March 9, 2006
Weather: It's COLD here! I'd say upper 40's or low 50's for a high, and it is summertime. The weather is cloudy as well, but at least no rain yet. A warm jacket, hat, and gloves will be required for anything outside.Sleeping Guests: Apparently Terri has made friends with the local bedbug population. She had about 6 fresh new bites on her arms and legs. About half our group has experienced evening interludes with these unwelcomed guests. Although the accomodations we've encountered have no-doubt been modest, I would say only one place we've stayed at has been seriously "below par." But waking up with new bites is never comforting. Roberto (tour leader) has agreed to switch rooms with us, as our window is right next to the noisy road as well. Otherwise, our place is GREAT!Breakfast: Yup, you've guessed it. An assortment of hot teas, coffees, and other unidentifiable liquid options that I want no part of. And the other constant--bread. I have eaten more bread in the last 2 weeks than in the prior year combined I think.Today's morning adventure was actually a pleasant suprise. We did a boat tour of the Beagle Channel, which is the harbor and island-filled waters surrounding the southern tip of the continent. The terrain is mountainous all around us, with distant glaciers visible and waters FILLED with wildlife. Before even exiting the harbor, we saw albatross, playing seals and penguins (TOGETHER), and a surprising humpback whale. We followed the whale for about 15 minutes, as our moronic tourboat captain obviously has ZERO clue about how you might want to treat the gliding undersea beast. We were on a much smaller boat than most, hosting about 20 passengers. By US standards, we got VERY close to the whale. Not that I'm some raging PETA follower, but I must say I got pretty upset at the proximity we encountered the whale. At every opportunity, our boat pretty much puttered right over the top of the whale, forcing it to flash his massive tail and dive down deep. Of course, when the whale came up minutes later, it was full speed ahead, straight at the whale until we went right over it again (with motor running). This happened over and over. I know there must be regulations, but my complaints fell on deaf ears today. Despite this, the tour was a smashing success. Paul, our British birding enthusiast, gave me an education on the birds of South America and all the rare things we were observing. We visited a few islands to observe the birds, with the final island offering a hike to the top of a hill to catch a panoramic view of the mountains and water. It was very nice. After a quick bite in a cafe with Richa and Eddie, we were suckered into the biggest joke of all time. The Mother of ALL tourist traps. We all heard and read of the supposedly nice train ride through the Tierra del Fuego National Park. How nice this could be, to just catch some views in the mountains and enjoy a lazy afternoon? A $3 cab ride brought us to the entrance, and the sign should've been our first hint. The "Sponsored by VISA" portion of the sign was literally bigger than the name of the train ride. Not joking. We paid for our tickets, which came to $25 US. This is one of the costliest things we've come across in all of Argentina. Our 5 hour boatride (covered by GAP), for example, would have been only $30. So this train should be pretty nice.So the one thing I'll put in the trains favor was that it was an actual steam engine on a small gauge track. It was what I'd imagine a tour in Europe to be like, with spectacular mountain vistas even seen in the taxi ride to this place.HOWEVER...... It was the biggest hoax of all time. If you could imagine the crappiest ride in the worst amusement park you've ever been to, this was about it. I could literally run as fast as this train went (even after a 20 ounce steak and king crab). The train only went about 4 miles, and it stopped twice for 20 minutes each (constituting most of the 1 hour travel time, each way). The stops were at man-made spots to look at crappy waterfalls and exhibits they had set up. In addition, we were "supposedly" in inaccessible areas of the National Park. That must've been news to the tourists who travelled there in their cars to take PICTURES OF US in the train going at Mach .0000000001 Speeds. To top it all off, the tour operator went into great detail on the microphone to explain to us how the prisoners in the early 1900's had to cut down all the trees surrounding the tracks. So what was our view? You guessed it. Tree stumps. Not just a few. Thousands. I'll get over it hopefully soon, but I swear the taxi ride to the train offered better views than the train itself. You could see the looks on the faces of the people getting off. This place is a roundup for suckers from out of country---and today we got took. At $25 US a pop, this place is a gold mine. Eddie and I argued whether it was even worth $5 US. I thought maybe it could be. He is even more bitter than me, and I think he will make it his personal mission to educate all of Australia on this possible mishap. Lesson learned.Upon returning, we received some stressful news. Being at the literal End of the Earth, what could be the worst thing to happen? Perhaps getting stuck here? Yup, that's what might be happening. Argentina Airlines has decided to go on a 24 hour strike. We are supossed to fly out in 2 days. We're a 4 day busride to Buenos Aires, where we fly out next Tues. I'm thinkng this might be a problem! Anyway, this could all be resolved tomorrow, or it could be the worst ending to this trip possible. We'll see. But ARG Airlines is the only way to fly from Ushuaia. If not, it may involve a 12 hour busride back to Puerto Natales, a flight to Santiago, Chile, and a subsequent flight from there to B.A. At the FASTEST, that could take 2 days. Houston, we may have a problem! More details to follow. Work will love this one...Dinner tonight was much better King Crab. Dripping in butter, it was cooked with garlic and parsley and was awesome. Even the connesiour, Terri, offered compliments. Time for some sleep. Buenas noches...
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