Ushuaia

As we approach Ushuaia the plane lurches to and fro as updrafts catch it. The scenery is spectacular and soon we are on the runway. The weather is mild and the sun shining. Much better than the zero temperature I was expecting. We are booked into Hotel Ushuaia on the outskirts of town. Ushuaia is not particularly large, though more extensive than I had envisaged. The land rapidly rises away from the port and we had not appreciated how steep the terrain is. Our taxi continues to ascend for about a mile and we consider the wisdom of our hotel choice. Walking into the main town downhill is fine; but walking back?

Our next issue is that the taxi driver does not accept dollars or plastic. We have no pesos so try to change some money at reception. The receptionist speaks no English and does not know the exchange rate. 30 minutes later we manage to strike a deal. What a palaver to change such a small sum. Just 4500 pesos which is about $2! We would have been more than happy to pay well over the odds just to check-in to our room and relax.

Externally the hotel looks promising with good views down to the port…

….and the views from the room are not bad either.

However, the interior is stuck in a 1970s time warp. On a positive note the G&Ts absolutely hit the spot and are only £5 for two. Whilst sipping them we browse the web for a good restaurant. Independently we both choose the same one – Kaupe. We reserve a table, quickly freshen up and then take the 5 minute stroll there.

Oh my goodness! What a find! An absolute gem of a restaurant, run by husband, wife and son. We choose the ‘Taste of the Sea’ menu which includes all drinks. It is sublime. King crab ready to eat, scallop ceviche, sea bass en papillote, lemon meringue ice cream with a champagne sabayon accompanied by a wonderful bottle of viognier, a glass of sparkling dessert wine, coffee and champagne. This is really top-notch fare and I am sure will compete to be the best meal of the trip….

We sleep pretty well. I try writing up the blog in our room, but it is frustrating, as the WiFi is terrible. Breakfast is not great either and definitely fits into the very basic category. The dining room has a huge vaulted ceiling and huge windows with good views. The downside is that it is incredibly echoey and not a great place to linger. No eye to detail here or welcoming staff. We cannot escape fast enough and take a taxi to the airport to try and recover the missing rods. It is a small airport but not at all obvious where lost luggage should be recovered. We eventually find a helpful lady at Aerolineas Argentino and establish that the rods have made it from London and are now sitting in Buenos Aires. We call Iberia and arrange for them to be flown to Puerto Natales. They are certainly having an exciting trip!!

We locate the cruise office, check-in and deposit our luggage. We now have 5 hours to kill in Ushuaia. Lunch seems a good way of passing some time. I sample the local beer apparently from the end of the world…

I choose a light lunch of smoked salmon bruschetta but Paul goes for the paella. It is big and packed with seafood.

We stroll down the Main Street and I am surprised by the number of quality shops. It of course makes total sense, as so many cruise ships and tours start or end in Ushuaia. I did not expect to see a Hard Rock Cafe or a very good camera shop. It occurred to me that a graduated ND filter for the camera would have been a sensible thing to buy in the UK. Unfortunately the shop does not have one in stock to fit my lens. It would have enabled me to reduce the brightness of the sky, whilst maintaining the correct exposure for the landscape, hence obtaining a uniformly exposed picture. I think I shall now need to set up some exposure photo-stacking on the camera instead. Not something I have done before so it will be good for me to experiment and see what I can achieve.

We shall shortly embark on our boat which does not have wi-if so I shall be unable to post any blogs for the next few days. I am hoping for photos of spectacular scenery, glaciers, penguins and elephant seals on my next post.