Post 104: To the end of the world, and finally Northward Bound

Fellow adventurers,

The flight from El Calafate to Ushuaia was a quick one for us. As our plane arrived in the early evening over the city, we could see the vastness of the end of the Andes mountain range. I thought to myself how ironic it was that our turn north would be at the end of the same mountains that our journey began  with in the hills of coastal Venezuela. Ushuaia was to be our last stop on our long journey south.

We ended up walking from the airport into the city, a short few miles away. Unsure of where to go, we asked another local hostel, hosted by a fellow American for directions. She told us with confidence not to worry about the sun, it sets very late in these parts, at nearly 11 in the evening. Another half an hour along a road bordering the sea we came to our hostel. Along the way we passed many monuments to the Falklands/Malvinas and several large docks housing shipping containers and passenger vessels in route to Antarctica.

I wish I could report that our stay in the city was more eventful, but we mainly spent our few days relaxing in the hostel, watching movies, and catching up on sleep. We did venture out the day before we left to see the few sites in the town itself, but otherwise the weather most kept us wanting warmer confines. A memory of highlight to me is on our last night, we shared dinner and a bottle of wine with a fellow traveler from Ireland, who we swapped stories and chatted with for a good while.

No penguins, beavers, or lighthouses, just the comforts of lackadaisical relaxation. Being a tourist town, the city is very pricey, overly so. The city also had a great political overtone to it, being the closest base to the Falkland/Malvinas Islands. There seemed to be a lot of anti-British sentiment, and even local vehicles had bumper stickers proclaiming the Argentinian right over the islands. I personally think the whole mess is a bit ridiculous, and am very glad I was not dragged into any conversations about the debacle.

Yesterday we finally started the journey north with our flight into the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, our home for the next week before we depart for Uruguay. We arrived late in the evening, met our host, and had dinner here in San Telmo. We arrived to a city soupy in its heat, reminding us much of our time in Cartagena, Colombia. Buenos Aires upon first glance seems to be a very bustling cosmopolitan city, full of character and a thirst for life. I very much look forward to exploring much of it, and am glad we have so much time and no rush to do so. Seeing a Boca Jrs. game is a chance, and of course of great interest to me, but June not so much.

Also of note is that we purchased our return tickets home for March 17th, departing from Georgetown, Guyana to Ft. Lauderdale, USA., via Trinidad and Tobagos capital city of Port of Prince. It is of some relief to finally have our final leg of the trip set in stone, and our transport to the our home nation booked.

More to come in the days to follow. Ciao!

Gavin y June