Ushuaia - End of the World, Day 7

January 15, 2016

Our AirBnB host picked us up this morning at 10:00 am and transported us to the Albatross Hotel in downtown Ushuaia.  We spent the day at the hotel, and walking around the town.  Tall snow capped  mountains circle 3/4 of the town,

and the Beagle Channel and bay the other 1/4 of the town.  The visibility is crystal clear for as far as the eye can see.

Town architecture is somewhat mixed and alpine. There are good parts of town that are fairly well kept and in good condition, mostly those that tourists see. And then there are the parts of town that are in poor repair and rather junky looking. The weather is mild now, but the winter weather down here takes its toll on the buildings, streets, and sidewalks.  Our AirBnB is neat in clean and tidy, but it is in the "junky" area of town where there are no garages, cars line the street and children play in the street, dogs run freely and bark all night.  We are located  a mile or so from the main street.

The main street is up aways from the water front street.  The buildings protect pedestrians from the biting wind that blows up the hill from the water.  Today it was not too bad as the sun was out and the wind relatively calm, but on bad days, one can only imagine how cold it could be.

Stores on the main street are tourist and sport oriented, selling parkas, fleeces, hats, mittens, and souveniers.  We came well prepared, but some folks we think must come down in their sandals and shorts and gear up once they are here.  The slogan here is Fin de Mond..end of the world.  Personally we think it should be the bottom of the world, not the end.

This evening, we gathered in the lobby to get our boarding instructions for tomorrow.  Looks like the Internet on the boat is slower than what we have in the hotel today, and hotel Internet is incredibly slow, so it looks as if I'll be sending text only blogs with no photos until we return to Daniel's AirBnB.

We've met some nice folks so far from Michigan, Seattle, and Melbourne, Australia.  The weather looks like it will be fine for the passage with 15-30 knots of wind, and waves from 3-4 meters.  On our small boat this would have been challenging but doable.  On a bigger boat, I think we shouldn't feel too much, but we'll see.  We booked a mid level, mid ship room, so I hope it feels pretty stable in rolling easterly wind and seas.

It's 11:00 pm and we are turning in for the night now that the night sky has fallen.

All is well the Worrall TravelRs at the Bottom of the World.