We make it to the southernmost city in the world

Thursday, December 17, 2015
Ushuaia, Patagonia, Argentina
Thu Dec 17
-we snuck in a very fast n early bfast and then headed to the airport . Tatiana made sure that we were headed to our gate and we were off to buenos Aires with a pretty painless flight and some dozing
-we played some cribbage n ate at the Hard Rock Cafe which we agreed had way too many TVs
-the plane gods frowned on us again and our 2 hour layover flight was delayed an extra 20 minutes. Then 20 minutes before the supposed take off time the status changed to cancelled. So there we were in Buenos Aires airport with minimal language skills and no understanding of what to do. I asked an agent at another gate and she said to go claim our bags so we did. Then another agent sent us to the long line at the sales office. Here we were instructed to get onto the 1.5 hour bus ride to the other airport to catch the 4PM flight to Ushuaia. We needed this flight to work out otherwise we risked literally missing the boat to Antarctica. 
-after some pigeon Spanish and some running we hopped the bus with fingers crossed. A helpful agent at the other airport got us tickets and off we went to wait for our 4PM flight . The flight was delayed about 30 minutes but at last we took off. Phew
-12 hours after leaving Iguazu we were finally on the ground in Ushuaia. It was supposed to have taken 7 hours. We have learned our lesson about domestic flights in Argentina. Don't take them. 
-we got to our hotel at 8 instead of 3:30 and quickly got organized to go look at the rental shops. Happily it was a balmy 60 degrees and Finn wore slippers with socks
-the first gear shop had heavy pants but the second one had better ones and a better price. It was the place we planned to go originally. The gloves were pretty basic so we opted to make do with what we have and rented just the pants. Apparently I got the very last pair of large pants. The staff was friendly and we got our gear so I will call that a big success
-it was approaching 10 but it was still quite light out and most stores and eateries were still open. The temperature however was dropping as the sun was getting shadowed by the mountains. A hungry Finn found this yummy takeaway spot and we ordered an eclectic mix of veggie lasagna, salad, rotisserie chicken and empanadas that we ate on the spot while we waited for our other food . The woman there was very nice and liked Finns blonde hair. 
-we hustled back to our hotel in the dropping temp and felt a little underdressed. We feasted and realized we had ordered too much food but were still quite happy
-a bit after 11 we headed out to a gelato place that Finn had spotted. I thought that after a day of icky traveling a midnight ice cream treat was in order. Besides we needed to celebrate our last day on land
-the gelato was yummy and we were better dressed for the cold. With full bellies we headed back to our hotel for some well deserved rest. 
-Ushuaia is a quaint town and it would have been nice to have a couple of extra hours there. However we made the best of the few hours that we had and accomplished our main goal of getting gear. We also have a good feel for the layout of the town for the morning when we disembark. So all in all a success and we had a good night of sleep
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