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  Ushuaia, Argentina
Tuesday, March 11, 2008

WE´RE AT THE END OF THE WORLD!!!!!!!

well, after several long bus rides, we´ve made it, the end of the world.  ushuaia is the southernmost city in the world (there are a few places, such as puerto williams that are a little further south, but those are settlements or stations, so they don´t count).  we are now 10914km (6782miles) from chicago, 1110km (690 miles) from antarctica, and 3929km (2441miles) from the south pole  we entered argentina in la quiaca, the northernest city, and have traveled 5121km to reach the southernmost (although the sign here says it´s 5171km).  woo, we´re tired. 

we left rio gallegos at 830 sunday morning and headed out into the nothingness again.  to get to ushuaia we had to cross in and out of chile, so that meant border patrol

the strait of magellan

.  everytime i´d start to fall asleep, we´d arrive at the border and have to get off.  we had to check out of argentina, drive 20 minutes to the chile border station, check in there and then when we left, do it all over again.  i don´t see why, we were just driving through, not stopping anywhere. 
at one point our bus had to get onto a ferry so we could cross the strait of magellan.  that was pretty cool.  we got to get out of the bus and went up to the deck.  it was very windy and cold.  we saw 2 Commerson´s dolphin´s swimming alongside of the ferry.  ismael got a really great shot of one jumping out of the water.  they were really neat, so different from the dolphins i´ve seen at the zoo. i also saw what i thought were 2 ducks floating off to the side, but then i realised they were penguins!  when i pointed to them to show ismael, they dove underwater.  darn.  he´ll just have to wait until we get to punta tumbo. 

we got into ushuaia sunday night and went out for a celebratory dinner.  the area is full of sheep farms, so we had spit-roasted lamb.  they just cut the lamb open on the underside and open it up, so it looks kind of gross, all splayed out like that, but it was very tasty.  then it was off to galway´s irish pub (there´s an irish pub in every city) so ismael could try the locally brewed beagle beer. 

yesterday we woke to find it was already noon

commerson dolphin

.  oops!  those long bus rides and that awful campground finally caught up with us.  that afternoon we took a boat tour around the beagle channel.  we saw un faro--a lighthouse, and islands full of sea lions and different kinds of birds.  we stopped at a large island and got to walk around a little, although it was rainy and a cold, so not entirely enjoyable.  the island was once inhabited by the yamara, the people who lived in this area.  they lived naked and covered themselves with sea lion fat to keep warm.  when the british settlers came, they gave them clothes, but because they spent a great deal of time on and around the water, the clothes were wet and cold and the yamara became sick and died.  real nice, huh?  there is only 1 pure yamara left, she´s 80 and lives in puerto williams. 

last night we invited a couple from oregon, nick and jenny, whom we met on the boat tour to join us for dinner at our hostel.  ismael made his wonderful beef stew.  we sat and chatted with them for a few hours.  it was a lot of fun.  they are a lot like us, late 20s, married 2 months before us.  jenny and i can talk a lot (you´re all shocked i´m sure) and nick and ismael were a lot a like too.  they are traveling here for 2 months and then doing a 4 month road trip around the states.  hopefully they´ll be able to come and visit us when they get near chicago.

today we got up at 10, a little earlier than yesterday.  we were planning on going over to the parque nacional de tierra del fuego and hiking, but it was going to cost us $40US  to go over there and back and the entrance fees.  we´d rather use that money for cool excursions later on.  so we went to a museum and wandered around town.  

well, i guess that´s it from el fin del mundo.  we leave tomorrow at 6am and head to el calafate to the perito moreno glacier.  we don´t get in there until 1 am, 19 hours on buses.  yeah fun! 

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on the ferry	tierra del fuego	yippee!!!	ushuaia
cormorants	don't jump!	aye, aye, captain	les eclaireurs lighthouse
island tour	kiss me baby	la quiaca 5171 km	anchors away

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