At the Southernmost City of the World - Ushuaia

Enjoyable
Piggy
Intriguing
Casino

Next port of call - Ushuaia, the capital of the Tierra del Fuego province and commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world. On arriving to the town we were temporarily held up by about fifteen minutes by a small protest where locals felt very strongly that the Malvinas Islands should be back under Argentine flag and had no problem blocking the road expressing such desires. Once we finally entered the town most of the roads were blocked off with large vehicles, the reason being completely eludes me as surely the majority of people affected by this were locals. There were also small pockets of groups burning rubbish, banging drums and basically acting anti-social. It was an unusual sight, especially among the scenic landscape. The Brits among us were advised not to draw too much attention to themselves, just in case. We also learned that two cruise ships were refused entry from calling at Ushuaia after they visited the Falkland Islands, apparently based on recent provincial legislation, all too political for me - I just came for the pretty!

With only a week until Christmas we decided to do Secret Santa as this would be the last major town where shopping could be done. To get people into the festive mood we played cheesy Christmas songs on the truck be night. Despite heading off shopping with my secret Santa, (smart move!), I eventually managed to get all my bits and pieces. I'm loving the fact that all the supermarkets here have free gift wrap and tape by the cashiers, stocked up on as much as I felt I needed. I'm intrigued to know who my secret Santa is, and am keeping an eye on any reconnaissance behaviour in the group. However the penalty for disclosing your secret Santa is a round of drinks for all, so everyone is remaining tight-lipped.

Took an extremely enjoyable boat trip through the Beagle Channel, saw a colony of cormorants, sea-lions and learnt about the native Yámana. Hot chocolate and a biscuit was provided on the way out, this was much needed as it was chilly sitting at the prow of the boat. We were given local Beagle ale for the return leg, it was nice but I struggled to finish it, but Steve was happy to assist me. Discovered a beautiful bakery that made mouthwatering pastries, and cakes, and I left a small fortune behind me - and it's not a case that they were expensive, I just pigged out.

On our last night in Ushuaia a group of us headed off down to the local Irish pub 'Dublin', located on one of the steepest hills I've seen in a while, but then the entire town is a maze of ridiculously steep side streets. I digress though, after the pub we headed to the Casino and spent a very enjoyable evening. Sadly Odyssey members seemed to lose out in the long run, despite being very much up and winning at one stage, knowing when to quit and walk away proved difficult. Only the locals seemed to have it all figured out, cashing in as soon as they were up any bit. Blackjack was the preferred game of choice with Kirsten having great difficulty in getting Pete to leave the table. Jeanne won money on the one armed bandit and covered the taxi ride to camp. Staff wouldn't let me take photos in the casino. Jeanne and Kirsten did a joint photo attempt with one willing to be the decoy distraction. Sadly Kirsten's efforts only resulted in a photo of Steve's bum. So while the plan was foolproof, it seemed sobriety was lacking, and ultimately necessary.

Mikkel has temporarily left the group for ten days. Lucky sod got a 'cheap' last minute deal on a small Antarctic cruise ship. We're all extremely jealous! He rejoins us in Mendoza and has been instructed to get fab emperor king penguin shots.

Now we head north to sunnier climes - ole!!

First Bush Camp!

Eeeek
Pouring
Icy
Chores

Setting off from El Chalten we were divided in different chore groups. Firstly we were assigned jobs to help around camp, which would be rotated every 50 days; secondly we were put into 4-man cook groups to assist crew in prepping daily meals, every day a different group helps and there's a 5-day turnaround before it's your turn again. My main chore task is the (un)loading of all the backpacks and sleepgear. Luckily I've got Anthony, Neil and Francois to help me - as them bags are fair heavy.

First bush camp was quite the welcome to overlanding! The Argentine landscape where we are is flat, barren and poses a nightmare for finding spots not exposed to the wind and where us females can keep our modesty while using 'the facilities'. Eventually Pete pulled up into what seemed to be a gravel excavation pit, with skeletons of sheep all over the shop - nice!

Tent locker crew pulled out the tents and we pulled out the bags. Kirsten gave a run through of the locations of food and necessary equipment. Mid presentation a massive storm blew in and we started to get pelted with pouring rain and driving winds. Because bags and tents were outside we had a mad dash to get campsite set up as quick as possible. Bags were covered in tarp and soaked to the skin, fingers numb and blue from the icy wind we valiantly set about erecting the tents. To a passerby it would have been comical to watch. I was sprawled twister style in the centre of the tent, attempting to hold the edges down while Heather went about pegging it into the liquid gravel - the wind beat me a few times and I got a nice few tent face slaps for my trouble. Ken had to kick an entire sheep skeleton out of his way to set down his tent. After some time all the tents were up, insides mopped dry and all our gear stowed away. Then it was back to the truck for cover. The crew had been whipping up dinner while we were phaffing about with the tents. Twenty minutes later the storm abated as quick as it started, and the sun even made an appearance. Cold, damp and tired we ate a hearty meal of chicken and vegetable soup with spicy spaghetti bolognese. We all managed to see the funny side of the matter, but there were quite a few shell-shocked WTF am I doing here faces. Not a great start to bush camping to be sure.

We have also being introduced to the art of flapping. Tea towels breed germs and therefore we have none. Dishes and cutlery get dry via a flapping process. While I can imagine that this works great in sunny climes, when you are in freezing ice cold conditions, it simply numbs your poor fingers to falling off point. Still, it makes for amusing photos.

The next morning we headed off, leaving bush camp one firmly behind us with the hope of it becoming a forgotten memory. Torres del Paine beckons, and the start of a 4-day trek!

Finally Ithaca joins Odyssey members, hello over landing!!!

El Chalten
Pisco Sour
Ithaca
Chalets

Arriving at El Chalten meant the start of my trekking attempts. We were staying at El Ranchiro in little two bedroom chalets, the winds whipping around the cabin sounded like gale force storms were brewing and proved difficult in convincing me to get up for early morning hikes. So in the end I did not get around to trekking by the infamous Mt Fitz Roy. A few of our group did get up at 6am to venture out into the elements.

Day one saw us head up to Mirador de Condors, which was a 10km round trip hike. The winds were fierce and threatened to tip us over the edge, but not a single condor was seen. The area is also famous for seeing the red headed woodpecker. Colin and Jane became the experts on seeing these, they were even lucky to see a pair together.

Day two consisted of a 22km trek with Vanessa, Colin & Jane to see Laguna- and Glacier Torre. Again the winds were unbelievable and getting lashed with gravel and pebbles at the glacial lake front was inevitable. Nevertheless we bunked down in a rocky wind shelter and picnicked facing the glacier.

Night two was when I discovered El Chalten's microbrewery. The local beer, Bock Negro, was compared to as a weak Guinness, but really it was more like a rock shandy. I have instead been introduced to Pisco Sours! Ingredients of which are Pisco (brandy), sugar, lemon, egg white. The microbrewery also provided us with endless supplies of popcorn, which got progressively saltier once the staff saw how much we were consuming.

Day three involved a wee bit of ice trekking. Anthony and myself headed off to Glacier Viedma and checked out some massive icebergs enroute. I really enjoyed the trek, I was a bit like walking on a raspberry slush puppy! While on the glacier I got talking to an Irish guy, Alexis from Galway, who left home three years ago due to the recession and hasn't looked back since. He's just been spending the past few years learning Spanish and travelling all around the continent. Awesome but terrifying. The ice trek was topped off by being served Baileys with freshly hacked glacier ice - delish!

While eating dinner that night, Kirsten let out an almighty squeal and rushed out of our chalet. It could only signify one thing - Ithaca, and Pete, had finally caught us up. They were not due to arrive until the next evening, but 48 hours of pretty much continuous driving meant that Pete and Graham had made excellent time and shy Ithaca was finally ready to meet the group. It only took her two months to get over from the UK. (Don't think Kirsten will be sending business towards that shipping company again). Group members clambered all aboard Ithaca, offloading books for the library, getting our odyssey branded t-shirts, and exploring every nook and cranny, while appropriately oohing and ahhing at all the leg room and comfort Ithaca offered. Another celebratory night was had at the microbrewery to toast the final, and most important, arrivals. Yet again more Pisco Sours and endless popcorn were consumed.

Odyssey South America 2012 can now officially start!!