On the Bus

Today was spent entirely on a bright yellow bus from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas, Chile. We are trying to work our way north, and this was the first bus we could get out of Ushuaia. It was about 11 hours...not too bad, not too fun! We left the hostel at 7:30am, and arrived on the outskirts of Punta Arenas about 7 pm.

It was a rather dull ride, but we managed to actually see quite a bit of wildlife along the way. Sadly, no photos were taken. But we saw guanacos, foxes, rheas (I think...some gigantic, flightless emu-like bird??), flamingos and one lonely penguin standing at the edge of a land mine area.

So, we arrived in Chile and are shocked again at the prices. Arriving later in the evening and tired from the bus, we didn´t want to put much effort into finding a cheap, decent place to sleep. But we actually looked at quite a few places before deciding to just fork over the $40 (seems cheap relative to the US, I know!!) for a couple of twin beds without a private bath. Oh well!

We had a tasty seafood dinner though, so that made up for things. I tried the salmon, and realize how spoiled we are by Alaskan salmon. Dave had the sea bass which was a much better choice. We are tasting our way through Chilean wines now. It is a task we will gladly and humbly take on. :)

Despite the effort it took to get here, our efforts now are directed at getting out of here. We are trying to sort our way through the options. Tomorrow we will either be on a plane heading north, or on another (thankfully shorter) bus to Puerto Natales.

Thanks for reading. Sorry there aren´t much in the way of dazzling photos for this one. More to come! Cheers, K & D

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