After a couple of nights in Buenos Aires, Tom and I were joined by an old friend of mine. I met Kitty in New Zealand whilst Rory and I were travelling on the Stray bus through the South Island and we have kept in contact with each other ever since. When I first told Kitty of our plans to see South America, she was already in Brazil celebrating the carnival season. She asked if we minded an extra companion for a bit throughout the south and of course Tom didn't mind so now the two of us are 3.
Our flight to Ushuaia was at 5:30am so we ditched our nice soft beds in our hostel and opted for a nights accommodation in the comfort of Buenos Aires Domestic airport and it’s marble floor. A decision we unanimously regretted within 12 to 13 seconds of assuming a sleeping position. In an attempt to make the experience a little more bearable I strategically positioned a rolled up jumper under my shoulders, a flip-flop under each bum cheek and all my valuables wrapped in a towel under my head. The towel-safety-pillow was ingeniously created to provide not only a soft headrest but also prevent me from being looted while I dozed. Ironically enough, it was the towel-safety-pillow that was mostly to blame for me not getting an ounce of sleep all night. I can however reliably report that no looting occurred so initial field testing was 50% successful.
Ushuaia is officially the most southerly city on the planet with the next stop pretty much being Antarctica. This means its pretty cold even in the summer. I didn’t realise quite how cold however until I stepped off the plane in my shorts, flip-flops and tee shirt, prompting a quick costume change at the luggage carousel before any more locals gave me the “Bloody tourist’s” look. I read that it’s possible, given a lot of time and holiday pay, to drive all the way from Barrow in the north of Alaska down to Ushuaia. Why anyone would travel 9500 odd miles to visit the place seems a little strange but it’s still pretty nice. Due to it’s remoteness the whole area has remained relatively untouched by humans. According to a leaflet I found in the hostel lobby, this makes for a lovely stroll so that’s exactly what we did. We followed a path which lead us to the bottom of the city and eventually joined a road which we then followed to it’s climax, a big sign saying “The End of the Road”. At least that’s what I think it said, my Spanish is still a little rusty. I found a definition of ‘The End of the Road’ that reads - The point where it is no longer possible to continue with a process or activity. In this case the process was maintain a core body temperature above 37 degrees. So after the mandatory tourist photo we got back to the hostel as fast as we could so I could put a few more layers on.
