ushuaia-punta arenas cruise

Ushuaia seems to be a place almost impossible to leave...after my attempts to find a flight or bus out, i decided to get on a last minute cruise from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas. It was the second best thing at the time to actually going to Antarctica.

Man was I shocked when i was gettin on the boat...i had a group of 70 year old grannies walking behind me... i started thinking- what the hell am i doing gettin on this granny cruise...it turns out that i was the second youngest on the boat...the youngest guy was 25...and he was there with his older brother...i thought that the trip was gonna suck, but mazingly things turned out really fun...

Was put on a table for breakfast, lunch and dinner with these 6 spaniards who did not speak a word of english...communication on the first day was minimal...We were able to communicate that 4 guys were nurses and i was a doctor...the next night, i brought my spanish book and it was great. It turns out that i can pick up spanish really well..we were laughing..usually at my funny pronunciation of the language...by the third day i was telling them hospital stories in spanish!!! i hope they understood...they were laughing...it was my cockroach in the ear story...they were teaching me alot of spanish...but i knew when they were puling my leg....they would say if someone said´commo estas´, you reply with ´te puta madre´, which i later found out meant that ´son of a bitch´...the bastards!!!

Oh about the cruise...was very luxurious..not really a backpacker activity...was mainly full of retired rich americans and others...i was the only australian...but was one of about 6 doctors!! we sailed and landed on Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of the world apart from Antarctica...we sailed through channels full of glaciers...huge mammoth glaciers...we took daily zodiac trips (little floating power boats) out to land and walked beside the glaciers..have some amazing shots!!!

The world is truly a miraculous and beautiful place...i never fall short of being mesmerised and overwhelmed....i trekked through knee deep mud throught the forest (optional activity!!), walked among penguins on Magdalena island, saw sea lions...free alcohol on the trip made for good nights!! alot of people on the boat found me quite interesting...despite age differences, there was alot of great conversations and experiences.

I would wake up in the morning and look out my window and be in awe of the amazing scenes i was seeing!! i also realised that i blew a fifth of my budget in the first 2 weeks!!! was not a cheap cruise!!!

Im also being set up with one of the spanish guy´s sisters when i go there...i promised them my spanish will be perfect by then...i realised that with all my languages, i can get quite far...combining them all, i can understand and speak in english, french, spanish and italian...i had a long conversation with some italians on the boat...and i dont know how!!! hehehe

ended the cruise in Punta Arenas...walked around for 2 hours and got on a bus to puerto natales...

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