Ushuaia

For some reason, this is not what I expected.
I had in my head a pretty town, lots of pines, nestled at the foot of amazing mountains, overlooking a myriad of islands; like Vancouver Is I guess. 
But this looks like a frontier town. North to Alaska upended, and SO dry. Tried to establish from a local whether this is normal, or the flip side of the Oz floods and El Nina, but my Spanish phrase book lets me down.

The old Ushuaia

And clearly Ushuaia was home to only very hardy souls supported by the port until the tourist trade took hold. Tin shacks and tiny weatherboard houses (with gabled rooves) and commie looking concrete houses are rapidly being surrounded by "Alpine" twee (with gabled rooves and stacked stone). Unpaved footpaths, dirt roads in lots of places.... John Wayne could be just around the corner, propping up the bar!

The local store near hotel

And then I found the main street.... Duty Free and outdoor shops, casinos and worst of all, tons of tourists wearing Gortex. Then I realized I have just bought all this gear!!


Memo to self: do not ever get involved in a discussion about the degree of warmth provided by your thermal underwear under your quick dry travel pants!!!

The new Ushuaia

Some unhappy campers here too

I really lucked in with the hostel I found on the net - Hostal Calafates, in the old part of town, very basic but very friendly, family owned. Lucky - it will be home for a week when I get back from this Antarctic expedition. Only locals staying there, and no English except for Ady who runs it. She had one of the other guests give me my first taste of mate (a bitter herbal concoction the locals are addicted to) -  great hilarity with my reaction.

I love this town; the people are really friendly. It's a Queenstown in the making, and good luck to them with the prosperity that will come with it. Somehow I'm glad I'm seeing it now though.

Home for the next 3 weeks - little one in middle

So excited I can't sleep.... set sail tomorrow