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Sarah's Travel Blog
Friday, January 02, 2009
 
Ushuaia is the farthest city south in Argentina. We landed there to
catch the boat. The whole town is kind of an Argentinian Whistler, or
giant ski lodge, where you can buy an overpriced fleece, a stuffed
penguin, or have an overpriced steak. Flooded with tourists, this
southern port brings in major cruise ships full of thousands of people
who want to go see a little island with a few penguins on it. Just
outside the town itself reminded me of places in the Alps where the
plants are low-growing and the air is always cold. The first day there
it snowed -- and this is the height of summer! The best part of Ushuaia
was that the hotel had a hot tub, and we got to see a local fire-fighter
get married. At first it looked like a giant accident...horns blaring,
siren wailing...but then we caught up to the front and noticed there was
a bride and groom in the cab, and the firetruck was decorated with
ribbons. The first day, we drove over a gorgeous snowy pass to get to
Tierra del Fuego Island. After an excruciating two hour bus ride with
beautiful scenery, we arrived at Esteban's sheep farm. We saw wild
guanacos along the way (like a llama but not) and ibises and a beaver
lodge. The place where the beaver lived looked EXACTLY like Dagoba
where Luke goes to find Yoda in Star Wars. I was half expecting Esteban
to use the force to raise a giant aircraft out of the murk, but no such
luck. The hillsides were covered with wildflowers and I spotted a few
orchids off in the woods. Esteban's house looked like something out of
the sound of music with flowers all around and cute little lace
curtains. They then gave us a sheep dog herding and sheep shearing
demonstrations. One of the dogs was exactly like the yucky puppy in
Mexico with dirty nasty dreads and long mangy hair. Everyone kept
saying how cute it was and asking me to translate what kind of dog it
was to the owner who only spoke Spanish. I wanted to say, It's a
"Yucky puppy". But instead I kept translating "Mutt" over and over
again. The dog ran down to the river, got all wet, and then rolled in a
giant pile of sheep crap. One of the women on the trip decided this was
a prime chance to get all lovie with it and stuck her face down put her
arms around it. I wanted to suggest to Esteban that we not let her back
onto the bus. Loving dogs is one thing. Making out with a dog that
just rolled in a pile of crap is another.

When we got back to the hotel that night, the whole group had come in,
and we started to get to know all the people that were going to be on
the ship with us. I had dinner with a fantastic Scottish nurse who
lived in Saudi Arabia and went to bed early even though there was no
sleeping later -- apparently I cannot sleep if there is no cat, yet I
criticize dog people.

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