Ushuaia - The End of the World

This past Friday, October 30th, I set off on a journey to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world! One of my friends from the University, Laura Van Mareem, had told me her interest earlier, and she decided to come with! So we left at 4:30 to get to the airport and fly south! (1200 miles from Antarctica) Thanks to a silly error on my end I didn't get to leave until the 8 o'clock flight, so Laura went ahead of me and I met up with her later!

Flying into Ushuaia was a truly breathtaking experience! So many mountains around the city--we were covered in them! They say that there isn't a horizon in Ushuaia because Mountains are everywhere you look! I met up with Laura at a café and we planned our weekend excursions and trips! Due to the foul weather (windy to rainy to, snowy!? Didn't know it snowed in Argentina, only GCC) we went to see the Museum of the end of the World

(Mueso del fin del Mundo which sounds better :p). We continued on around some other little cute museums and places. I walked with Laura back to her Hostel and we decided to meet the next day early to see the national park, Tierra Del Fuego (The firelands!). I arrived at my CS host's house, Sandra, and we chatted for a little while. I went out and bought food for the next day, and learned that a Spanish girl was staying with another CS friend across the street, and she wanted to go to Tierra del Fuego too! So I stopped over and met her, and she was cooking dinner--a nice Spanish treat of tortilla española. Turns out Marta (the host) was going to take her to the park tomorrow; since CS is a pretty "come along!" system, I found space for myself and Laura to go!

We headed out the next day around 9:30 to pick up Laura and get to the park! We saved about $10 in bus fare because Marta had a car. Furthermore, when we got to the entrance, we got in for free! They said we were Argentines (Laura and I are residents, so it was true :p) and didn't have to pay. Yay! We spent the next 10 hours hiking and trekking all over one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot). The pictures tell the tale...

I was fairly tired after 12+ miles of hiking, so decided to go to bed. I woke up the next day and Laura and I met at the dock for a tour! We saw some fun little sites, mostly famous touristy sites, but nonetheless a lot of fun! After we got back we headed to see Glaciar Martial, which was interesting. The trail was closed or something, so we didn't make it. We then returned and went to the Museum of the old jail. Glad I wasn't a prisoner back then! Well, that I'm not a prisoner now, either. It was quite interesting (and very big!). I said bye to Laura (she was heading back home that night), and went back to Sandra's. I took a nap (10:30-12 a.m.) and woke up refreshed. Some of my GCC friends were on Skype so we chatted (the 2 hour time difference favors them) as well as I talked to my beautiful girlfriend Laura.

Monday I had no plans. I was pretty tired from all the trekking and seeing, and had pretty well explored Ushuaia.

So I decided to take it easy! I relaxed quite a bit, and even studied for my economics final that wasn't until Thursday! Such a good student I am..). There was a big fútbol match on later, so some people came over and

we enjoyed the game. I headed to the airport around 9 to get home! Thanks to an unexplained delay I arrived at around 2, finally making it home at 3!

This trip to Ushuaia was my last "during the semester" trip. Thanks to some finals I was able to take earlier (i.e. Thursday and today) I am DONE with the scholastic endeavors! However, I start traveling again Sunday night! The cities and sights on the agenda are: Salta, Argentina (in the north), San Pedro de Atacama, Chile (driest desert in the world!), Uyuni, Bolivia (largest salt flat in the world), Potosí, Bolivia (one of the largest copper mines in the world), La Paz, Bolivia (My friend from GCC Dr. Kriley is going to visit here! Also, highest capital in the world (elevation) with trips to Lago Titicaca (highest navigable lake in the world)), and Cusco, Arequipa, and Lima, Peru with my wonderful dad and Uncle Ralph! I should be able to post every once in a while, but don't expect too much :p

As always, thanks for reading and posting! Chau ~~ Benjamín