La Dueña Loca: 29 November 2007

We landed about 8:15 into Ushuaia, and oh my goodness, what a beautiful place. On the way, we flew over the Andes (Ushuaia is the only Argentine city on this side of the Andes) and the Straight of Magellan. The airport is about 10 years old, but has the feel of an Alpine lodge. The hotel had sent a remiss for us, and we piled into the car. So we arrived at 9PM last night to the Posada del Fin del Mundo. After 2 flights up we arrived at a nice sitting room, with evening snacks and tea. We were escorted in my Martina, a lovely assistant who was very elegant and professional. Then Ana, the owner, arrived, wearing clothing too tight for her age (she is about 60, I think) and showed us her son’s room, and there was no space for Paco (there was a loft bed, but not for a 3 year old). The son was in Brazil and still had a decent amount of stuff all over the place. In my head I was thinking, great, now I have to find a new place tomorrow. But then a nice Danish couple that was only there for one night before boarding a cruise to Antarctica (so jealous). So we moved into a triple on the ground floor, with a private bath and three separate beds. A bit sparse, but it would do. One of the hilarious things was that they said, “oh, well this room has a tv.” and then we found it had a So. American plug and all the outlets were European (it has happened before). So no TV without an adapter. We liked the sitting room and thought, ok, we will deal. Then we headed out to dinner, but Paco was so exhausted, it was a short one.

In the morning, I left at 8:30 to go to the tour office to book a boat tour. They were not open until 9:30, so I grabbed a cab to get up the hill back to the posada (Spanish for Inn). I saw Ana on the way into breakfast in her running tank and pants (don’t think she was actually going running). I joined Paco and Steve for breakfast and discovered we had to move into the son’s room after all. Now, the original deal I had made, was for a triple shared bathroom with the son, but not the son’s actual room. I was po’d. Steve did not even know what to say to her. He also was not convinced we would not have to move again. It normally takes us a while to pack, and even though they had offered to move our stuff, our stuff was now everywhere. And the son’s room was full of his crap everywhere. So Steve and I whispered to each other, “let’s find another place” I started to call places in the book, and the tourist center, but a lot was booked already. When I asked Steve for a budget he said, “The Llao Llao.” I laughed because the fancy place in town is more like $350 a night. I was fully ready to give up the WiFi they had in every room to get out of there. But in the end, I called a place called Macon do (http://www.macondohouse.com/), whom I had wanted to stay with before, but they were booked up. I spoke to the owner, she was so kind and said they had a cancellation and could put us in a double with a little bed for Paco. Ana, the owner of the Posada de Fin del Mundo had just hopped into a car with some handsome looking dude, so had her morning assistant call a cab and we piled all our crap in and drove the 15 blocks to the Macondo. For those of you who are not fans of Gabriel García Marquez, Macondo is the fictional town in his novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude. A book I absolutely love and it is my dream, some day, to read it in Spanish . We dropped our stuff off and went in search of the boats tours and lunch.. I felt like a load had been lifted. Steve, to his credit, just backed me up and we could have been sniping, but instead, just rallied. (For those of you wondering, yes we are having major snipe days, but only about 1 a week and usually food or fatigue related).

At the tour office, we made the decision that a boat tour was not really for us. And so we are renting a car tomorrow. The funny thing is that from everyone I have heard, “don’t drive in Argentina” but then I realized that advice came from Argentineans no longer living here!. The roads are substantially better the last few years. And the days we have most enjoyed were those in a car, away from the crowds. Tomorrow we will follow the Pan American Hwy in search of one of the first estancias in Tierra del Fuego.

In our search to find an early place for lunch, we found a Chinese food buffet. Paco wanted to eat there, and we figured it was his turn. It was awesome. Not cheap, but fresh vegetables and decent Chinese with housemade flan that was the best I have tasted next to Judy’s, of course. Paco, who has barely eaten the last few days, ate 3 plates full of food. The hispanic waitress was shocked when Paco and I wanted chopsticks. She said, "Like the Chinese ones use? They would not let us pay for Paco, despite our pleadings. From there, we made the mistake of not heading back to the hotel to get Paco a good nap and went to the Museo del Fin del Mundo. It was very interesting, talking about the settling of the land, but not for an overtired Paco. We did, however, get some rocking stamps in our passports from the Museum. From there we went to the rental office to fill out the paperwork for the car and Paco fell asleep. We wanted to catch the steam train at 3; So we took a cab to the National Park here in Ushuaia (Steve noted that there was a golf course). Side note: Argentineans are very proud of their parks and with good reason. The fees are about $10.00 per person, but free for locals, clean and just beautiful). Paco was still asleep but woke up with a grin the minute he heard the word “train.: The train is from early 19th century when the area was a penal colony and the train was used to cart the prisoners out to timber the forest. It was wonderful, but long and Paco was bored after the first hour. He did make friends with some nice older Argentine women who shared our car and gave him candy.

We went back to the hotel before looking in search of dinner. A task in Argentina at 7. Most places are closed until 8 PM. Steve joked, “soy Americano, yo quiero comer cuando quiero y en mi coche.” He even joked that we could take the rental car, and drive to Mendoza (about 48hrs away) where we saw a drive-thru McDonalds. We found a bar and ordered a hamburger for Paco, a Neapolitan pizzetta for me and then a blue cheese one for Steve. Of course the Neapoltian pizza came with ham and cheese. Paco’s hamburger tasted like sausage and he stole all the cheese from my pizza, leaving all the ham!

We went to rent the car and then to the grocery store to get supplies for our road trip tomorrow. Despite Judy’s comments, Ushuaia is far from godforsaken. It is incredible and a town of 70K, plus tourists. Leonardo, at the rental office told us of lots of restaurants on the road, including a 24 hr bakery! Not sure if we will make it there, but it is nice to know it is in the future. We bought a bunch of snacks and Paco proceeded to pull a Hoodi, and pick the miga (the inside) out of his crusty bread and eat it all while watching TV.

I like Ushuaia a lot, the winters are tough, of course. Steve does not even want to go back to BA (I think I could convince him to spend the week in Bariloche instead). I am kind of looking forward to BA and the diversity in food a bit more. The fish here is not as good as I had hoped. I actually think the best food we have had was been in Bariloche, followed by Mendoza. Paco is ready to go home, I think. But I suspect he will start enjoying himself Again in BA when we are close to the Zoo and cucumber in the stores! As much as he did not want to go the schools here, I think he misses being around kids more. Of course, little Pdub is asleep in his bed at the foot of ours. He was thrilled because his bed is kind of a rusty orange.

It finally started to rain and get cold tonight. All day we were roasting and I did not even take my jacket out this evening. Maybe tomorrow I get to finally pull out all that cold weather stuff I have been carting around. Steve and I were both sick of being hot, so I think the rain is a welcome change before heading to steamy BA on Saturday.

I apologize for any typos, I am beat. Off to bed, and early start in the AM. But at least I don’t have to deal with Ana. Love, Erin

PS, Shannon, your stroller has had it, we so have to buy you a new one!