The national airport is virtually in the center of the city along the river which separates Argentina from Uruguay. It's supposed to be the widest in the world. (is there any river which doesn't have some claim to fame?)

The plane to Ushuaia took about 3 hours, with 1 sto in Trefrew. Upon our arrival, we were taken to a hotel for lunch. The dining room overlooked the center of Ushuaia -- the southernmost city in the world and quite reminiscent of Northern Exposure, but in reverse.

Eventually we made our way to the boat -- bigger than I expected -- an unpacked. The room is small, two beds on either side of a dresser, a bathroom and 3 closets (more, I am told, than in the upgraded cabins).

In the afternoon it was orientation and we were told that the boat would not sale at 4 or 5 as expected, because the local government would not give the ship its petrol. Ah, the joys of third world bureaucracies. It was of course a disappointment but we made the best of it. After the fire drill (described below), we went to the tiny museum at the end of the world -- lots of stuffed birds, some old glass, the usual.

First, however, was the fire drill. Meeting on the "lido" deck (after an announcement by the very wooden Judy Marshall, cruise director), we stood for inspection with our life jackets on -- and this obnoxious, chauvinistic "staff captain" made it his business to check and retie the women's jackets -- but not the men's. Later, the same S.C. berated me for not wearing my name tag.

Just my luck, after cocktails and hors d'ouevres, I was invited to eat with none other than the S.C. What luck. Also at the table were Judy and Larry Boggs from Charlotte, NC, the Chens from Kansas, the Finks, a bizarre mother/son paid (psycho in the making) and the Collins'. I was able to ignore the S.C. by spending the evening talking with Mrs. Chen about raising a Taiwanese son in Topeka. Unlike most Asian woman, Su Chen is very outspoken and I like her a lot.

After dinner, Carole and I took a rather long walk from one end of Ushuaia to the other before turning in for the night.

written by  shoshtrvls on March 2, 1992 from Ushuaia, Argentina
from the travel blog: Antarctica and South America (1992)
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Oh my god Ushuaia in Tierra de Fuego was an amazing trip, we couldn't take the tour to Antartica but still we had a great time and the Australis Kauyeken Hotel de Montaña was the perfect place to end the day. http://www.club.royal-holiday.com/index.php?fuseaction=home.resort&id=126

written by  Ashley on May 19, 2009

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