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Published: April 23rd 2009
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We made it to the end of the world, well the southernmost city in the world that is!
Guess I should update about the end of our time in Buenos Aires, since it´s been a while since I´ve posted. It was quite sad to leave the city and our school where we got to know a lot of our teachers and the locals at the school. We learned quite a bit of Spanish in just 4 weeks... the owner of our apartment who checked us out of our room just before we left remarked to me "you´ve learned so much", I think b/c we were able to have a semi-decent conversation, unlike when we first arrived and the conversation was mostly hand-gestures and confusion all around. I had won a weeks worth of tango lessons, so I had lessons all week and Jeff took a couple as well. At the end of the week we went out dancing to a Milonga (Argentine tango dance, for pretty cheap, with mostly locals). We got there at the end of "rock" lessons and a dance, which was really more of a swing-rock dance that they did... but they had a full-on choreographed show
at the end, which was interesting (read: cute, funny, but it looked strangely fun) to watch! Then, the Milonga instructors did a little tango show, we all had a quick lesson and then we danced tango around in a counter-clockwise circle (the way it´s danced, always moving, always in a counter-clockwise circle) with some really good porteño dancers. It was so fun! Tango is by far my favorite dance - I love the music, the ambience, the style, everything; it´s so fun! I can´t wait to dance some more! (haha, Jeff´s sighing...)
So, Sunday we left BsAs at 5:15 AM to hike 1/2 an hour with our packs to a bus-stop, wait 45 min´s for a bus and then caught the bus for a 2 hour ride to the airport (hey, it was only $2 pesos... about USD $.60 each... as opposed to an expensive taxi ride). The most interesting part was how packed the city was at 6 AM... our bus and the streets were packed with people who were just heading home from a night of partying. We caught our plane, which was also interesting b/c for this domestic flight it was the largest plane either of
us has ever been on. Bigger than the plane we took to Europe, this 747-400 had 2 levels of seating! Yet the plane was almost empty, there were probably 15 rows between us and the next passenger. How they can afford to fly this thing with so few passengers and the cheap airfare price, we have no idea!
In Ushuaia, we checked into the hostel ¨Freestyle¨, an independent hostel that was highly recommended to us by 2 people, independently, in Buenos Aires (who had already traveled down here). But it´s true, we cannot say enough good things about this hostel! Although living dorm-style is interesting (kinda like college or something, we live in bunk beds, 6 people to a room), but for about $13 USD per person (in a very expensive city) we have heated tiles, fleece blankets, cheap laundry, computers with internet, nice showers, free breakfast and coffee all day, and an upstairs rec-room with a pool table, leather couches and awesome views of the city! We spent our first night playing pool, drinking beer, listening to good rock-spanish music (which I´m really coming to like) and chatting with the other tourists here. We also happened to have
been put in a room with someone Jeff had classes with in Buenos Aires... small world. The only downside of the hostels is that almost everyone speaks English (lots of people from Ireland, England, Netherlands), so it takes away the necessity to speak Spanish.
After staying a night in the hostel we wanted to explore the national park, but the entrance fee and bus to get there are pretty expensive, so we decided that to make it worthwhile we should do some backpacking and not have to pay for lodging for a few nights. So we headed over into the Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire) National Park and spent 3 nights backpacking through the park. The park is huge, but the part that is available to trek through is limited, so in our 4 days we were able to hike through all the major areas of the park. We saw some beautiful sights and interesting fauna! Fall-time in the park was particularly pretty with the deciduous golden trees losing their leaves everywhere. And having checked out almost every camping area of the park, we are quite sure that we were the only crazy ones doing any backpacking/overnight camping...
El Fin del Mundo
The end of the world... actually the trails were pretty deserted in general, which was nice! Our last day we stored our packs at the one little coffee shop in the park and climbed a mountain and saw some amazing views of the area! Unfortunately, as soon as we reached the top, the blue skies changed and a storm blew in (we had asked for a weather forecast at a ranger station and were told by a park ranger that there is no way to tell the weather forecast in Tierra del Fuego, it´s always changing). So we froze our arses off, while we were dizzy from the altitude/hike, and decided to eat a quick lunch, snapped a few pics, and quickly headed down. Then, that night the storm geared up and got much stronger, the temp. much colder and we awoke to snow falling and a snow coat covering the mountain we had just climbed the day before! Crazy... Our extra warm sleeping bags and coats have kept us warm at night though, glad to get some use out of those!
So, after 4 days in the park (and 5 days of no showering!), plus a rapidly diminishing food supply, we bussed back
Day 1
Our first hike in Tierra del Fuego... to Ushuaia this morning and checked back into Freestyle Hostel, where we´ve had the day to relax, do laundry, blog and, most importantly, eat! In the park we had many conversations about the food we would eat when we returned to the city (since by the end of our time we only had Top Ramen and a few granola bars). It was decided that we must have a big dinner with a cheeseburger and fries for Jeff, a steak for me, and beers all around!
So, that´s the plan for tonight, followed by some Freestyle pool and relaxing, and then tomorrow we have to be at the bus-stop at 4:40 AM (yikes!) to catch a 17 hour bus to Rio Gallegos, followed by a 2 hour stop and then another can´t-remember-how-many-hours bus ride to El Calafate, where we can see the Perito Moreno Glacier and do some more backpacking.
...You might wonder, how is the world-on-the-other-side-of-the-world? Well, contemplating that in the forest these past few days, we´ve come to see that it is strangely similar to home, with some twists. This area is surprisingly similar to Alaska, and it would be easy to take a broad look around
Shrooms!
Jeff was seriously fascinated with the fungus in the forest... and think you were in Anchorage or Seward, or even parts of the northwest... mountains all around, similar climate... But then the forests aren´t Evergreen, they´re deciduous. There aren´t deer, but deer-llama creatures. The birds are different too. There´s no peanut butter in the stores, but lots of dulce de leche. And then, of course, you´re snapped out of the "I´m in Alaska" dream when someone starts throwing words at you in Spanish.
Long post. I apologize to anyone who dislikes or refuses to read long posts (ahem: Linda). 😊 Take care, we miss you all!!
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Heather
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Thank you!
How great to hear about this next part of your journey! I wish I was there seeing all you see, but your descriptions make me feel almost like I am. Thank you! I really miss you both, so I'm torn. I want to continue this journey with you and it would be nice to get together and just chat! I am praying for you daily, keep on blogging...love, Mom