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Published: February 11th 2006
Well, here we are at the end of the earth... Unbelievably beautiful in a totally different way from Iguazu.
First, it´s cold! About 15 C- not so cold, but after Iguazu it feels like it, and it´s damp and VERY windy.
Yesterday we visited a remote estancia where they have nesting colonies of penguins. About 1 hr 45 mins by car, then about 1/2 hour by zodiac. Just an incredible experience- the scenery is just breathtaking. The Andes aren´t so high here (1200m), but the relief between the mountains and the sea is amazing.
There were only 9 people in our group which included coffee and then lunch at the ranch, and they were all very nice. It´s amazing how quickly we became friends. I also love it when people can just switch languages from one to the next in the middle of a conversation. Makes me really feel like an international traveler. Everyone keeps telling me how well I speak Spanish (a blatent lie), but apparently I have a bit of a strange accent- I don´t sound American. Maybe it´s the Portugues.
The "cabanas" we are staying in are amazing. Our host Alejandro built them himself,
a lot from "found" material like old ship masts, or native stone. And we have an incredible view of the harbor. Ushuaia is a real frontier town, with a lot of ships leaving for Antaritica.
Today we were supposed to go sailing for the day, but unfortunately it rained very hard all night and this morning. We are hoping we may be able to go tomorrow morning since our flight for El Calafate doesn´t leave until 4:30. So, instead of sailing we visited an interesting museum that´s located in the old penal colony building. It´s a maritime museum as well as a museum of the penal colony, and strangely enough, they had a special exhibition of Salvador Dali´s work. The lithographs etc were wonderful, but the English translations were absolutely painful.
After the museum we went to a truly wonderful french restaurant Kaupé for lunch, then had to take a siesta. For té we had Submarinos- incredible hot chocolate where they give you frothed milk and bars of chocolate to melt in it. Then a light supper at around 9. We are becoming absolutley Argentine in our eating patterns!
Well, it´s almost 11, the sun set an
hour ago, but I think I will let my pictures speak for themselves again, though I realized when I downloaded them I need more pictures of the mountains. Oh, I´m sending this from an internet café on the main street here.
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chau chau
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Mari
non-member comment
Heaven!