DAY FOUR (Feb 19)

We awake and have a full day to walk around and check out this sleepy city but most of our concerns are focused on what do we do if our luggage does not show up.  Breakfast at the hotel is simple, pastries, a couple slices of ham and drinks of your choosing.  I’d do something creative for some eggs but it seems that is a difficult commodity to find at the End of the World. But the views from the breakfast room are really good and we can see the Port and even the sun is making an attempt to break through the clouds, alas unsuccessfully so.  So with bellies full once again and our stress levels high with the prospect of having no luggage, we head off into town and find a grocery store that sells different aspects of clothing.

The day shines bright, not!  Overcast and drizzly, but not terrible.  The airlines has assured us they will replace anything we need so we seek out some of the basics, underwear and socks.  The sizes are all based on European sizes and they run different than US sizes.  This is our first time having to replace these items in a foreign country and it is more than a little daunting to find the right items and I wonder if I will become a soprano before this trip is over.

We carry our latest acquisitions back to the hotel and contact the airlines again.  But their understanding of our plight seems to be lacking.  There aren’t many flights that come in to this part of the world from the US and we continually plead with them to get our luggage delivered.  We inform them of our guidelines that we have to turn our luggage in to the ship the following morning and our hopes are dwindled once again.  One person on the airlines end, upon hearing that we are getting on a ship, even suggested that they can deliver our luggage to our first Port.  We quizzically told them, “Yeah, you do that!”.  Since there are no “Ports” in Antarctica (except Port Lockroy, the little British Post Office), it showed us the mentality we were working with.  But we are told our luggage is scheduled to arrive today by 1:00PM!

We make our way down to the Port and buy tickets for the City Tour bus but we discover that acquiring Argentinean Pesos will be to our advantage.  It seems that the few chances we have had to spend money in Argentina, everyone takes US Dollars and is happy to do so.  I’ve discovered why, it’s because the exchange rate that small vendors charge is much higher than the actual value.  So after we get our Tour Tickets, we seek out a Cambio (Money Exchange) and we find one a couple blocks away and we arm ourselves with Pesos.  We walk back to the Tour Bus with the pipe dream of getting a front row seat but it is not to be had because we were not willing to sit in the bus for an hour and we needed time to get Pesos anyway. We watch a small plane make its way lazily into the local airport and take a scant few photos of town, even getting a glimpse of our Expedition Ship that has arrived in Port!

So here we are, in the middle of the bus, top row (A double-decker) waiting for the bus to fill up and the Tour to start.  It seems I have developed an issue with a toenail as I haven’t been able to properly cleanse, groom and take care of personal hygiene because all my toiletries are in my lost luggage, so being tucked back in a seat out of prying eyes has it’s advantages. I get to fuss with my sore toe somewhat privately.  Our luggage is supposed to arrive by 1:00PM this afternoon.  We’re hoping that is does because that will take a great weight off our shoulders and I will be able to take care of my toe and we can keep moving on.  So now for the City Tour to begin!

This town has a local University, restaurants that catch our eye, we see soccer practice in the rain and the local Rugby Club! A local park with its own lake, views of the rugged Patagonian Andes standing tall above the city assaults our senses and shows us the amazing place Ushuaia is!

The City Tour commences and we get an overview of this fun little city down at the End of the World.  It is picturesque and quaint with quiet streets and scenic overviews.  They take us up into the hills and down to the port and tell us all about this place that started as a Penal Colony.  After all, it is a perfect place to put the dregs of society with little hope of them escaping anywhere.  They instead turned the place into a thriving city with a bustling economy! Flag displays and a local shipyard where the bus stops for 15 minutes so we can get photos of this magical place. We pass by the local marina and look over the town and mountains that seem fresh out of a post card. There’s even a casino in town! A beached boat museum and street art catch the camera’s eye and the bus arrives back at the Port and we get off. I have to notice as I do everywhere we travel, telephone poles and wire configurations that would drive an electrical engineer crazy!

We commence walking around town, checking out the streets and views, coming across the Maritime Museum and prison. Looking back at the Port through the streets, we see our Expedition ship is sitting there patiently waiting for us. The local Naval Hospital and a set of Navy Ships that look different from any we’ve seen before are interesting sights.

Different buildings and street views capture our attention as well as a local bus decorated as a Prison Train and our eyes and cameras are entertained. The small storm has dropped snow in the mountains and give them a totally different look from what we saw from the plane as we arrived here!

The Tour completed, we walk into town and find lunch. Elee gets a ‘Hermone Queso Sandwich’ that doesn’t impress.  I order ‘King Crab Ravioli’ that does impress!  This town is known for its King Crab so I guess that was the better choice.  We actually put Elee’s sandwich bread to good use to ‘mop up’ the sauce from the ravioli!

Now back to our hotel in hopes our luggage is there!  If our bags don’t arrive, maybe we’ll come home equipped with name brand stuff!. Found a North Face Store that wants $200.00 for their cheapest shoes! Fleece Lined Pants, only $250.00. In our luggage, we have all of these things in multiples and we didn’t spend much more than 10-20% of those prices!  Well, you guessed it.  Our luggage is not at the hotel as promised.  Devastation sets in.  Not sure if we are experiencing anger, depression or a bit of both.  How can we get on an Expedition Ship to Antarctica tomorrow without all the clothing and other supplies we spent 6 plus months acquiring?

So we spend a couple hours in our hotel trying to relax.  We both take a short nap.  But, unable to sleep, I sit at my laptop and edit some of my pictures that I took this morning on the City Tour.  Anyone who knows me will understand that is one way I relax, editing my photos.  I get to block out the real world and play in my world of Color, Contrast and Composition, my 3-C’s.  I rarely can get enough of this when I travel.  I can do this somewhat mindlessly and think about what I need to do as the pictures fly by my eyes and travel through my brain.

Ok, the worst case scenario has occurred regarding our lost luggage.  Our luggage is nowhere to be found!  We decide to grab a cab to the local airport to see if the luggage maybe arrived and got stalled in the airport. So Elee, bless her heart, gets on the phone to the airlines, both in the USA and the Argentinean airlines that we traveled on.  USA airlines says the luggage is in Ushuaia and Argentinean airlines says it never left the USA.  Who to believe?  Probably Argentina because the luggage is not in sight.  Not only don’t they have it, but it turns out the US Airlines is or has lied to us and it seems that no one has a clue of their whereabouts. The airlines says it was delivered to the local airport down here in Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and Ushuaia Airport says it has not left Miami.  We can’t understand why it even went to Miami for it should have gone from Atlanta to Buenos Aires.  One person even found something that says it was loaded onto Air France to Buenos Aires.  Go figure.  Bottom line is IT’S NOT HERE!!! It is now 4:00PM and we have to turn our luggage in at 9:30AM tomorrow to be loaded on our ship.

So we spot a steward holding up a sign in the airport identifying our Expedition Ship.  We approach her and ask who we should speak to about not boarding the ship as we don’t feel we could do that without luggage.  She assures us we can make it work and she puts us on a bus that is heading for our hotel anyway for a late afternoon safety briefing.  They all assure us that we can get what we need in town. We attend the briefing and they assure us we have the info we need so we leave and off we go into town to start buying replacement stuff.  We have weighed our options and realized that our chances of ever making this trip again, considering the logistics and complexities of arranging it, even paid for by the airlines or someone else, are slim to none.  We have so much planned to do in the next 5 years that it likely won’t happen again. (This should give all you Blog Followers something to look forward to, LOL)

So off to shop.  In the rain.  Not drench you rain, but keep you damp rain. We find an Adventure/Trekking store named “The Scandinavian” and buy 2 new suitcases and start filling the cases with new clothing and gear made by “Columbia” The North Face” etc. High end stuff that we would never buy at home because of the cost, but it sure seems like some nice stuff. But we have to get everything from underwear on up.

I have to admit, when the sales people tried to inform us of the price of some things, it was kind of fun to tell them “We don’t care! We’re not the ones paying for it!”  We just went through the store and they had two employees catering on each of us. “Here, this fits, I’ll take it!” or “Give me one of each color, I’m going to be there 14 days!”.  The store closed at 8:00PM and we kept them busy until almost 9:00PM.  But we were their biggest customers in months and they treated us like royalty and even gave us 20% off, but that still gave them a great profit!

So 92,000 Argentine Pesos later (approximately $3000 US), we have two suitcases full of clothing and it still doesn’t satisfy our needs for the trip so there will be more shopping tomorrow!  But we are exhausted so we wheel our new suitcases down the streets of this quaint little town at 9 o’clock at night amidst onlookers that gawk and stare at us, likely thinking, “Who are these Newbie Tourists coming down the road?”  But they are friendly as all people we meet and no one questions us.   Probably have 20-40,000 Pesos left to spend.  For those of you that are currency challenged (like us), we have spent over $3000.00 US Dollars already and likely have $500-1000 left to spend.

So we ask the clerk in the clothing store for a restaurant recommendation and he tells us about a place down the street, “Ramos Generales” and gives us directions.  We find the restaurant where the greeters tell us to put our bags in the front, next to the front door and they usher us to a back room, out of sight of our bags (Oh, the horror!)  It turns out this was a General Store of sorts with a very homey feel and we are impressed. The place is filled with customers and live music is playing!  But we are exhausted and out of sight of our $92,000 Pesos worth of new gear and we both sigh and resign ourselves to whatever fate shall meet us.  So we look at each other and grin.  It will be what it will be.  Elee orders Rabbit and I order Lamb.  Absolutely delicious food and friendly staff abounds around us.  Live music plays in the next room and is clearly heard by all.  Even bits and pieces of Peruvian Pipe Music plays (which we fell in love with several years ago in Peru) and all is good for the moment.

And we know there will be compromises because we already spent 6 months at home acquiring the right items for us. And we find ourselves making lists while sitting in a restaurant after shopping to see what we don’t have yet. We will turn in 3 out of 4 bags for the boat in the morning and shop to fill the last. We have been given a deadline of 5 PM to show up at the boat with the final bag.

Ohlala! There’s a Sale! I wonder if it will help us? Oh well, it was a fun thought (And Storefront for that matter!)

Gotta love this town though! So much so that we’ll throw it a kiss! MUAA! And a store threw one back! LOL

Who can tell us where to buy handwarmers in Ushuaia! That and sock liners, etc, it’s proving a challenge but one we have to take on. The Airlines claims they will reimburse us for our losses. Let’s hope they’re ready for the bill! Oh wait, we have a retired lawyer in the family with extra time on her hands! But that story has yet to be written.

So off we go to back to our hotel. Our bags are still sitting undisturbed by the front door of the restaurant, much to our delight. We ask the restaurant staff to call a taxi for us and we sit on our bags in front of the restaurant and wait for the taxi to arrive. A few minutes later and 203 Argentinian Pesos poorer ($4.53 US), we are en route to the hotel, exhausted yet excited and thrilled that our trip is not a total failure. If we had paid the taxi in US Dollars, it probably would have been $10.00, so our move to acquire Pesos was a smart one! We bed down and set our alarms to get up early to finish our shopping.

DAY THREE (Feb 18)

Okay, so many of you have been bugging us for photos, and they start today! So sharpen up your eyeballs and get ready!

We take off from Buenos Aires around 11:00AM and soon we make a stop in a small town called Telew, Argentina.  Most of the passengers on the plane depart and a few board.  So with a half full plane, something you rarely see anymore, we take off again and land in Ushuaia, Argentina.  Also known as “Tierra del Fuego” (“Land of Fire”) and in an area known as “Patagonia”, this town (city?) is nicknamed, “Fin del Mundo” (“End of the World”)

(Etymology:  The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón, which was used by Magellan in 1520 to describe the native tribes of the region, whom his expedition thought to be giants. It is now believed that the people he called the Patagons were Tehuelches, who tended to be taller than Europeans of the time.  This might explain some phenomenon we encountered on our trip to Machu Picchu several years ago)

Our luggage nowhere in sight, we have another uneventful flight to Tierra del Fuego.  We check on a whim, but our luggage did not make the plane.  So off we go to our hotel in Ushuaia.  This is a quaint little city, the southernmost in the world.  It is cool and a crisp 35 degrees Fahrenheit here even though it is summer in this part of the world.  Sure glad I bought a sweatshirt in Miami, knowing the chances of having luggage upon arrival was slim to none.

The views out of the Commercial Airliner windows were Stunning!

It is now day 3, our flight to Buenos Aires using up one night and we have nothing to do but check out this little city built on a hill that once used to be a penal colony.  Contact with the airlines still assures us that we will get our luggage soon.  We hope so because we are in day 3 with the same clothes on.  We acquired some underwear and sweatshirts in Miami just in case and we are at least glad for that.  We now have a day and a half before we need to turn that luggage in to the ship for our Expedition even further south.

Ushuaia turns out to be quite the bustling place with a circuit of one way streets lined with restaurants, stores and shops that open around 10 AM and close from 1 to 4 PM for siesta and open again until around 8 PM.  We spy some Patagonian Adventure Gear Stores and make note of their locations in case we need them. We even find a “Hard Rock Café” in Ushuaia of all places! We stop in and have a drink just because when are you ever going to be in a Hard Rock Café in Ushuaia?  So the end of Day 3 comes and we find ourselves having dinner in a fabulous lamb restaurant. The chef tells me he cooks 10-12 full animals each DAY! And he cooks them on a revolving smoker/cooker and what you order is a ‘chunk’ of lamb and that is what you get! Lamb, skin and any offal that happens to come along with it. Not being a fan of offal, (I believe that whomever named it ‘Offal’, knew what he was doing!) but the lamb was perfectly seasoned and cooked to perfection!

After dinner, we strolled back to the hotel and ended up getting lost at night (It was after 11 PM so it was dark) and wandered this way and that until we eventually found our hotel. Never felt worried at all for our safety. Passed many people and everybody greeted everybody as friends!  We have another chat with the airlines in an unfruitful attempt to acquire our lost luggage.   So we turn in for a night’s rest in a hotel bed.

DAY TWO (Feb 17)

Boarded a mid morning flight and landed in Miami, let’s go get our bags and figure out what to do with them for 5 hours.  What?  Where are they?  All the other passengers have got their bags and here we are standing at the carousel and there are no bags left, let alone OUR bags!  This nightmare is getting worse.  Off to baggage claim to figure this out.  Our luggage is still in Atlanta?  It was supposed to follow us this morning!  We have to go to South America this afternoon!  How do we get our bags there?  So many questions, so much stress!  Not to worry, we’re told, our bags will be shipped!  All we can do is get on the next flight and let the airlines do their job!  Well, at least we don’t have to roll our huge bags around with us for the next 5 hours!  Our lost luggage claim filed (This moment will become more important later) and we’re off to check out Miami for a few hours.  So as a wise friend taught us, “Stay Calm and Get Yourself a Drink!

Grabbed a fun lunch at Chili’s II and kicked back for a few hours, not much else to do.  Not enough time for a proper visit.  We go back in the airport and go through security and check in to our flight to Buenos Aires, only 24 hours later than our original booking.  Sure glad we planned to visit South America for a few days before our Expedition Ship departs!

We board the flight scheduled to leave at 6:00PM, after finding out that our luggage is still in Atlanta, unsure of our luggage whereabouts and we have an eventless flight south. I think we both even managed to get a few hours sleep!  We arrive in Buenos Aires around 7:00AM local time and have a few hours this time to get on our flight to Ushuaia.  Our luggage has not arrived but we knew in Miami that it would not be on the plane.  So we get on a transit bus to go across the airport to our next flight to Ushuaia.  The good news is that our original schedule had us traveling across Buenos Aires to a totally different airport for our flight south to Ushuaia.  Now we travel out of EZE (same airport) to Ushuaia and only have to travel across the airport on an internal bus.

Who wants to go to Antarctica with me? Any takers? No? Too bad, I’ll have to take my wife and leave the rest of you behind!!! If you haven’t “Followed” my blog yet, do it now! You’ll see some superb photos, I hope! Go on and ‘follow’ it now! See you all soon! I’ll be incommunicado for the next several weeks!

DAY ONE (Saturday, Feb 16)

Okay, here we are again, heading for the airport for a new adventure.  We’ve spent the last 6 months acquiring just the right items to take us south.  Far South.  So far south that no one lives there.  Well, no towns or cities anyway.  Yes, you guessed it, we’re off to visit Antarctica.  Not a typo, Antarctica.  That place at the ‘bottom’ of the world.  Why?  Good question.  Because.  Because we can.  And because we love to see things with our own eyes that can only be imagined otherwise.

So it’s off to the airport with huge bags full of warm fluffy clothing and hand warmers.  Lots of hand warmers.  Foot warmers too.  Oh, and Body Warmers.  Lots of Warmers, so many that we had to pay attention where we packed them so no one piece of luggage is too heavy.

Waterproof gloves, Fleece lined pants.  Sweaters.  Double lined jackets and hats.  So many unique and special items that we have spent such a long time finding.  This trip will be our most special yet!

And my cameras, you may ask.  What am I bringing?  Well the answer is all of it.  Every last lens and camera body.  Wait, all that won’t fit in my camera bag/carry on.  Hmmm, have to leave something behind.  Ok so I want wide angle and telephoto but can’t fit it all in.  What to do, what to do.  Time to go shopping and find something new.  What’s that, we plan to kayak?  That’s going to be an issue with the big equipment.  Can’t kayak with an EOS 5D and 400mm lens.   Hmmm, what’s this on Amazon, a point and shoot that zooms from 20mm to 1365mm?  No, that kind of thing doesn’t exist.  But wait, here it is, right there on that page.  Okay, I’ll try it, what do I have to lose?  And it’s made by Canon, can’t be bad!

Wait, Elee needs a new camera also?  Ok, find her one.  Here’s the perfect camera for her!  Place the order.  Gotta love Amazon Prime!  New stuff arrives in a day or two, from clothing to cameras.  Okay, cameras packed and ready to go.  All fits in my carry on too!  Don’t forget the waterproof housing for kayaking!  Got it.

Here’s the shuttle to take us to the airport.  Right on time.  A welcome change from our Cuba trip.  Arrive at the airport with plenty of time to spare.  Check our bags in.  What?  There’s a delay?  Not to worry, delays happen all the time.  What do you mean, we’ll miss our connection in Atlanta?  There was only 45 minutes for our first connection and we’re delayed 35 minutes?  Oh man, our first problem and we haven’t even boarded the first plane!  What’s that, the airline will take care of everything.  Not sure we like the sound of that, when has an airline ‘taken care of everything’?  Oh well, it will be what it will be.  Let’s get on the plane and get going!

Eventless first flight, except we left 35 minutes late.  But as we approach Atlanta, we hear that we are arriving on time!  WhooWee, the pilot ‘stepped on the gas’!  We’ll be fine after all.  So we disembark and head for our connection, only a few minutes late from the original schedule.  We waste no time getting to our connection.  Wait, what’s that?  The gate door is closed?  But we’re here on time!  There’s still 20 minutes before the plane leaves!  What’s that, the plane is full?  How can that be, we have tickets?  Our seats were sold?  We weren’t scheduled to make it on time?  But how can we get to Buenos Aires?  We have another connection from there!  Oh this is bad.  Very bad!  What do we do now?  There are no flights to Buenos Aires tonight?  So what do you suggest we do?  Go to Customer Service, they will take care of you.  Hmmm, this is not good, not good…

We walk across the terminal to find Customer Service.  Oh there it is, over there.  So what happens now?  You’ll put us on the first flight in the morning to Miami?  We don’t want to go to Miami, we want to go to Buenos Aires and then to Ushuaia, Argentina.  How does that happen?  The earliest flight to Buenos Aires is via Miami?  Okay, I guess.  But what do we do tonight?  You’ll give us Hotel Vouchers?  I guess we have no choice.  But what about our luggage, we need to get those.  Our luggage is in the system?  It will follow us in the morning?  This is not sounding like the best idea.  But our luggage is big.  Maybe the airline is right, after all they do this sort of thing all the time.  We need to pick up our luggage in Miami and check it in to the flight to Buenos Aires because that is the first International Leg of the trip.  Okay, I guess we can do that.  But my toiletries are in my bag.  You have complimentary toiletry kits for us?  But we have only the clothes on our backs.  Oh well, I guess this won’t be the first time I wear the same clothes two days in a row.  You’ll pay for a restaurant meal also?  Okay, we’ll let you do that.

So, carry-ons intact, toiletry bags and Hotel Voucher in hand, we head out of the airport on foot because we’re told the Hotel is actually IN the airport.  Oh there it is, right over there.  We check in to the Hotel and see a steak house on the way.  Well, if the airline is buying, I guess I’ll let them buy me a good steak!  We find ourselves checked in, room is nice, and we walk over to the restaurant and get seated around 10 o’clock at night.  They are still serving so let’s order food!

We’re seated in the restaurant and there is a party atmosphere around us.  Couples dressed in tuxedos and formal gowns and lots of what looks like Mardi Gras Beads.  Hmmm, an interesting mix of costumes but mostly formal wear with beads.  It turns out after talking with some of them (Elee and I are far from shy when we’re curious and we approach strangers and ask lots of questions!), there is a High School from New Orleans whose Alumni is from Atlanta (this reason we never got an answer to) and every year they throw a ‘Fundraiser/Party’ and celebrate!  And tonight’s the night!

A good meal in us and a couple glasses of wine and back to the Hotel for a night’s sleep.  We have a mid morning flight to Miami and then have a 5 hour layover before we board a flight to Buenos Aires.  24 hours into the trip and we haven’t traveled south at all.  We might have just driven cross country for the heck of it!