Sunday, November 9, 2014
Ushuaia, Patagonia, Argentina
So here we begin the meat of the trip, and by meat I mean that quite literally, the famed Argentinian beef is absolutely everything is cracked up to be… but let me back up and share the travel experience down here. Starting with the fact that I finished packing at 4 am, had a 9 am doctors appointment and a non flight i managed a grand totall of two and a half hours of sleep. But not a big deal right I have oodles of flight time to sleep. Well flight from Detroit to Miami, my first class upgrade was bogarted by some other schmoe who had more status than me. This put me in an aisle seat next to the mossad middle aged double for Justin Timberlake. . Yes sporting the pot belly, receding hairline, gold rimmed Ray ban aviator sunglasses, he proceeded to pretend that he owned the entire route, elbowing me and kicking me almost twice a minute and hollering to his traveling companions the whole way. … actually not such a big thing since i couldn’t sleep anyway. The rest of the trip actually to Buenos Aires was completely uneventful. No, noxious passengers, no delays, no anything, just some very sub par business class meals and some definitely not sub par vino.
Upon arrival in Buenos Aires, i find myself with three hours to burn of which one and a half are spent navigating the fact that indeed while I’m a connecting passenger in not a connecting passenger and I still have to clear customs and pick up my bag. .. speaking of which, we seeseethe reappearance of the massive duffel lady seen on Gino’s back on the island of Kho Phi Phi, in Thailand. Yes since I am not backpacking this trip i decided to pack easy and take the body bag with me and it is serving me well.
Working my way to my connecting terminal I’m struck by how I haven’t been out of the country in a long time. The communist concrete architecture, the language barrier, the depressed economy… All aspects of foreign travel i had come to take as second nature, struck me as a challenge anew. But i quickly remembered why i so enjoyed the challenge.
Eventually, after literally walking past my friends I was meeting and deciding they weren’t there, I took a nice nap overlooking the tarmac. Eventually Mt good friend Lisa finds me and introduces me to my now new fast friends Nick and Amy. A lovely couple friends of Lisa’s from New York. Some of you may know that Lisa and i have been friends for close to twenty years having met in marching band at Michigan, so what a pleasure it is to see my good friend again,.
After meeting, discovering we’re on a two hour delay, what would you expect from me at this point. … if you said cocktails how right you would be. While the ladies shafted a very special vintage if Chandon 187 out of plastic cups, the boys skated the crystal of beers out of lovely wide mouth bottles. … I don’t often drink champagne at 9 in the morning, but when i do, it’s of of cheap plastic cups. #keepitclassyargentina.
Finally we’re on the bus in our way to the plane after our delay. .. whoops, that was. .. I kid you not, literally a thirty second U-turn by the bus to literally take us to the other side I’d the curb, ,, funny stuff these government job works programs!
Finally on the plane and finally I’m in Ushuaia, the end of the earth, or fin del monde.
I’m excited to say the trip was smooth. .. but I’m disappointed that nobody guessed the right items if forget.
The appropriate connection cables to connect Gino’s kick ass camera to my tablet, and the right adapter to connect my Africa famous Olympus point and shoot camera to the tablet. However not a crisis as Nick had the appropriate cables, but i would love my own so i will revisit the amazing camera store around the corner in the morning to find what i need,… is only money right?
But the rest of the afternoon we spend checking into our lovely hotel, orienting ourselves to this beautiful town, grabbing a coulee beers and as great budget and then later a fabulous t-bone steak with some magnificent Argentinian cabernet and Malbec wines. It’s now time for bed and at 3 tomorrow is time to board the Akademik Ioffe and begin the boat trip to Antarctica!
Sounds like you are going to have another wonderful adventure. Looking forward to more updates. It sure beats staying around to watch MI football – at least that's what they are calling it!.
Antarctica, now that's a destination! Hope you have a fantastic trip Bill, enjoy.
Have fun Bill. Always enjoy reading about your adventures.