego de Almagro, then two tortuous, long Copa Airline flights ending at 1:30 Monday morning. It's a shame the trip ended on such a low note with a surly flight crew and a two hour wait for the baggage.

Transition Day -- Ushuaia, Argentina

Today was an early day. A 500am wakeup call (sorry, I do not know where the colon is on these keyboards). We left the hotel @ 6am and on to the Santiago airport. We will fly ona charter flight to Punta Arenas (the southern most part of Chile), clear customs, then continue the flight to Ushuaia. Ushuaia(pronounced [u'swaja]) is the capital of the Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, and claims to be the world's southernmost city (see discussion below). It is located on the southern coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego in a wide bay, guarded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. Its population in 1999 was estimated at 57,300. In my opinion it has grown up around the lucrative tourist trade that caters to the cruises that depart to Antarctica from here. That means, of course, that it is a short working season for some people.

After all this travelling we are supposed to board a catamaran to explore the Straits of Magellan throughout Tierra del Fuego. Wish us luck. Thus far we have met many nice people on the trip. There are of course, the usual people, the bitch, the whiner, the person that hogs the guide, you know, the usual tour takers. But all in all, we are happy thus far.

Funny story, going thru the agricultural inspection station here in Chile our bags were scanned and of course, we were stopped. Dena and I had a significant amount of snackies some being dried fruits, and trail mix. The fruit was definitely confiscated but I lobbyed hard for keeping the nuts. I convinced them by encouraging them to taste them. They took several nuts out of the bag and because there was salt on them they were approved for entry. whew! Snacks were saved.

On another note, no one wants US Dollars. They want their own currency because the US Dollar is in the shitter. This is such a change from past years when the dollar was strong. It´s odd being in that position that no one wants your money.