Greetings From the Ends of the Earth

Our trip got underway on the 27th with a 6:15 am flight to Miami.  I love to start a trip tired from getting up at 4 in the morning, not.  We had a long day of flying ahead of us with another one on Sunday.  The 9 hour plus flight from Miami to Buenos Aires gave me time to read about the Shackleton exploration of 1914-1916.  Alfred Lansing's book, "Endurance" follows the fateful trip of 28 men who set out to circumnavigate the South Pole but instead spent almost 2 years trying to survive in the frigid Artic Circle after loosing their ship to ice flows.  If you like tales of humans overcoming incredible adversity, I highly recommend you give this book a go.

Arriving in BA at 10:30 pm, we had a very short night in a clean but very basic hotel near the airport.  Our 5 am shuttle meant we got less than 4 hours sleep, but that's what planes are for, right?  We arrived at the southern most city in the world, Ushuaia, Sunday afternoon.  The bustling little town of 60,000 seems like something you might see in Alaska, rough streets in places and cute little stores, restaurants and hotels off the main drag of St. Martin.

The approach into the airport was spectacular with snow capped mountains falling into the blue ocean.  I think this could probably provide enough entertainment for several days, hiking around the parks(this is part of Patagonia), boating the Beagle Channel and wondering around the town.

After checking into our Hotel, Las Lengas, (and taking a quick nap) we strolled into town to look around.  A lot of stores were closed since it was Sunday but we were so tired we probably didn't need to make any major purchasing decisions like whether we liked the pink penguin t-shirt or the gray whale.  On the street facing the waterfront, we found a very cute bar/restaurant for dinner and a local brew.  The place served as a general store for many years before becoming a bar and there's still remnants of its former life hanging and sitting everywhere.  We overcame the language barrier to order a Drake beer and a plate of the day.  It was delicious and just what we needed before heading off to bed.

Tomorrow we go full tourist