We tried our best to sleep in, since our flight was leaving until about 12:15pm. Unfortunately, this wasn´t Michaela´s schedule and we were all up earlier than expected. We showered and Michaela joined Margarita in the shower. Then we made our way to breakfast for the standard medialunas and bread with butter and jam.
The owner of the hotel offered to call a taxi for us since it was going to cost us 22 pesos anyway since the bus was so inconvenient. We agreed and Margarita went to pack while I entertained and attempted to feed Michaela - always a stressful time these days. What seemed like just few minutes later, the taxi driver came in to see if we were ready. Where had the time gone? So I told Margarita, who began to stress, and I told the driver we would be ready in 4-5 minutes. We piled into the taxi and Margarita and the driver talked the entire time while I entertained Michaela.
The airport was relatively busy as two flights were arriving and departing relatively close to each other. Our flight to Ushuaia was the first leg of a flight back to Buenos Aires. Many of those on-board wouldn´t be getting off the plane in Ushuaia. The airport check-in was smooth. However, we didn´t have a chance to buy milk in the morning and Michaela was now hungry. Fortunately, the small stand near the gate had milk and a potential disaster (meaning a hungry, crying child) was avoided. The man at the counter seemed surprised that we asked for cold milk, but Michaela is used to cold mlik, and we found out the day before that warm milk will not suffice. The plane was fairly full, but it was a short flight and Michaela was fairly sedate after drinking some milk. After we were served drinks, Michaela amused our neighbors and flight attendants by reaching into Margarita´s cup of coke and retrieving the ice cube, which she delighted in putting into her mouth. After that, we asked for a cup of ice - the flight attendants were very accomodating. Michaela fell asleep just before we landed.
The landing at Ushuaia was smooth but the air was rough as we descended. Nobody clapped this time when we landed. The airport was nice, as expected and Margarita got information about hotels and excursions while I grabbed the luggage with Michaela in the backpack. We grabbed a taxi, which was advertised as 4.5 pesos to central Ushuaia. When we stepped outside, we were greeted by air that was about as warm, maybe warmer, as the air in Calafate. But then the wind picked up and it definitely put a chill on things.
The ride to Ushuaia ended up costing 5 pesos including tip. The town is much closer to the aiport than in Calafate. We stopped at a hotel we had picked out from the Lonely Planet book and the tourist information. We lugged everything inside while I went to check out the 95 peso room. For 95 pesos, it was not as nice as the rooms we had paid 50 pesos for in Bariloche and it wasn´t much better than the room in Calafate. Then I looked at the old TV and decided that Margarita would likely find it unacceptable, so we moved on. Since it was a hassle for us to carry everything around looking for a hotel, I stayed in a confiteria with Michaela and all the stuff while Margarita went out in search of accomodations. I had a hot chocolate and 2 churros for 4 pesos. Michaela managed to eat quite a bit of one churro before she became impatient and I had to let her down to crawl around. Fortunately, she didn´t discover that the glass sliding doors could be moved to access the chocolate that the confiteria also sold.
Margarita returned and off we went to the Hotel La Posada, which I had originally suggested :-). We stopped at a kiosco on the way to the hotel and picked up some milk. Margarita noted that the room had a refrigerator, which is something we find particularly useful while traveling with a baby - and it was only 70 pesos. It wasn´t right in the center of town, but it was a short walk. It has no elevator, but we are on the second floor (actually, here, we´re on the first floor - but in the US it would be the second floor) so it´s not too much of a hike.
After a brief rest and some discussion of what to do next, we headed out for the tourist office to get more information. We asked about whether we could go to Port Williams in Chile, but were referred to a travel agency. We also asked about going to Antartica, since we are so close, but trips stopped in March. We decided to take the city tour at 4:30 for 15 pesos each, but we had about 40 minutes so we decided to walk around a bit. We headed down to the water (the Beagle Channel) and looked at some of the closed travel agencies where we could read about excursions and see some of the prices. We decided to take a boat trip that included stops at a seal colony, a bird colony, and a light house. We´re not sure about other trips yet. We then walked along the water where some kids were feeding the local birds, hoping we could join in. However, by the time we got there, they were chasing the birds. That turned out ok, though, because the wind was blowing pretty hard, making the 10 degree celsius temperature feel much much colder. We decided to spend the rest of the time at a cafe drinking hot chocolate. The time passed quickly and we had to quickly pay and make our way to the bus. The hot chocolates cost 6 pesos each, which was expensive compared to the one I had earlier.
The bus for the city tour was a double-decker former British bus, complete with the warnings about video surveillance and fines for smoking in pounds. We joined about 8 other tourists as the bus made its way around the city and the guide pointed out the former prison (now a base and museum) some of the notable houses, the chair lift, the hotel of the glaciers on the hill, etc, etc. We stopped for a while near the water where we could take pictures of the city and surrounding mountains. By this time, Michaela had fallen asleep and Margarita was forced to remain on the bus in order not to disturb Michaela´s sleep. When we got back on the bus, we were served our choice of tea or coffee with a small chocolate, which was nice. Our last stop was the museum at the site of the former prison. The first thing we saw outside the museum was a statue of a prison official frisking a prisoner with the prisoners arms out and legs spread. It looked to us like a monument to airport security in the US. The museum was 13 pesos each. One part of the museum contains a large number of beautiful scale models of many of the ships that are part of the history of Tierra del Fuego, including the HMS Beagle, on which Darwin was a passenger. There were also maps that showed the shipwrecks of the area over the last 400 years or so. The former prison was also featured but by this time, Michaela´s patience had worn out, so I was forced to carry her in my arms rather than in the backpack. This part of the museum features details about the construction of the prison (by the prisoners themselves) and information about some of the more famous prisoners (like Ricardo Rojas, a communist whose name I forget, and a young, short, big-eared murderer). Some of the prisoners were recreated in lifesize wood figures. I approached one with Michaela, and she moved away from it in the same way that she moves away from a stranger trying to pick her up. She thought it was real! After a short while of demonstrating that it was not real, she seemed to delight in touching it.
Soon thereafter, she became louder and I put her down on the ground so that she could crawl around. However, this wasn´t enough and I soon had her back in my arms. That is when she threw up over herself, me, the backpack, and the floor. What a foul-smelling mess. Of course, we had no napkins or anything to clean it up with, so we ended up using a diaper. Now we understood why Michaela had seemed so irritable earlier - she was sick. I offered to take Michaela back to the hotel so Margarita could see the rest of the museum but she refused and we made our way to exit the museum. On the way out, we were greeted by one of the museum´s officials, who had heard Michaela crying loudly and inquired what was wrong. Margarita explained that Michaela was sick and we were leaving the museum. The museum official offered to make a note on our tickets so that we could return at a later date free of charge, which we took advantage of. How nice!
We began walking back to the hotel and now Michaela, after throwing up, seemed fine. After a brief rest at the hotel, we headed out for dinner. Now we noticed that there weren´t many restaurants near our hotel, so we ended up at another tenedor libre where I went for the buffet and Margarita ordered ravioli. They didn´t have any ravioli, so canneloni was offered, and Margarita agreed. Unfortunately, it was spinach canneloni, which Margarita doesn´t like, and it wasn´t very good. On the other hand, I had an awesome selection of lamb, chorizo, and beef, which was delightful. Michaela, by this time, was so hungry that only milk would satisfy her, but we insisted on trying to feed her anyway, and ended up frustrating all of us. When we finally caved and gave her a bottle of milk, she was fine. Total for the meal, including two drinks, was 28 pesos. On the way back to the hotel, we got an ice cream for Margarita, who had barely eaten anything. Unfortunately, that wasn´t very good either. Not Margarita´s day.
All of the shops and signs around here say how Ushuaia is the end of the world, but it doesn´t really feel like it. It feels like just another town - not as touristy as Bariloche or even Calafate, but it doesn´t feel like we´re at any frontier or on the edge of civilization. Sayache in Guatemala felt much more frontier-like. As two signs have pointed out, American Express is the official card of Ushuaia (I am not kidding). There are large Amex ads on some of the tourist literature. Mastercard, on the other hand, is the official card of San Martin de los Andes (again, I am not kidding).
There is a great sign along the main street with arrows in all directions with the names of destinations and how far away they are. Tokyo seems to be the farthest, at 17,000+ km. The noth pole is only 16,000+ km.
Buenas tardes....
Posted by mike at May 18, 2003 07:11 PM