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Published: February 23rd 2007
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Before Antarctica - 23rd to 25th February When we land at Ushuaia we catch a taxi to our hotel, the Tango B&B. We are warmly greeted by Raul and Christina and shown to our room. Its a good sized room with a very comfy bed. Plus the walls are thick so we can´t hear anyone else for once! Raul and Christina are very sweet and want to look after us - Christina even say "I am your mother away from home".
We meet our friend Claire for dinner in the evening. She´s in a different hostel and we´ll meet again in a few days for our trip to Antarctica.
The next day is mostly about admin things, such as updating the blog as we´ve finally found a decent internet cafe. We also buy thermal underwear and long socks for our trip. I´m just praying that the parkas we´ve ordered will be available on the boat as I don´t have a warm jacket.
In the evening we go for dinner at a restaurant called Kaur. Its slightly out of town but has great views across the Beagle Channel. We sit there watching the sunset and have a
lovely evening. Later on back at the Tango B&B, Raul and Christina have invited us to attend their Tango show. Raul plays the accordion for 45 minutes. Its mesmerising and we didn´t realise that the accordion could be played so beautifully. Afterwards they teach us some tango steps. Its very good fun trying to copy them! We have to dance we Raul and let him lead as the man. Its not very easy and we look a bit silly. There are another couple there as well and the man has no chance in leading as his girlfriend is also a ballet dancer!
The next morning we spend blogging and have lunch in a great cafe called Ramon Generales. They do great submarino´s - a cup of hot milk and lots of chunks of chocolate that you can melt in it!
We´re also very excited as we transfer from our hotel to another in preparation for our cruise. This hotel is right on the Beagle Channel with great views but not as nice as the Tango B&B. Our friend Claire joins us and we head back into town for a couple of things. We keep walking down to the
port to see if our boat is there yet but it isn´t!
We have dinner in the hotel and keep a look out for anyone we think might be on the cruise, being nosy in other words! We´re all really excited about the next day and struggle to sleep!! We can´t wait to actually start the cruise and see what the ship looks like.
After Antarctica - 8th to 11th March Wow, what a contrast to what I´ve written above. We disembark the ship feeling very sad as we´ve had such a great trip, one of the best experiences of our lifetimes. It seemed to be over so quickly but we´ve got some amazing memories of the most beautiful place on Earth.
Its a beautiful morning in Ushuaia as we watch everyone saying goodbye and then we disembark. We hug all the staff goodbye and wander to the nearest internet cafe as its only 8am in the morning so we can´t check into our hotel. Kate and I are very tired on only 4 hours sleep. We have lunch in town and then say goodbye to Claire as well as she is in a different
Bar Ideal
They have great squid! hostel. We check back into the Tango B&B. Its really nice going back to somewhere we know and where the staff are so lovely and welcoming.
We have a much needed sleep and then back into town to meet Claire for dinner.
We´ve hired a car for the next day and I get to drive on some dirt roads again! We head out from Ushuaia and drive to Estancia Harberton. This is a large farm set on the edge of the Beagle Channel. We stop for a coffee and read all the newspaper cuttings about the farm. Its interesting to read about the history of the place and have a wander around looking at the farm. We drive some more and stop for lunch with magnificent views over the channel. The landscape here is quite different to the rest of Patagonia. There are many more mountain ranges and forests. Its more beautiful than I thought it would be.
We head back into Ushuaia and drive a few kilometres out of town to a disused ski resort. There´s a chairlift here, that we catch to the top of the mountain. From here there is a good view over
Ushuaia. We also walk up a really steep slippy path to see glacier Martial. A big disappointment after everything we´ve seen in Antarctica. It looks like a small lump of snow!!
We go to dinner at a restaurant called Volver where Claire decides that she would rather be in our hotel than hers as it is much nicer. It feels like we´re on a jail break as we drive back to her hostel and sneak her out, after she´s paid of course. The staff at her hostel must think she is slightly strange! We then go back to our hotel and she checks in!
The next day we return the car and try to find DHL but its closed. We´ve got lots of stuff to post home. We decide to send it by post instead, only to get to the post office to find customs is closed as well so we can´t do that. We´ll have to post is all from Buenos Aires which is a bit of a pain as we didn´t want to carry it all on the plane.
We have some great squid in Bar Ideal for lunch and then head over to Tierra
del Fuego National Park. We hire a taxi which drops us off in the park by the coast. We go on a lovely 3 hour coastal walk that takes us along the Beagle Channel and through beautiful beech woods and we also see several mad woodpeckers head banging the trees. Its a lovely walk with great views but by the end its started to rain. Luckily we´re mostly under the cover of the trees. We catch the taxi back to town and have dinner.
Later on back at the Tango B&B we´re treated to another Tango show by Raul. This time we don´t dance but sit and enjoy the music. Raul plays the accordion beautifully and with a lot of passion. It´s fantastic to watch. Its given us a real taste for tango and we´re looking forward to going to some tango shows in Buenos Aires.
The next day is our final day in Ushuaia. At breakfast we hear a loud ship horn which we like to think was the Sarpik Ittuk leaving port and bidding us farewell!
We say goodbye to Raul and Christina and thank them for their hospitality. Its sad to say goodbye as we´re become quite fond of them. We blog for a bit in town and have lunch. Then its back to the hotel to get our bags. We´re really sad to say goodbye to Claire as now we go our separate ways. We´ve spent a lot of time we Claire over the last couple of months so its seems strange to think we probably won´t see her until we return to England now.
We check in at the airport where this huge tour group gets checked in before us. We´re both really annoyed so let it be known especially when we don´t even get seats together for the flight to Buenos Aires. Its at this point I also realise I have left my ipod and charger at the hotel so I´m not in the best of moods. Luckily Claire is still there so should be able to collect it for me. Also luckily when we get on the plane someone agrees to swap seats with me, so Kate and I can sit together.
Its a 3.5 hour flight to BA. We collect our baggage and catch a taxi to the Chill House hostel. Its funny as we were sad to leave Patagonia but arriving in BA has a different feel to it. We´ve left somewhere very cold and arrived somewhere very hot even though its 11pm at night. As we drive through town we both get excited as BA has a very good feel to it. There are lots of street cafes and they still look busy. We arrive at the hostel and go to bed, ready for the next day in a large city.
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