Hello all and happy New Year's!!!
We arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina around 9:30pm on December 28th. We had no problems with our flights and all of our gear arrived with us in great shape. The weather forecast for Ushuaia was WIND. And sure enough, we walked out of the airport and were greeted with 70-80mph wind. We had our bikes on carts while we were trying to figure out how we were going to get our bikes to the hostel, since none of the cabs were big enough.. when suddenly on of the carts started sailing quickly away and ran straight into a cab. The driver was not happy, but there were already plenty of dents in his cab, so no harm done. Eventually, we found a truck to take us and all of our gear to town. We checked into the hotel at eleven in the evening and it was still light outside! The wind has calmed down a bit since then but it has been rather rainy and cold. We have had a few sunny afternoons which have been spectacular.
Ushuaia is absolutely breathtaking. The city is surrounded by huge snow-capped mountains and lies on the Beagle Channel which leads out to the ocean. It's hard to believe we are so far south right now. Ushuaia is known as the "southernmost city in the world" and only lies some 600 or so miles from Antarctica. The UV index is "10+ Extreme" since we are probably quite close to the hole in the ozone layer and one has to take extra precautions to care for the skin in this sun and wind. Chappiness!!
Since arrival, we have been relaxing and preparing for the bike trip. We put our bikes together on the 29th and have been going on rides around the area. We decided to stay for 2 more days in Ushuaia to give us adequate preparation time.. and time to write and talk to family and friends. We are starting out tomorrow morning and will be writing again from the road!!! Happy New Year!
· The Journey Begins!Ushuaia, Argentina · 3rd Jan 2009 · Posted by knjterere
