The thirty minutes preceding our landing in Ushuaia, or "The Promised Land" as I have taken to calling it were the most amazing minutes of any flight I have ever been on. The view from the window as we flew alongside the Andes over the craggy scubland of the foothills was breathtaking. Snow capped every peak and was evident even at lower levels.
The final descent into the airport involved some aerial acrobatics that are mind boggling and have a tendency to leave the stomach firmly lodged in the base of the cranium! Arriving in the airport there is a very Nordic feel to the whole place. Wooden slats line the walls and wooden beams support the roof. Outside the terminal resembles a chalet rather than an edifice of modern transportation. We catch a couple of taxi´s to our new home for the next few days. Passing through the town the Nordic feeling of the airport continues - these are not the white walled Spanish buildings I was for some reason expecting, they look Scandinavian and the snow capped mountains which loom all around the town reinforce this.
We take lodgings at the Hostel Albergue "Abre Ushuaia" - a lovely little hostel where the owner welcomes us with open arms. The owner seems as keen to practice her English on us as we are keen to practice our Spanish on her! We reach an accomodation and I agree to write a couple of signs in English for her if she will try and speak in Spanish with us - explaining where we don´t understand.
Having unpacked and then taking the best shower in the history of mankind, each of us unashamedly ignoring the sign exhorting us to keep our "showers short", the idiots hit the town. The first thing that is apparent is that this is a tourist town. Accordingly it´s a little more expensive, there are loads of excursions to go on and there are lots of travellers and tourist hanging around. Not surprisingly given the stunning scenery of the Tierra del Fuego national park is only 12km away, and the islands of Penguins just out in the bay. As everyone in this town seems keen to tell us we really are at the "Fin del Mundo" (The end of the world).
We grab a couple of beers in a little bar over some shops - where we drink European lager, but only because they don´t have Quilmes (The very tasty local brew) We then head down to an all you can eat restaurant which set us back about five quid. The food was incredible - Fuegian lamb (a spatch-cocked sheep cooked over an open fire), chicken, black pudding, pork, chorizo and finally something which I tried but must confess did not enjoy - Chinchurene. That my friends is intestine. It did not taste good. It didn´t help when Blenk looked over at me and asked if we were meant to eat the outside or "just suck the stuff out of the middle" - he was of course referring to the semi-digested food in the poor animals guts when it was slaughtered.
We leave the restaurant full, finally sated. We head back to that little bar and have another couple of beers before heading off to bed.
Our first impressions of Ushuaia? We love it!
Hasta Luego.
(Due to techinal problems we will be bringing you fotograficos tomorrow - gracias.)
The final descent into the airport involved some aerial acrobatics that are mind boggling and have a tendency to leave the stomach firmly lodged in the base of the cranium! Arriving in the airport there is a very Nordic feel to the whole place. Wooden slats line the walls and wooden beams support the roof. Outside the terminal resembles a chalet rather than an edifice of modern transportation. We catch a couple of taxi´s to our new home for the next few days. Passing through the town the Nordic feeling of the airport continues - these are not the white walled Spanish buildings I was for some reason expecting, they look Scandinavian and the snow capped mountains which loom all around the town reinforce this.
We take lodgings at the Hostel Albergue "Abre Ushuaia" - a lovely little hostel where the owner welcomes us with open arms. The owner seems as keen to practice her English on us as we are keen to practice our Spanish on her! We reach an accomodation and I agree to write a couple of signs in English for her if she will try and speak in Spanish with us - explaining where we don´t understand.
Having unpacked and then taking the best shower in the history of mankind, each of us unashamedly ignoring the sign exhorting us to keep our "showers short", the idiots hit the town. The first thing that is apparent is that this is a tourist town. Accordingly it´s a little more expensive, there are loads of excursions to go on and there are lots of travellers and tourist hanging around. Not surprisingly given the stunning scenery of the Tierra del Fuego national park is only 12km away, and the islands of Penguins just out in the bay. As everyone in this town seems keen to tell us we really are at the "Fin del Mundo" (The end of the world).
We grab a couple of beers in a little bar over some shops - where we drink European lager, but only because they don´t have Quilmes (The very tasty local brew) We then head down to an all you can eat restaurant which set us back about five quid. The food was incredible - Fuegian lamb (a spatch-cocked sheep cooked over an open fire), chicken, black pudding, pork, chorizo and finally something which I tried but must confess did not enjoy - Chinchurene. That my friends is intestine. It did not taste good. It didn´t help when Blenk looked over at me and asked if we were meant to eat the outside or "just suck the stuff out of the middle" - he was of course referring to the semi-digested food in the poor animals guts when it was slaughtered.
We leave the restaurant full, finally sated. We head back to that little bar and have another couple of beers before heading off to bed.
Our first impressions of Ushuaia? We love it!
Hasta Luego.
(Due to techinal problems we will be bringing you fotograficos tomorrow - gracias.)
on November 8, 2006, 4:38 pm
Mental.
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on November 9, 2006, 8:52 am
Jamie eating food but not enjoying it!!!
Crazy
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