So we would have almost 2 weeks in Ushuaia before departing on our cruise. We looked into the possibility of doing our trek in Torres Del Paine in the interim. Ultimately we decided it would be a little tight and didn´t like the thought of missing our departure to Antarctica. Funny that. Instead we contented ourselves with doing absolutely nothing at all. It was great. As we were now going to be long stay residents at La Posta we tried to cut a better deal with the owners. They moved us into a self contained apartment and agreed a 10% reduction in price. It was a 2 bed apartment so they tended to put solo travellers in the other room. Hence, we were only ever sharing the apartment with one other person.
In Ushuaia, we hit The Dublin pub night after night. Once with an Irish couple from the hostel (Niall and Katherine). That same night, at 4am the bar closed so we were turfed out onto the street. It seemed there was nothing else we could do....so we tried finding another open bar. We had a local with us who felt confident he would be able to find us a lock-in somewhere. Alas it was not to be. Back in the hostel we all devoured crackers with cheese and guacamole...not quite the haggis supper I (Dave) would have killed for.
We took a trip along to the Maritime museum. Again, we´re not big museum people but this place includes the old prison. It´s always fascinating wandering in and out of prison cells and reading about the most notorious inmates. Whilst there we met a Northern Irish couple we had just come off an Antarctic cruise...and they were on the same ship as we had booked!! They had nothing but good things to say. Claire had a look at some of their photos but I didn´t want to ruin the surprise.
Another day we took a trip to the Tierra Del Fuego National Park, 12km outside of town. Having been very lazy for the past 4-5 days our hearts really weren´t in it. Still, we trekked for about 4 hours along the Beagle Channel, then up to Lago Roca and then climbed a bit of Cerro Guanaco. It´s a nice day out but the park doesn´t offer much more spectacular views than we were used to seeing walking into town of a day.
Other than that our time in Ushuaia was spent sleeping, shopping, cooking, drinking, gambling (at teh local casino)...and generally taking it easy. Peter and Carol, our old Canadian biker friends, did show up 2 days before departure and shared our apartment. It was nice to catch up with them and share a few leisurely meals. Incidentally, they also booked an identical trip to Antarctica leaving on the Ioffes sister ship on 28th of December!
Tierra del Fuego National Park
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Tierra del Fuego National Park
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The Saint ChristopherThis ship is a historic icebreaker, it went to Antartica as part of a rescue in the early 20th century. It sank & now its a live museum just in front of the city.
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It´s the end of the world as we know it....
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.At the Port
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.No offence mate but I really didn´t think we´d be sharing a single bed!
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I don´t know what you´re smiling about Claire, smuggling prosthetic ears is a very serious crime!
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La Posta is a hostel with deep Argentinean roots and customs. In the old days, the “postas” were located two or three miles from one another and the “Gauchos” stopped there to change horses which were for carting goods or mail delivery. The “Gauchos” were also offered hot meals and a clean bed where they could rest calmly. Then, they continued on their path. Many of the ornaments and furniture are old recycled tools which in other times were useful for Argentinean “Gauchos”.
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