To make a long story short, I arrived in Ushuaia!!!
The whole story involves over 60 hours of sitting in a bus (including a couple hours of sitting in bus terminals waiting for late buses); five different buses (including two unscheduled bus changes), more kilometers than you can count on your fingers and toes (about 3000km), two border crossings, four new passport stamps, and a special two hours of waiting in Ushuaia that lacks a bus terminal making countless calls to someone, anyone to pick me up. On the way I was treated to a view of las pampas which in Spanish translates to scenery that consists of plains as flat as can be vegetated with small shrubs in varying shades from dead yellow to gray-green.
Oh, but I wouldn’t have taken a bus if that was all! Looking out the window, I could sometimes spot some waterfowl, wading birds, or even bunnies in addition to sheep and grazing cows. In the last few hours of my journey the trees grew taller, the landscape morphed into a deeper green, and rolling hills rose into precipitous mountains covered in snow.
I also made a pit stop in Puerto Madryn, which sits at about the halfway point between Santa Fe and Rio Gallegos. After stepping off the bus, I went to a travel agent in the terminal who kindly called a hostel for me and found me a bed. My only requirements were that they could book me activities for the one day I’d be there and that they’d pick me up from the terminal since I didn’t want to lug all my bags. I ended up having to take a taxi and pay for it. Then once in the hostel, the lady said that there was absolutely nothing that I could do there since I was just staying for one day and arrived after 8am which is when all the tours leave. We went back and forth with me refusing to believe that a tourist destination such as this did not have anything for tourists to do. She was adamant that there wasn’t. So I left. At another hostel I was first shown a room, able to put my bags down, and then helped in hiring a taxi to take me out to Peninsula Valdez which has an abundance of wildlife. Take that mean lady!!! (As such, I highly recomm
end Los Choiques Hostel.)
On the peninsula, my driver spotted a falcon eating a furry critter on the side of the road. Then we saw alpaca-like animals as well as emus. Awesome! He took me to the marina where I got in a boat pushed into the water by a tractor. That’s one way to do it without docks! The ride was quite rocky, but it was amazing because we saw whales and lots of ‘em! I suppose there are no laws in Argentina governing the proximity a boat can get to marine mammals. In fact, the Southern Right Whale is a threatened species and we were probably only 15 feet from them with the engines still running. We had free
reign over the boat, and I climbed into the crows nest for an overhead view of the moms and babies. After almost falling off the top of the boat after one too many strong waves, I decided it was better to observe them from the deck. About half the schoolchildren accompanying me got seasick. Haha. At least I didn’t get pucked on!
So, back to Ushuaia… It is breathtaking here. Think of pretty Alaska, not permafrost Nome, and you’ll get a good idea of what it looks like here. Lots of rivers, lots of snow splotching the pointy mountains, lots of trees. Okay, a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll get some up! Our sites are all at tourist destinations. How much better could that be? One is at least an hour away which is home to a marine mammal museum and the embarkation point to see the penguins on the nearby island. Another is at an inn, which is a popular destination for cross-country skiers in the winter. Our last site is used for peat extraction but is adjacent to a popular camping area with fly fishers too.
The Alicia and Amos arrive tomorrow. I’ll write more about CADIC where I am living then. J Marcela is having a party/dinner at her house tonight that she invited me to. Yes, it begins at 10:30pm, so I am pretty much starving now!!! ttyl!
The whole story involves over 60 hours of sitting in a bus (including a couple hours of sitting in bus terminals waiting for late buses); five different buses (including two unscheduled bus changes), more kilometers than you can count on your fingers and toes (about 3000km), two border crossings, four new passport stamps, and a special two hours of waiting in Ushuaia that lacks a bus terminal making countless calls to someone, anyone to pick me up. On the way I was treated to a view of las pampas which in Spanish translates to scenery that consists of plains as flat as can be vegetated with small shrubs in varying shades from dead yellow to gray-green.Oh, but I wouldn’t have taken a bus if that was all! Looking out the window, I could sometimes spot some waterfowl, wading birds, or even bunnies in addition to sheep and grazing cows. In the last few hours of my journey the trees grew taller, the landscape morphed into a deeper green, and rolling hills rose into precipitous mountains covered in snow.
I also made a pit stop in Puerto Madryn, which sits at about the halfway point between Santa Fe and Rio Gallegos. After stepping off the bus, I went to a travel agent in the terminal who kindly called a hostel for me and found me a bed. My only requirements were that they could book me activities for the one day I’d be there and that they’d pick me up from the terminal since I didn’t want to lug all my bags. I ended up having to take a taxi and pay for it. Then once in the hostel, the lady said that there was absolutely nothing that I could do there since I was just staying for one day and arrived after 8am which is when all the tours leave. We went back and forth with me refusing to believe that a tourist destination such as this did not have anything for tourists to do. She was adamant that there wasn’t. So I left. At another hostel I was first shown a room, able to put my bags down, and then helped in hiring a taxi to take me out to Peninsula Valdez which has an abundance of wildlife. Take that mean lady!!! (As such, I highly recomm
end Los Choiques Hostel.)On the peninsula, my driver spotted a falcon eating a furry critter on the side of the road. Then we saw alpaca-like animals as well as emus. Awesome! He took me to the marina where I got in a boat pushed into the water by a tractor. That’s one way to do it without docks! The ride was quite rocky, but it was amazing because we saw whales and lots of ‘em! I suppose there are no laws in Argentina governing the proximity a boat can get to marine mammals. In fact, the Southern Right Whale is a threatened species and we were probably only 15 feet from them with the engines still running. We had free
reign over the boat, and I climbed into the crows nest for an overhead view of the moms and babies. After almost falling off the top of the boat after one too many strong waves, I decided it was better to observe them from the deck. About half the schoolchildren accompanying me got seasick. Haha. At least I didn’t get pucked on!So, back to Ushuaia… It is breathtaking here. Think of pretty Alaska, not permafrost Nome, and you’ll get a good idea of what it looks like here. Lots of rivers, lots of snow splotching the pointy mountains, lots of trees. Okay, a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll get some up! Our sites are all at tourist destinations. How much better could that be? One is at least an hour away which is home to a marine mammal museum and the embarkation point to see the penguins on the nearby island. Another is at an inn, which is a popular destination for cross-country skiers in the winter. Our last site is used for peat extraction but is adjacent to a popular camping area with fly fishers too.
The Alicia and Amos arrive tomorrow. I’ll write more about CADIC where I am living then. J Marcela is having a party/dinner at her house tonight that she invited me to. Yes, it begins at 10:30pm, so I am pretty much starving now!!! ttyl!
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