December 9, 2013

Ushuaia is known as “the southernmost city in the world” located in Argentina. The views are amazing. One passenger sitting in front of me said right after we landed, “It’s like the Alps were placed in the middle of the ocean.”

The “city” has a population of 57,000…it feels like a European tourist town. Every street you look down or up to mountains. The cars fly by so we had to watch out when crossing the streets. We turned a corner and walked down to the ocean and wow, breathtaking!

We kept walking along the water for the view and also walked higher up some stairs. It’s an absolutely gorgeous day and the city is filled with bursts of color.

We looked for our ship but couldn’t find it. I saw the National Geographic Explorer ship though and memories filled my mind when I would go in the basement of Nat Geo during my internship and pick up the free magazines to read when I went home…I would go through every one of those pages of Nat Geo Traveler and Nat Geo Adventurer (my favorite one but no longer published) and dream of the adventures to go on. And here we were.

Not a whole lot of people speak Spanish here. And like other countries it’s definitely “slower” compared to the fast-pace environment of the United States. We went to get water at a supermarket and once we finally reached the register it took about 5 long minutes to purchase the water and fruit.

Tomorrow we get to explore a bit more of Ushuaia, but it might rain. We’re boarding our boat to Antarctica too! We’re all prepared. I stuffed my backpack with ginger candy, a Sea-Band, Dramamine and the scopolamine patches. A bit nervous as some people have told me that it’s going to be a wild ride, but it certainly will be an adventure of a lifetime.

P.S. Our internet will be pretty limited on the ship so will post when I return!