Ushuaia.
Wow. Second time on the Internet in one day! I am lucky.
And I{m lucky to be here in Ushuaia. Just got finished walking around the small town, getting my bearings. I love the hostel I{m staying in -- I{ve got a place in one of four beds in the only loft in the building. From my window I can see all of the Beagle Channel and the surrounding mountains. Sunrise, anyone? The view is gorgeous. I can{t leave this place till Wednesday anyway because of the spotty bus schedule, so it{s a good place to catch up on my sleep and take it easy after some day hikes in the Tierra del Fuego national park nearby.
I was thinking on the plane here about all the details I keep forgetting to share. Like the dinner I had with an Italian girl, a woman from Houston and a very handsome former pro Argentinean rugby player who{s now an architect. Like the fact I{ve been so constipated over the past week because of all the steaks I{ve been eating. No one eats vegetables here! (This constipation problem is quite a common one apparently; every backpacker I{ve talked to who{s been here for at least a few weeks haasn{t shat in days! The world stereotypes our American diet as meat and potatoes, but in nowhere else but Argentina does this actually apply!). Like everything I see here reminds me of one of you, my friends (Yan, the steaks here are amazing but I can{t compare them to the Brazilian BBQ! Carlos, I need your Spanish help. Dan, El Bolson is a place I see you in. Lisa, if you opened a Firecracker here it would do stupidly well. Claudia, I want to buy all the clothes here... everything is super cheap. Lorae, I can{t tell you how many times the mosquito net has saved me a night of attacks from those night bombers and the ensuing itch that would have come. Patrice, we really need to meet up in Guyana or Brazil). Like the details of my US$8-$10 dinner meals including the best wine. Like all the other assorted travelers I{ve been meeting. Sigh.
So yea, Ushuaia is pretty hip. The streets are teeming with restaaurants and sport boutiques. For being one of the places closest to Antartica, it{s not very cold right now. I{ve been walking around with a fleece jacket but had to abandon that layer after about 5 minutes in the sun.
A girl in Bariloche gave me her copy of the Kite Runner, about an Afghan kid who grows up with a pretty sad secret and it actches up with him in his adulthood. I couldn{t put the book down and highly recommend it. In fact, I love it som much that I{ve been shlepping the thing around, waiting for a good trade. A guy yesterday tried to exchange his book on spirituality for my book, but I quietly put his book back on his bed. The Kite Runner has really made me miss reading. When you{ve got the Lonely Planet weighing 10 pounds in your backpack, you always think twice about what else you{re going to add to the bag.
Speaking of which, I have been getting nonstop compliments on my packing ability. People have been so impressed with the size of my bag and the fact I{m living for 5-6 months out of it. Believe me, I{m friggin impresssed too. Every time I pass a clothing store, I yearn for just one new shirt or a pair of non-cargo pants. Then i go through the process of dragging myself from the window and fight the urge to turn my head. I must keep walking, I tell myself. And then the desperate feeling passes.
I will be sending around a copy of my itinerary shortly and would love to meet up with friends. At this point, it{s still very loose, i am thinking right now that i{ll be spending more time in Brazil than i had planned for and maybe even skipping Colombia. Either way, I will be doing the Galapagos Islands and then Machu Picchu on June 26... if any of you are interested in either please let me know. Ive got my Machu Puicchu trip booked with a company called LlamaPath and it{s cheap.
And I{m lucky to be here in Ushuaia. Just got finished walking around the small town, getting my bearings. I love the hostel I{m staying in -- I{ve got a place in one of four beds in the only loft in the building. From my window I can see all of the Beagle Channel and the surrounding mountains. Sunrise, anyone? The view is gorgeous. I can{t leave this place till Wednesday anyway because of the spotty bus schedule, so it{s a good place to catch up on my sleep and take it easy after some day hikes in the Tierra del Fuego national park nearby.
I was thinking on the plane here about all the details I keep forgetting to share. Like the dinner I had with an Italian girl, a woman from Houston and a very handsome former pro Argentinean rugby player who{s now an architect. Like the fact I{ve been so constipated over the past week because of all the steaks I{ve been eating. No one eats vegetables here! (This constipation problem is quite a common one apparently; every backpacker I{ve talked to who{s been here for at least a few weeks haasn{t shat in days! The world stereotypes our American diet as meat and potatoes, but in nowhere else but Argentina does this actually apply!). Like everything I see here reminds me of one of you, my friends (Yan, the steaks here are amazing but I can{t compare them to the Brazilian BBQ! Carlos, I need your Spanish help. Dan, El Bolson is a place I see you in. Lisa, if you opened a Firecracker here it would do stupidly well. Claudia, I want to buy all the clothes here... everything is super cheap. Lorae, I can{t tell you how many times the mosquito net has saved me a night of attacks from those night bombers and the ensuing itch that would have come. Patrice, we really need to meet up in Guyana or Brazil). Like the details of my US$8-$10 dinner meals including the best wine. Like all the other assorted travelers I{ve been meeting. Sigh.
So yea, Ushuaia is pretty hip. The streets are teeming with restaaurants and sport boutiques. For being one of the places closest to Antartica, it{s not very cold right now. I{ve been walking around with a fleece jacket but had to abandon that layer after about 5 minutes in the sun.
A girl in Bariloche gave me her copy of the Kite Runner, about an Afghan kid who grows up with a pretty sad secret and it actches up with him in his adulthood. I couldn{t put the book down and highly recommend it. In fact, I love it som much that I{ve been shlepping the thing around, waiting for a good trade. A guy yesterday tried to exchange his book on spirituality for my book, but I quietly put his book back on his bed. The Kite Runner has really made me miss reading. When you{ve got the Lonely Planet weighing 10 pounds in your backpack, you always think twice about what else you{re going to add to the bag.
Speaking of which, I have been getting nonstop compliments on my packing ability. People have been so impressed with the size of my bag and the fact I{m living for 5-6 months out of it. Believe me, I{m friggin impresssed too. Every time I pass a clothing store, I yearn for just one new shirt or a pair of non-cargo pants. Then i go through the process of dragging myself from the window and fight the urge to turn my head. I must keep walking, I tell myself. And then the desperate feeling passes.
I will be sending around a copy of my itinerary shortly and would love to meet up with friends. At this point, it{s still very loose, i am thinking right now that i{ll be spending more time in Brazil than i had planned for and maybe even skipping Colombia. Either way, I will be doing the Galapagos Islands and then Machu Picchu on June 26... if any of you are interested in either please let me know. Ive got my Machu Puicchu trip booked with a company called LlamaPath and it{s cheap.
posted by Chocolat at 11:59 AM
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