Argentinean Airlines Thwart Our Plans

Tuesday 20 February

Another leisurely morning, as we didn’t have to check out of our rooms till 11.00, but at 10.00 a group of us met in the money exchange shop – eager to exchange our dollars and travelers cheques for more Argentinean pesos. Although not European prices, things are definitely not as cheap as in Chile, Bolivia or Peru and pesos don’t seem to go far. On the way out last night, we had noticed a unisex hairdressers across the street from the hotel, so after topping up our money this morning, Colin decided he needed a haircut . . . . now! On entering the small shop, Linda was there having a wash and brush job. As the time crept past 10.30, we decided it would be best for me to move the cases (luckily they are on four wheels) out of the room for collection and to book out, which I did.

Mike had arranged to take the group to the nearby bird sanctuary at 11.00 – partly to fill in the time till we had to leave for the airport at 15.15 – and I was expecting to wait for Colin and catch up the rest of the party a little later – but no, Linda had arrived back as I was checking out and Colin was back just before the appointed meeting hour – looking shorn and very smart – but minus all those greying locks.

The bird sanctuary - just fifteen minutes walk from the hotel, and we passed what was believed to be the President of Argentina’s summer residence (high walled and gated) - was a large area of natural grassland beside Lake Argentina, with small pools for the birds to wade in, ducks to swim and others to just visit for a drink. Unfortunately when we arrived we could see, in the distance, some of the town’s stray dogs romping in and out of the lake, frightening off any birds that might have been lurking there! In the main street we had seen these same dogs running alongside the front wheels of vehicles, jumping up and barking, and it was amazing that they survived – they often appeared to be carried along in the wheel arches, but somehow lived to annoy the next driver. We wandered around the 2.5 km track, watching Chilean harriers (known as “Common” in Argentina – these two countries really do not like each other) - circling and watching for small rodents - finches, martens and sparrows, as well as shovellers, teal and flamingos in the pools. There was also a plethora of grasses and countryside plants, like purple corn ears with fluffy fronds at the tips, bright scarlet sorrel, great swathes of white ox-eye daisies particularly lining the banks of the streams, and yellow flowers which seemed a cross between a buttercup and a dandelion. The winds were icy blasts coming off the Lake, but providing you kept moving, it was not too cold. By the time we reached the exit, the clouds were breaking and the sun coming through.

We returned briefly to the hotel before a group of seven of us set out to find lunch – Mike had suggested eating something substantial as it was uncertain as to what time we would arrive in Ushuaia – he had never known the plane to be on time! Several wanted pasta, but when we arrived at the recommended restaurant it was closed at lunchtime. Further down the main street we could see a sign for “pizzas” and made our way to “The Owl”, reminding me of a Swiss wooden chalet, with chunky wooden furniture and lots of local pictures round the walls. Four ordered pizzas, and three, including Colin and I, went for steak – trying to regain the reputation of Argentinean steaks, which turned out to be much nicer than the ones we had a couple of nights ago. We ordered coffees and teas at the end of the meal, but when they had failed to arrive some twenty minutes later, we had to cancel the order, pay the bill and make our way back to the hotel to be on time for the departure to the airport. On the way, Colin made a brief detour to buy me some more painkillers – even more powerful this time!

When we were halfway to the airport, Ron (the ex-doctor) realized he had left his jacket at the hotel, so Mike suggested he contact the hotel when we arrived, and got them to put it in a taxi – when he phoned, the hotel had already done just that – very efficient. The bad news was that the plane was shown to be leaving at 18.00 on the departures board, not at 17.00 as we had expected! This was a bit of a blow for me, as I had been hoping to meet up with Millie – the friend we met on the Trans-Siberian train – for the evening. Booking in took an age to wend our way through the winding queue to reach the desk – there appeared to be four planes going out at ten minute intervals, with ours being the last. The airport is only tiny – and there was no way it could cope with about 600 people all arriving at the booking desk together. Mike had pre-booked our seats, so once we just had to check in our luggage. Argentina baggage allowance is only 15kgs, so we had both fingers and toes crossed as we placed ours on the scales, but it was so chaotic with the hundreds of people trying to push in – one man said he had a disability, so had to go the front, and then there was the group of French that don’t believe in queuing, and others convinced they were going to miss their plane that took off a couple of hours later! - that our cases were whisked away by the baggage staff, before the man had time to check the weight! – which was fortunate, as Colin noticed mine had gone up to 25.5 kgs as I had put an extra pack from my back pack into my case, because of my poorly back! I passed the waiting time by catching up on the blog and sending emails – there was WIFI in the airport lounge! Just before 18.00 we were called to board, but it still took another half hour or so before we took off.

We were no sooner in the air than the captain announced that we would be passing over all the glaciers we had been here to see in just a couple of minutes, and he swooped down and turned the plane around, first one way and then the other, so that everyone got a good overhead view of the Ice Field and glaciers – everyone’s cameras were snapping like mad. The seating configuration of the plane was 3 and 2 and many of the aisle seats in the groups of 3 were unoccupied, so most people could reach the windows easily. We all clapped as we rose higher to continue our flight. We landed in Ushuaia at 19.30, but the baggage was very slow arriving, so it took us some time to clear the airport and get on our way to the hotel. We had a new guide – Marcello (he couldn’t stop talking in an accent and dialogue which was hard to understand at first, until we comprehended that he was telling jokes most of the time) – who pointed out our hotel, high on the mountains surrounding the town. It looked like a fairytale castle – white, with a grey slate roof, and pointed towers, but it is supposedly the only 5* in Ushuaia, and we were really looking forward to some luxury.

We booked in and were allocated a room on the third floor, at the far end of the corridor, overlooking a nearby hotel and the forests. It was a large rectangle, with heavy floral wallpaper, and matching curtains and bedding – it was a bit like being drowned by large deep red and blue flowers. There was a sofa and large television, two double beds, and a more than adequate bathroom. Mike phoned and asked if we had been allocated double room, which we confirmed we had, and then he arrived five minutes later and asked us to see his room, which he would be happy to swap. He had been allocated a huge suite, overlooking the Beagle Sound and the town, with a large sitting room, with sofas, table and chairs, desk and television, as well as a huge bedroom with queen sized bed, a small dressing room and a bathroom with jacuzzi bath! He seemed quite eager to vacate this luxury, so we agreed to move – what a hard decision! (The only complaint we could find with the room was that water pressure was so low, and the bath so huge, that it would take nearly an hour to fill to use the jacuzzi! But the bed was soooooo comfy that it was a shame we had so little time to wallow in the opulence.

We visited reception and found the telephone number for Millie’s hotel, but on ringing, found it was an automatic answering service in Spanish, which I couldn’t understand more than “Hotel Ushuaia”. Unfortunately, because we had changed rooms, Mike received two calls from Millie - but we didn’t hear about these till after 23.00, when we got our receptionist to leave her a message. It was time to eat, and being so late, we stayed in the hotel. The dining room was very formal, with a small “snug” bar outside – it was too late to try this out now, so we went straight into dinner. Not feeling too hungry after our “substantial lunch”, I chose “King Crab Sorrentinos” which turned out to be home-made crab ravioli, with a delicious lobstery tasting creamy sauce, while Colin chose lamb ravioli, with sun dried tomatoes and a different yummy sauce. We shared a salad, and felt quite replete by the time we had eaten. But then the dessert menu arrived and Colin could not resist the apple crumble (which surprised him by being served cold) with cinnamon ice cream, and I chose what appeared on the menu to be “Minty Peas with Bavois” but of course turned out to be “Pears” – that had been marinated to become bright green menthol tasting – and very refreshing.

On returning to the room, we decided to check the emails, but the computer would not connect. So I took it downstairs to the lobby, thinking that perhaps WIFI was only available there, only for the receptionist to take it and start to investigate why it wouldn’t connect. When he took a phone call another older member of staff said he would sort it – three quarters of an hour later, as he was reinstating icons, it suddenly connected – apparently the firewall was the problem! By this time I had got past wanting to use the computer, so just checked the emails. When I got back to the room, Colin was almost sending out a search party. He checked the football results before we climbed into bed, exhausted, setting the alarm for 06.30 so that we could try phoning Millie again before she left for Antarctica. Luckily our tour tomorrow doesn’t start till 09.00.