greetings from the edge

ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. fin del mundo. as far south as you can go without hopping on a boat. yes, i will admit, ushuaia's geographical location is the main reason for me coming... but i am glad i did. not only is it a beautiful city, but the word itself is almost as much fun to say as "shiyakusho."

i only planned to stay for about two days, but ushuaia tends to be a city where you check in but never leave. err, that is to say, you better book your ticket out as soon as you get here (or before) or else you will be enjoying the hospitality of the city for longer than expected.

can't say i have done a whole lot being here, but the luxury of time has been nice. i caught a cold which has made me stuffy and dizzy and lazy, so i took the chance to relax quite a bit. luckily i found a great hostel which was a bit like "cheers"... a place were everyone knows your name, but instead of beers and bar stools, there is italian dinners and free internet. the owner is an italian (the italian who we persuaded to cook us some real pasta) who loves to talk and has plastered the walls with photos and postcards and maps. and when i wasn't bumming around the hostel, i went to a cute cafe with homemade hot chocolate.

and yes, i did manage to actually do some stuff too. ran into margret and john (the couple from australia who we first met in ecuador, and then ran into again and again and again along the gringo trail) and we went walking in the tierra del fuego national park. there were some lovely lil trails with great views of the beagle channel. margret rightly commented that the view looked a bit like a bad painting. you know, one of those poorly executed painting of a pretty landscape that hangs in cheap hotels or old people's homes. but i digress.

and i also went on a nifty lil boat tour of the beagle channel (or was it a canal, i can never remember) to see lots of wildlife. i explored the town and enjoyed the snow. i contemplated being at the end of the world and tempted myself with the thought of going to antarctica. i think i did some other stuff but i can't quite remember either. and for that, i blame my stuffy head.