Ushuaia

U-swy-a is how it is pronounced and I have been practicing to correct my bad habits for months when I only read the word and never heard it pronounced. Amanda reminds me to think of Annie Lennox's song, Why, so I correct myself. ;-)

The hostel is pretty clean and bustling with lots of backpackers - many folks are on long trips seeing South America. We seem to run into lots of Aussies, Europeans, and other South Americans. I am also glad the hostel is working out as our original hostel which was ranked highest on tripadvisor.com over booked us. I knew they were wrong too when they assured me they had space because their online booking system would only allow for 1 guest and not 2. C'mon, who do they think they are dealing with? ;-)

We headed to the town where we walked along the port to enjoy the views and the fresh air. Most visitors to Ushuaia visit penguins and sea lions in the Beagle channel. But we decided we would see Magallen penguins in Punta Arenas, Chile so we can say we were "on the Magellan straits" where he declared this area, the land of fire or Tierra del fuego.

Map of Recorded Shipwrecks around Tierra del Fuego

Ushuaia is also well known for the naval base and the former prison. As with many countries, penal colonies were established in inconvenient areas or islands in order to house their convicts, but also to establish settlement and sovereignty. The maritime and prison museum are housed together and was really interesting. A former prisoners' latrine is now well-decorated by miniature model boats. In the main exhibit, the first boat model was called the "Trinidad" sailed by Magellan in the 1500's. Cannot wait for my next international trip to Trinidad and Tobago for Ryan and Siobhan's wedding! Also a map with all the recorded shipwrecks was quite impressive and how daunting it must have been navigating the channels.

One case I thought was interesting was that of the political prisoners who were sent here from Buenos Aires as they watched helplessly while elections were organized without them. One professor, Ricardo Rojas, opted for Ushuaia over exile as he did not want to leave his homeland. Real patriotism.
Leaving the museum we were able to see more of the town, even peeked into a local casino and found a place to eat. Amanda and I both ate salads at a local restaurant where we were stared at by young children. We have both remarked that people have stared a little too long at us and I often try to diffuse the awkwardness by waving or saying, hola. (This also included waving at the same hotel bellhop 2 nights in a row while embarassing Amanda) We perused a bookstore and returned to our hostel for some napping and recharge.

We soon woke to Belgian guests who were quiet, but lovely. They had to skip Torres del Paine due to the closure from the fire, but Amanda and I are still hoping everything will be ok by Saturday. We had received word from our camp that they were returning to the park today. I hope Carlos, my Spanish teacher appreciates when the Belgians struggled to speak English, not one French word came to mind as I could only recall Spanish. This is often the opposite problem in my Spanish class.

Prior to venturing out for dinner, Amanda and I enjoyed a cup of mate tea in the communal area where we met 2 Israelis making dinner. Both were impressed that I, a non Jew, had been to Israel. I had explained that my best friend from college, Rachel, was a diplomat. They totally knew Clara which was an awesome beach bar in Tel Aviv and the white nights celebration.

Amanda and I had decided to dine at Volver, famous for their King Crab and located on the waterfront. The ambiance was amazing with a fireplace and we tried Torrantes which is the distant 2nd most famous wine in Argentina next to the malbec. The stunning white wine complemented our King Crab with mushroom dish, seafood paella, and of course, flan. The servers were again charmed by our Spanish and gave us 2 shots of limoncello on the house. Amanda and Cyn for the win!

An amazing night to a non-eventful day as we prepare for a 5 am bus ride to Punta Arenas, Chile - the southern most city in Chile. Our bus ride will be 12 hours and our very 1st border crossing where we cannot carry any fresh fruit and be scrutinized by border control. 12 hours seems like a lot and is our longest scheduled bus trip, but others seem to travel much longer by bus. Just today we met a University of Scranton grad who leaves tomorrow for an 18 hour bus ride to El Calafate. Oy.