We're in Ushuaia, but our bags are not. Boo!
They're probably on some plane that we were supposed to be on. We register that our bags are not here with the nice bags are not here lady and then rest upon the floor. The relatively new Ushuaia airport is quite pleasant to look at from the floor. Here's the view (click this and most other photos to go to flickr for bigger versions, more commentary and more photos):
I check through our various pieces of paper and find that we have a number for a "person on the ground" here in Ushuaia. It's the morning after yet another missed night in a hotel so it's not clear what we should be doing. The friendly person on the other end recommends that we may as well go to the hotel for a couple of reasons: they may still be able to let us in a room for a shower or nap and the tour bus for Tierra del Fuego National Park will depart from there soon.
Our bags show up on the next flight. Things are beginning to look up. We have our gear and we're in the same town as our ship. Every second human in the vicinity is also going to Antarctica so even if we get lost we can probably find the trail.
That's right: Ushuaia is full of people going to Antarctica. On the same day as us. That feels weird.
Our extremely nice taxi guy (again!) takes us to our hotel. We arrive in time to happily pass on a tour bus but be informed of another which will be along in 45 minutes or so. We have time to partake of some breakfast goodies in the hotel and meet Peter and Rachael, a couple from Britain who will be on our boat with us.
The bus comes and we take a few hour tour of Tierra del Fuego National Park (follow that link for more details of the park and some piccies).
The bus tour ends with a not really great meal of some meat served with some meat. We never did get the famous Argentinean beef (made from happy cows. I did not have the potato salad. Science suggests this may have been a wise choice, we must check with Derek. Did he eat the potato salad?
After lunch we ride into town for some brief shopping. We acquire Malbec and Jim Beam. Apparently Maker's Mark is not available outside the US.
Then the boat. Or ship. We board the Professor Multanovskiy, we are on our way. For real. We are going to Antarctica.
