Ushuaia, Argentina

Saturday, February 11, 2006

We woke to arrive at the town of Ushuaia, Argentina. The community battles with the city of Punta Arenas for the title of the world’s most southerly city, but Punta Arenas doesn’t believe that they are large enough to qualify as a city and therefore shouldn’t be entitled to the claim.

I was supposed to get up at 5:00 to look at the glacial ice fields, but I was too tired and at 5:00 it was pitch black; I didn’t think that I’d be able to see anything, so I decided to wake up at 6:10 at sunrise.

My Dad came back at about 5:20. He’d been up to the helicopter pad at the very top part of the ship only to find the place deserted. He bumped into the ship’s naturalist and was told that they had past the ice fields at 4am. We weren’t sure why we were told to wake up at 5:00 to see the fields until we arrived at Ushuaia. We sat at the dock for about 2 hours while the immigration authorities checked out the ship to make sure that everything was in order. I suppose that the captain knew that the paperwork was going to be a hassle and decided to gun it in order to get to port as early as possible; a few pictures of icebergs by a few passengers became a minor concern.

I ended up getting out of bed at 8:30. I took a quick shower and headed for breakfast. I decided on banana pancakes with strawberries. I wandered down to the computer lab to send an email to my sister and then went back to the room. It was about 10:00 and my Dad was nowhere to be found.

We were supposed to go on an expedition at 10:30 so I watched “Ray” on TV and waited for my Dad. He arrived at about 10:20 and we headed down to the Celebrity Theatre for our tour.

My Dad had forgotten his wallet and sent me back to the room to fetch it from the safe. I did grab the wallet and made my way down to the theatre. The captain came over the PA system and announce that there was going to be a emergency and safety drill for the crew at 10:30. As I wandered around the alarm went off and the drill began. By the time I arrived at the theatre it was completely deserted. Granted, I was late, but I expected to see someone.

I figured that the tour had left and it was important for me to leave the ship and try to find my Dad and his friends outside on the pier. The problem was that I got completely lost. The lower sections of the ship are extremely difficult to navigate and many sections are completely closed off to guests. I asked someone and they told me to go to Level 1 Midship, which I tried to do but only got confused and lost.

Eventually, I decided to head back upstairs to a floor I recognized and then make my way down again. I found it this time. I went through security and then zipped outside. I heard my Dad shout my name and I ran through the photo stand and over to the catamaran that we were supposed to board. Apparently, when my Dad arrived the gangplank to the catamaran was already lifted and they had to replace it in order for my Dad and his friends to get on. They were just about to leave when my Dad told them that he wouldn’t go without me. At that moment I exited the ship and they waited the fifteen seconds for me to run over and jump on.

The trip on the catamaran was amazing. It was a bright sunny day without too much wind so it felt quite warm. We puttered along down The Beagle Channel named after Charles Darwin’s ship that navigated these waters during his South American expeditions. We saw islands covered with sea lions, and local birds. It wasn’t vastly thrilling, but I really enjoyed watching the sea lions lazing around in the sun and frolicking in the water. It was just nice to be outside and to have such wonderful weather. There were a lot of albatrosses coasting around and they were quite mesmerizing.

When we returned to the pier, we zipped back to the cruise ship to have lunch, and then we returned to Ushuaia to look around town. We did some shopping and took some pictures. I bought some postcards and looked at some artisan shops.

Ushuaia is a beautiful city. Once a penal colony, it became an important stop for ships navigating the difficult waters around the tip of South America. All these port towns began to suffer with the opening of the Panama Canal, but now rely on tourism. Ushuaia is a staring point for many research expeditions to Antarctica. In fact, a National Geographic ship (Endeavour) was docked beside us.

I sent some postcards from Ushuaia, and returned to the ship. When back on board I realized that it was time for the Spelling Bee and so I headed to the Rendez Vous lounge to enter. When I arrived, they were already on word 9 of 15. I asked if it was too late and the woman in charge sent me to sit beside a woman at the front. I spelled the remaining 6 words out on a piece of paper.

When the bee was finished, we corrected the words, and I discovered that the woman that I was sitting beside—her name was Pat and she was a mother of 4 from Pittsburgh—were a team. I corrected the spelling of all her words (the ones that I had missed from being late) and we ended up getting 15 out of 15 right. I was shocked that the other teams were getting 9 of 15. We ended up blowing everyone away and we won an insulated cup for our efforts. The words weren’t difficult: kaleidoscope, denouement, chimera, for example. Still, it was fun to win. Next time, my Dad and all his friends and I are going to be on the same team so that we can all get a free cup.

It was about 5:00 at this point and we decided to go up to our room, so that my Dad’s friends could teach me how to play Bridge and we could all have some drinks. We cracked open some bottles of pisco sours and I had a lesson. Before we knew it it was 8:00. We not only had been drinking for three hours, but we had had to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was quite good. I was ready to have a few more drinks, but everyone else had hit the wall and were quite tired. It was a much calmer and less rambunctious evening than ones earlier in the trip, but that was fine with me. Our friends at the other table were mysteriously absent so I was happy that I wasn’t going to have to absorb any knuckle sandwiches.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

This morning, we woke up at 7:15 so that we could go up on deck to get a good view of Cape Horn. Cape Horn is the southern tip of the continent with nothing south until Antarctica. There is a lighthouse which not only warns ships, but is mainly a way for the Chile to claim the land and to prevent it being taken by Argentina. Apparently the land has been landmined by the two countries to prevent it from being claimed and taken. Sounds pretty dumb to me, but that’s the way things are.

We took a few pictures. The weather is crummy today. It’s rainy, overcast and gloomy. My Dad and I went downstairs for breakfast and watched the scenery go by. I had fruit, yogurt, and a pain au chocolat.

We went back up to the room and my Dad got ready to go to his course. Since this is a dental cruise, he needs to take a course for five hours this morning, Tuesday, and Thursday. He’s not too happy about it, but he knows that he has to do it. I think that I’ll go peek in a little later. Maybe I’ll point and laugh through the window, just like I might do if I had a spare and all my friends had to sit through Chemistry.

There isn’t much happening today. I’m going to go for a run, and maybe a swim. The casino opens again tonight, and they are giving everyone a $5 matchplay chip. I figure that I might play a little. It’s a formal night again tonight and I like being at the casino in a tuxedo.