December 19, 2013

Later that day…

We watched the movie Around Cape Horn. I sat next to Kathleen and she was passed out catching flies. After that, Erin, Ash and I worked out in the gym. I just met Erin a few days ago. She’s in the group from China and lives in Beijing, but her English is pretty good so we could have a conversation, and she’s super nice. Ash put on his Bollywood music and started warming up to that. In the afternoon, we enjoyed watching the slide shows that Tony and David put together from our trip. Can’t believe we’ll be back in Ushuaia tomorrow.

But the night lived on. After dinner we went to the 6th floor lounge. Guess what? One of our professional photographers was the Canadian champion for kickboxing!! Oh Tony…who knew?

Jason won the cribbage match. He had never played the game before this trip but won and got a hat / beanie (I tried it on…kind of wish I got one of those!), and a water bottle filled with wine gums.

There was supposed to be a wine tasting but I don’t think that ever took place. Instead we decided to try out some cocktails. Note: Salt along the rim of Hendricks Gin and tonic is good, but don’t actually put more salt in the drink. Anyway, Nate and I made one of our own. We called it Antarctic Sunset. Okay truth be told it was called another name, but I’m going with that. Gus translated it to be: Puesto de Sol Fogoso, but I’m not sure if that’s right. Somebody else mentioned Tierra del Fuego sunset. It was delicious. David tried it and really liked it too. Here it is:

Puesto de Sol Fogoso
– 2 shots ginger infused vodka (Jeremy infused fresh ginger slices in the vodka)
– Orange tea teabag. Infuse it in the ginger infused vodka for 10 minutes.
– 1/2 shot maple syrup infused vodka (pure maple syrup)
– 1/2 shot Grand Marnier is optional
– Orange zest to top it off. If we had time, we would have candied the orange peel.

Would be even better if the glass was warmed up first. Yummmm.

Now, dancing time. Ash put on his Bollywood music and started dancing to that along with Liz. He’s super good and Liz was great too! We later put on other music and started dancing to that. FYI, dancing in UGGS (well, mine are actually fake) is kinda hard.

And then came…

The center table. I heard that 7 people fit in the middle of it. Chris, right then and there said 8 but I don’t believe him. It was now our turn. Let’s do it!

Yee and I jumped in right away taking either side. Gannon then jumped in, and then another person. So far four people. OH MY GOSH, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to breathe soon!!! I’m not claustrophobic, but for the first time in my life, I think I experienced it. And…it was getting hot in that tiny space.

Okay, we needed to re-strategize. We all got out except Gannon and figured that Yee and I would be the last ones in since we were the smallest. We were going to layer one person over the other. Gannon and Ash at the bottom, then Aishwarya and Hy-May, then Yee and me, and then someone else. Jess attempted and then Chris head dived in. Someone shouted, “Vavilov!!!” which was the safety word. Out we went. It was a blast.

P.S. In the video, I saw David with the rag doll. I can’t believe he exchanged the penguin for that doll. Poor kid will be missing her doll for a 49 peso penguin bought in an Ushuaia souvenir shop.

It was sooooo hot. Polar plunge time. The girls refused. The guys were in. And so we went. I filmed most of it. The water was freezing. But then I turned the video off and WHAM!!!! Chris slipped and fell. Everyone thought he was hurt but he got up and said, “okay, now ready for the sauna.” Ouch. That must have hurt. Yee even warned him twice that he could slip easily. He shoulda listened.