At long last, our southern adventures enter the blogosphere. Here is the first leg of the journey.
Santiago, Chile à
Ushuaia, Argentina: January 29 – March 10.
Tues 1/30. Our adventure began with a long sleepless flight
from Seattle to Santiago, Chile, with a six-hour layover in Atlanta. We arrived
at 8:30 am. After a few errands downtown, we took the metro out to the
Providencia neighborhood where we had an Airbnb reservation with artist
Gianfranco. When we came out of the subway, Google told us to head north. Mike
turned his back to the sun and started walking. I said, “but that’s the wrong
way. We’re supposed go across the river. So it doesn’t make sense...” After a
couple minutes of reflection, I called “Mike! We are in the southern
hemisphere, so the sun is in the north!” He looked momentarily stunned, then
laughed.
We celebrated our arrival with Pisco Sours at a local plaza,
then checked into our room and took a long nap. It was too hot for this
Alaskan.
Wed 1/31. In the morning--still feeling lethargic--we walked
two minutes to La Chascona, Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago. Actually, it was
three structures connected by patios and walkways. Designed for entertaining,
it had bars and tables “everywhere.” Visually, it was very eclectic and
eccentric. Lots of art, books, sculpture and artifacts from all over the world.
Neruda served as a diplomat in several countries and so his collection was very
cosmopolitan. Gianfranco’s house was a bit similar—antiques, books, art and
miscellaneous artifacts—though of course not as developed as Pablo Neruda’s
stuff.
We went out for a lemonade and our energy picked up a notch.
We walked to the National Museum of Fine Arts. It was free and a little
disappointing. The exhibits were mostly artists’ reflections on the
golpe
militar and the era of repression and resistance. The side devoted to contemporary
art was closed for the holidays.
We tried for the 6th time in three days to buy bus tickets
to Buenos Aires online. Multiple problems, but finally it worked.
Unfortunately, when I looked at the tickets, they were both in Mike’s name! I
tried calling the ticket office but couldn’t understand what they said. So we
hopped the metro—problems there too: the card didn’t work and we couldn’t
understand what the agent said when we paid cash—to find the
billteria
for Cata International. When we finally found it, after much searching and
asking for human help, I showed the e-tickets to the agent. She looked us up
and confirmed we really had two tickets and two seats. No problem.
Unfortunately, the seats were not together, and neither was a window seat.
Th 2/1. The next morning we hiked up San Cristobal hill
behind the house. It is a major park with a zoo, a funicular, a gondola, a
statue and shrine at the top, and a view over the city. There were lots of
walkers and runners. We were surprised to see all the irrigation ditches,
sprinklers and crew watering plants by hand.
In the afternoon we took a bus up to Galeria Isabel Annat to
see our host Gianfranco’s video piece. Gianfranco’s niche is long videos of a
natural landscape with no motion, other than moving clouds or running water or
waving grass. The guy at the desk was able to show us 10 more video pieces on
his i-pad, all for sale. There was one in particular I liked, but of course
everything was too expensive.
We tried to go down to the National Library but didn’t get
there. It was rush hour and the busses were crowded—an experience in itself. It
was going on closing time, so we went out for beer and burgers instead. I took
the keys and walked home while Mike wandered further in town. We each on our
own found the GAM art and culture center which was a spectacular building and a
hopping place. Then we spent a quiet evening at “home” cleaning and packing up
to leave tomorrow for Buenos Aires.
Fri 2/2. On the bus, I appealed to a nice young man to
switch seats so I could sit with Mike on the 23-hour ride. The high mountains
were spectacular! And the gnarled, windy road up to the pass was amazing! Stops
for border crossing, food, toilets. Even got a little sleep. The flat lands of
Argentina are pretty boring.
Sat 2/3. Arrived in Buenos Aires at 8:30 in the morning.
First errand: walk with all our backpacks and gear to a shopping center to buy
an Argentine SIM card for my phone since the Chilean SIM didn’t work, despite
what we’d been told, and to a bank to change money. $200 USD was about 200,000
Argentine pesos. We sat down for a very nice egg breakfast at a Belgian
restaurant until it was time for check-in at our Airbnb. Then we had to learn
how to buy a bus and metro card to travel to our new neighborhood, Palermo; a
perpetual learning curve. The apartment was very sterile but the neighborhood
was very nice.
We walked from the apartment to the Museo de Arte Popular
Americano. There was lots of fabric art. We liked the ponchos best. We went to
a cervezeria after, where the Venezuelan waitress told us about the
Venezuelan diaspora in her generation. She is also an actress and has a comedy
coming out on Netflix.
We received news that Mike’s brother Gary had died. Lots of
reflection and sadness, along with the resolution to fly back to Detroit for
the funeral.
Sun 2/4. Spent all Sunday morning trying to get plane
tickets back to Detroit. Delta gave us a bereavement fare, but it wasn’t
cheaper than booking it through Expedia. In the afternoon we went to the
Contemporary Art Museum: it was crappy. The Modern Art Museum next door was
better. We especially liked the exhibition of face/eye/mind charcoal drawings
by Eduardo Basualdo and his room-sized black paper sculpture with human forms
under a lava-flow like landscape. We also liked the cakes in the café.
We continued on toward the port, but were lured away by some
passing musicians. They led us to a major
feria six or eight blocks
long. We detoured through a mercado with antiques, then down Avenida Estados
Unidos in the San Telmo barrio, and finally out to the Puerto Madero. There was
a dragon boat race in progress. We explored the port neighborhood a bit, then
returned back up the hill to the Pinchos Bar where the grill master made a
vegetarian version just for us. All in all, a great day’s outing and not too
hot.
Mon 2/5. Since all the museums were closed, we decided to go
to Tigre for the day. It was two hours by bus and train north to the river
delta. There were lots of holiday tour offerings, but we opted to walk a loop
along the canal and back. It was very hot, but scenic with all the boats and
such. I was feeling a little heat exhaustion, so searched for an ice cream
store with air conditioning. Dave’s
helederia had fabulous maracuja ice
cream! Mike wanted cider, but none of the cervecerias had any. We ended up at
the other train station for the longer but more scenic ride back to Palermo.
Tues 2/6. We walked to the Jardin Botanico. We liked the
exhibition at the officina showing the history of plants on earth.
Unfortunately, the tropical greenhouses were closed. We checked out the yerba
mate and were surprised to see that it is a small, broad-leaved tree. The hot
morning was getting hotter. To stave off heat exhaustion, we continued on to
the air-conditioned Museo de Bellas Artes. It was worth several hours. Of
particular interest was the pre-Columbian pottery and the videos of northwest
Argentina where it was from: a very beautiful landscape and very developed
ceramics.
After the museum, the wind had come up and the temperature
cooled enough that I was game to walk again. Next stop: the Biblioteca
Nacional. OMG, the security protocol was unreal! They checked our passports
twice and issued entrance passes. We went down to the periodical archive. None
were available because the recent ones were being cataloged. There were a few
publications on the open shelves. We sat down and read for an hour on the
history of Argentina: lots of turmoil. Walked back to our neighborhood, stopping
along the way for a glass of Malbec; not our favorite, but the most common in
Argentina.
Wed 2/7. Because we had to check out in the morning and our
flight was not until evening, we went through the ordeal of finding a luggage
storage service. Argh! Done with that, we took a bus to the Museo Historico
Nacional. The bus arrived at the stop at the same time we did, but we were too
distracted to flag it down in time and it left without us. The next scheduled
bus never arrived. We opted for a different bus with a bit longer route but
more frequent service. Enroute, the more direct bus passed us by.
Bus service in BA is generally quite good, but not without
complications. The main avenues have dedicated bus corridors and well-marked
stops. There are lots of buses, so we never had to wait long. But once on the
bus, there is no signage about which stop is which. We had to rely on Google
maps to know when we were arriving at our stop.
We arrived at the museum only to discover that it was closed
due to the heat: the air conditioning was not working. After all that planning
and waiting and complication, I was disappointed. We sat in a lovely little
park and ate our sandwiches and drank our cider. That sidra was the
highlight of the day!
We returned to Plaza de Mayo for more sightseeing. There was
some sort of demonstration going on with a band. We moved on to the Museo de
Buenos Aires, then the Metropolitan Cathedral. Nothing very special other than
the historical note that it was Pope Francis’s domain.
We picked up our luggage to catch the bus to the airport.
But our Sube transit cards didn’t have enough funds. We walked around a long
time looking for a Sube machine that worked. Finally, a transit guy helped us
find one and recharge the cards. It was a lo-o-ong ride to the airport. We
arrived with plenty of time to deal with a new raft of minor complications
getting through migration and the lousy design of the boarding process. All in
all, not a fun day. Too much time hot and sweaty and frustrated and moving
slow.
[Five days in Detroit]
Buenos Aires à
El Chalten à
Ushuaia: February 13-26.
Tue 2/13. Arrived in Ezezia Airport after our overnight
flight from Detroit via Atlanta. Booked into an Airbnb in Barrio Uno,
relatively close to the airport. After a shower and a long nap, we explored the
town—not much to see, but a pleasant enough walk—and ended up at the fanciest
restaurant in town for dinner. The eggplant lasagna and stir-fried veggies were
disappointing.
Wed 2/14. The worst day of all. The bus to town was the slow
one with lots of stops. After a nice cup of tea at City of London, we headed to
the Museum of History (again). Finding the right bus stop was not as easy as
usual. The museum was disappointing: only the exhibits of the 1800s were done,
no pre-Columbian and no 20th Century. We were given the name of a Latin
American art museum that might have pre-Columbian art. Though it took a while
to find the right bus stop, we hopped bus 93 to that end of town. When we got
off the bus, I discovered that my i-phone was missing. I last saw it just
before we got on the bus. Without my phone and the full name of the museum, we
couldn’t find the place. Since we were near the Museum of Fine Arts we went
there to ask for help. The English-speaking staff person said there is no such
thing as a lost and found for the bus: if its lost, its gone. We went to the
restaurant behind the museum to use WiFi and have a beer. We were both stressed
and had a tiff. I almost went back to Barrio Uno by myself, but ended up
sitting at a table by myself. Using Mike’s i-pad I was able to log into my
account and report the phone as lost, but was not able to erase it without a
secondary verification code. I did get a series of emails reporting it “found”
at addresses progressively further and further north, so whoever had it was
absconding with it.
About 6pm we decided to give up and go “home.” We found our
way back to Plaza de Mayo, but couldn’t find the right bus stop for Barrio Uno.
Finally, after asking three people, we got in line at the unmarked stop. Oh
yeah, we had to recharge the Sube card for the second time that day. As the bus
was approaching Barrio Uno, there was a traffic jam on the highway so the bus
driver diverted. He drove the bus a long way on the right shoulder, then moved
over to the far left lane heading to the airport and skipping Barrio Uno. When
asked, the driver explained there was an accident on the highway and he was instructed
to go directly to the airport. We had to get off and find another bus back to
Barrio Uno. We had no more money on the Sube card, but the driver didn’t make a
fuss. Then he let us off on the road on the edge of Barrio Uno and we had to
walk to the centro. The store was still open, so we were able to buy
eggs, bread and cheese—no peanut butter. We walked “home” to cook scrambled
eggs with leftover woked veggies for supper plus bread from our hostess.
Showered, packed up and went to bed.
Th 2/15. The dawning of a new adventure! Our host drove us
to the airport at 3:45am for our 6am flight to El Calafate. We had a
spectacular view of the sunrise through the clouds over the Atlantic! From
there the bus to El Chalten passed through a scenic, semi-desert landscape. El
Chalten is a major climbing center; my nephew Colin climbs there every year. We
stayed at the hostel he recommended, Aylen Aike Hostel. It’s a nice place and
the proprietor Sebastian is very helpful. Went spent the afternoon on errands
and exploring the town, including a couple short local hikes, including the
trail toward Chorillo del Salto; we stopped at a high rock with a view over the
road and river to eat our lunch. Then we walked across the eastern bridge to
hike to the Mirador de los Aguilas. Back to town for veggie burgers, prep for backpacking
tomorrow, a quick shower and bed. We were lodged in a four-person bunk room and
our roommates were already asleep at 10:30pm.
Fri 2/16. Packed up and headed out. The trail was easier
than advertised so we kept going, 8 km to Campamento Poinconet. We set up our
tarp tent, ate lunch, and hiked on to Mirador Glacier Piedras Blancas.
Spectacular! The forests are beautiful, interspersed with muskeg. When we
returned to our camp, we went to the river to get water and just kept going
upstream. More and more beautiful views of Fitzroy and glaciers. We met a party
of assorted international climbers and base jumpers, including Constatine and
Boris who knew Colin. The climbers were from Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Belgium, France, Spain and Russia.
It was so beautiful and isolated we decided to move our
campsite upriver. So that is where we are now, wild camping with a view of
Fitzroy and adjacent peaks. All tallied, we hiked about 11 km with packs today
and 6km without packs. We are dehydrated too. We will go to bed early.
Sat 2/17. Another big hiking day. We are tired and a bit
sore. It rained over night, but the sun was out drying things off when we got
up at 8:30. After breakfast we went up river to the Lago Sucio. We took our
shoes off and forded the river at the place we scouted yesterday. There is a
real, marked trail with cairns—not built or official—all the way. A lot of
bouldering. The lago was spectacular and especially the waterfalls off the
hanging glacier and cliffs above it. We scouted for a route up to the mirador
at the top of the steep ridge but didn’t find one. So we walked all the way
back to the main Fitzroy trail and all the way up to the mirador and the Laguna
Lagrona de los Tres. It was a steep climb up. It was perfect weather and there
were lots and lots of people. We came down fast. Mike was ahead, but waited for
me at the Rio Blanco shelter. I got off on a side trail passing some people and
missed him. I got all the way down to the bridge across the river and he wasn’t
there. So I debated and waited a bit. Finally, a couple I’d passed said they’d
seen Mike waiting at the shelter, so I had to back track a ways to find him.
Back in camp, we soaked our feet in the cold river. Mike
washed some clothes and I washed my salty face. Then an early dinner and early
bed: by 7pm we’re tired. My knees are sore. Mike’s toes are sore, and quads and
knees tired from running downhill. Mike says it was a lot of fun bouldering and
scouting Laguna Sucia. He liked the level of concentration running down, and
liked surveying the range of people up there. The two lakes at the base of
their glaciers were pretty cool.
The lenticular clouds tonight are interesting and
foreboding. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.
Sun 2/18. In bed 14 hours. Clouds of every description in
the sky. Very windy, gusty all day. No rain but some “spit.” Mostly warm and
sunny but wild rain clouds and rainbows nearby, either coming up the valley or
churning around the glaciers. We left camp about 11am. Spent some time trying
to figure out the trail system where our planned route took off: found it about
1.5 km back down toward El Chalten. We hiked 7 km south on the Madre y Hijas
trail to the intersection with the Torres trail. It was so windy it was blowing
rooster tails off the surface of the lakes we passed. Then another 2 km up to
the Torres campsite through interesting glacial moraine landscape: very pretty
terrain and fewer people than the Fitzroy trail. The camping area is in the
woods next to the river. We scored the best campsite with a little bit of wind
protection and pitched the tarp tent low profile, with more wind breaks around
the margin, but were still getting dust blown in. The river is raging, silty
and loud. We ate soup and crackers then had nothing more to do. It was too
windy to go to the Torres viewpoint, and we are still too tired from yesterday
anyway, so we are in the tent at 5:30. Mike’s air mattress is going flat faster
than mine. When he went out I switched it to give him mine: so far he hasn’t
noticed.
Maybe the wind will bring the forecasted rain then die down.
Mon 2/19. The wind calmed overnight. The morning featured
some wind, some sun, some spits-not-quite-rain, and lots of dynamic and varied
clouds in the sky. Mike had slept well. He never realized I had switched the
pads until I pointed out that we really do need to buy a new pad. I slept on
two layers of deflated pad. The night was warm enough and the ground was not
cold, so I slept okay. It is better for both of us that he wakes up well rested
and cheerful.
We hiked up the moraine trail to the Mirador Maestres. The
views of the glacier and the bergs filling the lake at the bottom were
spectacular. We sat a long time listening to the glacier crack and moan and
admiring its beauty. A bit of rain finally persuaded us it was time to go. On
the way down we collected fresh water from a side stream in the forest. We
packed up our gear. The tarp was wet, but everything else was dry. Even my rain
jacket dried by the time we left. It was a fast 10 km hike down to El Chalten,
passing lots of people. We arrived tired, dirty and ready for a shower and
clean clothes.
Colin met us for dinner. The time with Colin was quite
interesting: he is a local celebrity and all the locals greet him warmly.
Merchants give him the local discount. He’s been climbing here for 20 years.
Tues 2/20. We packed up in the morning. We gave up waiting
for Colin and went out for a hike across the bridge to the north and turned
right. The trail took us up to the top of the cliffs. We turned left and walked
along the ridgetop for a few kilometers, then found a route down to the dirt
road and back to the bridge. Colin met us at the hostel and we went out for a
bite to eat. We also bought cheepa, the Argentine version of pão de quejo, and
bus tickets back to El Calafate.
I really enjoyed the hiking and camping in this gorgeous
environment, but not so much the rest of the travel.
Traveling is putting a strain on our relationship. Not
enough cuddling and sex. Too much logistics planning and we each have a
different modus operandi. I want to plan the lodging and bus tickets, he wants
to wing it. He brought a tarp tent instead of a real tent: probably not so good
for rainy, windy cold weather in Tierra del Fuego. He chose it because it was
light, not thinking about function. It has a center pole so it divides us. No
cuddling. No cuddling for me means no sex for him. I felt time pressure to make
an Airbnb reservation in El Calafate for our “date” night. We had mixed
information about where the bus station was for this bus line. I inadvertently
reserved the lodging that was two kilometers from the bus terminal instead of
the one that was close, partly because I misinterpreted his position: I thought
he said to go ahead and reserve it. More miscommunication.
We arrived in El Calafate and walked to our lodging in town.
It was the worst accommodation yet: incredibly cheap, tacky furniture;
minimally furnished kitchen with no napkins or paper towels. We couldn’t get
the stove to work. The landlord came right over and showed us how, so we were
able to cook the soup we’d bought, along with red wine. The bed was comfortable
and the cuddling and sex were good—just what we needed.
Weds 2/21. We still couldn’t make the stove work without
holding the knob, so that’s what we did long enough to cook scrambled eggs for
breakfast. We hard boiled three eggs in the electric teapot. We walked back to
the bus station to drop our packs and buy our tickets for a 3am departure, then
explored the town. The National Park Visitor Center had a small botanical
garden and sculpture garden. We learned about the calafate bush and berry:
similar to blueberries, but seedier and the bush is thorny and yellow.
We took a free shuttle bus to the Museum of Glaciology. It
was great: we enjoyed the exhibits and learned a lot. We had tea and a light
lunch in the café and tasted some wild calafate berries outside the museum. We
also saw an ibis.
Back in town we found the outdoor store Finnesterre and
decided their cheapest tent and sleep pad were worth it. We bought some
calafate tea and a calafate ice cream.
We walked back to the bus station, picked up my pack and
continued five minutes up the hill to our new Airbnb: a tiny house with
bunkbeds. We liked it just fine. Made love our number one priority. Showered
and went to buy takeout pizza and wine. It was 10pm by the time we went to bed.
Mike had left his pack at the pizza place and had to go back to get it.
Thurs 2/22. Up at 2am to catch the 3am bus to Rio Gallegos
where we connected to the bus to Ushuaia. Not much sleep. Mike is looking,
looking, looking at guanacos, sheep, a few cows and horses. He even saw a
couple nandu (rhea)—like ostriches or imu. Also we saw a flock of white swans
with black heads. And lots of seabirds on the stretch of highway close to the
ocean. There is a customs protocol because the road goes though Chile. After
the border the route goes down to the ferry across the Strait of Magellan, then
back into Argentina.
The Chilean section is familiar territory from our visit
eight years ago.
The border crossings are all a bureaucratic pain in the butt:
migration check passport on leaving, then migration and customs bag search on
entering, then leaving and entering again back to Argentina. So multiple stops
at each crossing, off and on the bus.
We drove through a brief snow, sleet and hailstorm. There
was fresh snow in the mountains. We finally arrived in Ushuaia about 8:30pm. We
were dismayed that there is no bus station with tourist information. We walked up
to the main street with our packs. We didn’t have a plan, a place to stay or
go. We found an open travel agency and they gave us a local map and showed us
where the visitor information office would be in the morning. We went to a
restaurant with WiFi and ate salad and looked for a place to stay. We found a
nice Airbnb; we were surprised that they confirmed our reservation on short
notice. It was a long slog up hill with heavy packs, but getting in went
smoothly and it was a very nice apartment. We slept well.
Fri 2/23. The WiFi went dead. The modem was okay, but no
internet. We communicated with the host on Mike’s phone via WhatsApp. She said
she’d come see about it but never came. We asked for a second night or a late
checkout but got no response. At 11am we headed out to the travel agencies
looking for a last-minute discount on an Antarctic tour. We found a couple, but
deferred. Over lunch—salmon, veggies and linguini, yum!—we decided to go for
the cheapest one. The agency was closed 2 to 5 so we went to the Maritime
Museum, which includes an art museum and penal colony museum, all housed in an
old prison building. I logged into WiFi and received a message that checkout
was 11am. I tried again to contact them, but decided to just go clear out our
stuff a move to the hostel down the street. It was old and smelled musty, but
it was what we needed—a place to sleep with no more hassle. We returned to the
museum and enjoyed it all.
We went back to the travel agency to make our reservation,
but had to wait for a couple Japanese women doing the same thing. I was
terrified they would take the last room and we would lose out. But they left
without making a reservation. The agent took all our information and sent it
off to Austrapp, the ship company, and said she’d let us know by email on
Saturday if the reservation was confirmed.
Back up the hill to our hostel and ate leftovers for dinner
in our room. The main kitchen/dining area was quite crowded with young
travelers.
Sat 2/24. The WiFi at the hostel was good. I got caught up,
including the correspondence with the Airbnb host dispute. Maybe he will try to
charge us for the late checkout.
The hostel served us breakfast: eggs and toast. We checked
out and walked to town. Got an email from the Rubsur travel agent that our
reservation was confirmed. Yea! We went straight to the office to pay and do
all the paperwork. It took nearly two hours, not including a break when we ran
a couple errands. It was after 1:00 when we were done. Then we headed to the
bus stop with our packs to catch the last shuttle to the Parque Nacional Tierra
del Fuego.
The bus stopped at the park entrance where we had to pay our
entrance fee. Because we were staying a few days and camping, it was very
complicated and had to be done online. Yet there was no WiFi or cell service.
But the staff were very helpful, and it took a long time, but they got it done.
Meanwhile the bus driver and other passengers had to wait.
It was a warm, calm, sunny day. When we got dropped off at
the campground, we were delighted to discover a clean, grassy expanse by the
river with lots of room and few tents. We got a beautiful spot at the back by
the river bend. We set up our tiny, cheap, new tent, ate a bite of lunch, and
walked out to the end of the road—see the sign showing 17,848 km to Alaska.
When we got back to our camp, we found some kind of eagle
sitting in the small tree over our cooking area. Mike watched it for a long
time and finally had to shoo it away as it tried to steal our blue cook bag. We
ate a freeze-dried meal and went to bed, just as it was getting dark and COLD.
Sun 2/25. It was high overcast all day, fairly warm and calm
except for the breeze at the summit of Cerro Guanaco. It was a 2km walk to the
trail head, 1 more to the trail junction, and 5km steeply up through the woods,
through the muddy muskeg, and up the rocky slope to the top. It was a 1000-meter
climb. We were tired coming down, especially my knees.
We stopped at the restaurant at the Alakush Visitor Center
for two glasses of red wine—Malbec of course—three empanadas and some ice for
my knees. The display at the interpretive center was quite interesting. One of
the major trees here is a kind of beech, but different from any we are familiar
with. We also learned about how the variations in the earth’s orbit around the
sun and the tilt of the axis is what drives the ice ages and interglacial
periods. We also learned that beavers are an introduced, invasive species.
Our new tent is so cheap it drips with condensation, and so
small that Mike (5’9”) can’t stretch out completely. We will experiment with a
diagonal sleeping arrangement. We set up the tarp tent over the new tent to
allow more space for gear and we can keep the door open.
Mon 2/26. Low overcast clouds that hid the mountains in the
morning, but by afternoon burned off to mostly sunny and full sun late in the
day. Warm, not much wind. We had a slow start—I was waiting for Mike while he
futzed with this and that—but by 11am we headed out to hike the coastal trail.
We were pretty tired, with sore muscles, and there was more up and down than we
expected, but we ate muffins and brownies from the Visitor Center and gained
more energy. The trail got steadily more beautiful with more coastal views as
we went. When we got to the end of the trail there was a tourist enclave with a
post office “End of the world.” Lots of people were there writing and posting postcards.
We dropped ours in the box. We decided to hitchhike back to the park visitor center,
so we walked up to the main highway. We soon got a ride with three Swedish
guys. We treated them to beverages and conversation at the visitors center
restaurant. Then we went out to hike the lakeside trail to Chile before bed.
From an Argentine perspective, this place is uniquely
beautiful, with woods and sea and mountains and lakes all together: very
different than the pampas in most of Argentina. From my Alaska perspective, the
geography isn’t special, but the trees, shrubs and wildlife are completely
unfamiliar.
Tues 2/27. We returned to Ushuaia to start our Antarctica
adventure onboard the M/V Ushuaia!
(See the Antarctica post.)
Fri 3/8. Sunny and sad morning ending our Antarctic cruise.
We said our goodbyes and left the boat about 8am. We went to the tourist office
to use WiFi: we were waiting to hear back from a guy with a sailboat who could
take us to Puerto Williams in Chile. It turned out to be a 142m vessel that
runs tourist cruises, and it didn’t leave until the 12th. Scratch that. We also
considered a one-way car rental to Punta Arenas, but never found one. So we
went to buy our bus tickets to Punta Arenas. But they were sold out for
Saturday. We bought two of the last six tickets for Sunday, and they were the
last two together, in the last row. So we have two more days in Ushuaia. We
found an Airbnb for tonight—a very nice place with a view—but no availability
for tomorrow, so we’ll have to move again.
We dropped our packs at the Airbnb, then headed out to
schmooze and see what we could learn at the marina. Halfway there we received
notice that we needed to leave the key back in the box, so we detoured back up
the hill, then out again. It was a nice walk around a lagoon to the marina.
Lots of birds: some geese and some exotics. We had no idea what they were. Long
curved beaks like ibis, yellow heads and grey bodies. (Later we were able to
identify them as Black Face Ibis.) We were dragging both because of our 11 days
without exercise, as well as getting up early and not eating enough breakfast.
We had a bite at a café at the marina and caught a taxi back to town. We stopped
at a grocery and headed back to our lodging for dinner with our “housemates”
from France.
Sat 3/9. We got up late. Spent the morning on WiFi. As it turned
out, our new Airbnb was just a different room in the same house! Sweet. Two
more housemates arrived from Australia. It was a very congenial group over
lunch, including the cleaning lady from Bolivia. Finally we went out for a walk.
It had been raining off and on all morning, but improved shortly after we went
out. We wandered through the neighborhood at the top of the hill. Some local
guys grilling barbeque (parilla) offered us wine, which we sampled. It was
mixed with Sprite—too sweet for our taste—so then they offered a swig of
Cabernet Sauvignon straight form the bottle. Much better. They suggested that
we go down, across, and up to the trailhead for the glacier, which we did. The
trail runs through the forest, sandwiched between the river on the right and on
the left a winding road up to a small ski area, with hotels along the way. The
trail continues up to the top of the ski slope where there is a view of a
small, dead glacier. One could follow a track further, traversing the scree of
the lateral moraine, but we didn’t. We headed down to go shopping at Carrefour
for peanut butter and jelly and other road food, then to a sushi take-out that
our housemates had recommended. It was 9pm by the time we got back “home.”
Sun 3/10. 8am bus to Punta Arenas. The border crossing and
the ferry were all familiar. Bye bye Argentina, hello Chile!
Tue 2/27. We boarded our ship the M/V Ushuaia at 3:30. We
immediately made friends in line with Matt. The ship departed the Port Ushuaia
at 5pm in calm waters with light wind. The first order of business was the
welcome and introductions, followed by a safety talk and evacuation drill. The
passengers are organized in two groups based on room numbers, odd or even.
There were lots of reminders about safety protocol in the Drake Passage, which
is notoriously rough water. This vessel was built as a NOAA research vessel in
the sixties. Rumor has it it was also used by the CIA. It is very well maintained. At 90 passengers (87 on our voyage), it is the
smallest and oldest cruise ship touring Antarctica. It is also the only one
that is owned and registered in Argentina and provides lectures in both English
and Spanish. Because it was originally built as a research vessel it doesn’t
have all the tourist-class amenities of a larger ship. We were gifted an
upgrade to a private suite: two single beds, not bunks, and an ensuite
bathroom. 
