El fin del mundo (the end of the world)

No, I'm not talking about the REM song, but the city of Ushuaia, Argentina which is known as the end of the world (el fin del mundo). This is the last city on the south american continent and is only 1000 kilometers north of Antarctica. To give you an idea of where we are, sunset last night was 10:15 and sunrise was 4:55am. This morning, on our way to Ushuaia, we navigated through the Beagle Channel, the southern boundary of Tierra del Fuego. We were told that to view the glaciers in the channel, we would need to be up b/w 4 and 6. I set my alarm for 4:30 and ran upstairs to view the sunrise and the glaciers. I pretty much missed the glaciers, except for a couple I saw last night (nothing like College Fjord or Glacier Natl Park in Alaska), and the sunrise was not as spectacular as I would have hoped considering the cloud formations in the sky.

I thought I was going to keel over that early in the morning. After about an hour, I went back to room and slept for a couple more hours. Good thing my excursion today was a late one.

Today I took a catamaran east on the Beagle Channel to a rock outcropping with tons of birds and sea lions on it. Got some great pictures. The views from the channel were gorgeous.

Some on the trip were likening Ushuaia to places in Norway. Here you have the water and then gorgeous peaks w/ snow and ice on them. After heading to the sea lions, we went to Tierra del Fuego National Park and drove around.

I eventually had time to shop in town for an hour or so. Ended up purchasing a couple t-shirts, including a shirt for Alex of the train at the end of the world, and other stuff. There was some gorgeous jewelry, but none that grabbed me like the necklace I bought yesterday.

On a side note, Dad might get a kick out of this. So, I lost my NetJets hat on the way to the ship on Saturday. It hasn't shown up in lost and found, so it's basically a goner. Today, as we were waiting for our excursion to be called, I noticed a man near the stage (we were in the theater) w/ a navy baseball hat and the initials QS on the side. Well, I thought that was my hat, so I ran down to bust the guy. Turns out it was a Marquis Jet hat, and that I know wasn't mine since it was still in my bag. The guy wasn't a client and didn't know much about the company, having received the hat from his wife. Turns out his wife (Bonnie) works at White Plains airport. He introduced me, and she had nothing but raving reviews for NetJets and the work they do w/ transporting kids for cancer. So, that's my NetJets hat story for the day.

Tomorrow, we really go to the end of the world and the South American continent when we round the horn (Cape Horn), one of the most famous maritime landmarks in the world, and cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans. Hopefully the seas will be calm so we can hang out and get a bunch of pictures. After that, we have 2 days at sea until we land in the Falkland Islands on 12/31.

Good news is I'm feeling better. I still have a cough, but I'm not as congested as I was before. I now have 2 days to really rest and relax after having 2 days ashore. Amazingly, in those 2 days, I took over 500 pictures!!!!! Don't worry, I'll weed thru them before I send them out! Adios!