After three years of planning, it’s finally time to go on our expedition to Antarctica. I must say, the date snuck up on me quicker than I had anticipated. While the lure of the thought of vacation had been forever present in the back of my mind, the actual nature of the trip escaped me. Life had become routine between work, dogs, gym, and chores. I spent a great deal of time concentrating on deadlines, and less time dreaming about this trip than I had a few years ago. It could be because this trip had been planned for so long, the anticipation had become a family member in my psyche. Now the day has arrived. Today’s journey actually starts with a meeting at work for most of the morning. My boss had asked last week if I could come in for two hours this morning to help provide some insight for negotiations. I reluctantly agreed with the assertion that I would be there between 7:30 am and 9:30 am. At 9:30 I would leave. At 6am he text asking if I could come into the office to help prepare for the meeting and re-print something. So into the office I went, leaving bags unpacked and dishes in the sink. At 9:30 am I left the meeting and made a bee line towards the nearest Target to pick up some remaining articles for the trip. Then it was back home to play with the dogs, pack, dishes, and head out.
The first flight from Charlotte, NC to Miami, FL was uneventful. Upon arrival in Miami, I walked around the airport for a while before meeting up with Brad when his flight arrived. Our flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina was interesting. The flight was operated by American Airlines, and was a newer jet. We were quickly seated, but the jet stayed on the tarmac for nearly an hour before taking off. When we were finally airborne, the staff offered beverages and a chicken or pasta meal. I happily chose the chicken meal and was surprised at how tasty it was. Although, it was doused in salt. I fell asleep sometime after the meal service ended. Someone had cranked the heat up on the plane because I woke up sweating I was so hot. After adjustments, I woke up only slightly but very parched. I was in the middle seat and the aisle passenger was knocked out asleep. I couldn’t get out to get water. What’s more, is Brad tried for a while to grab their attention apparently they were just ignoring the service requests. After 4 hours of trying to get their attention, they finally started the breakfast service and we got our water. The breakfast was a meal compiled almost exclusively of sugar. I ate a bite but wasn’t interested in finishing the meal.
When we arrived in Buenos Aires, we went through immigration and customs with our luggage. We arrived in terminal A, and our connecting flight was in terminal C. We asked for directions to the terminal and found that it was a 15 minute walk from terminal A. I thought they were kidding. I was mistaken. We had to walk around the outside of the building for 15 minutes over uneven pavement, and up/ down sidewalks with 50 lbs of luggage to get to terminal C. When we arrived we were helped by a very helpful agent who checked us in. The terminal for domestic flights was approximately 7 gates with one coffee shop. Brad and I got through security and quickly settled down with a café con leche and agua. I was surprised at how good the coffee tastes. The last flight was two and a half hours to El Carafate where the plane landed to exchange passengers and then continued on with a full flight to Ushuaia, Argentina. We arrived at 4pm local time, where we gathered our gear and hailed a taxi. Neither Brad nor myself had any local currency on us, so we confirmed the taxi driver accepted American currency and agreed on the price before leaving the airport. We arrived at the hotel twenty minutes later and checked in. The hotel appears to be brand new. It has the feel of a modern cabin in the woods. Our hotel room overlooks the mountain tops with a breathtaking view.
After cleaning up a bit, we went to downtown to grab some food. Brad hadn’t eaten for nearly the whole trip, and I was getting pretty hungry. It was about 6pm before we got into downtown, but almost no one was out and about. The restaurants were all but closed which seemed peculiar. Finally we find a restaurant above a museum that was open where we chose the shared seafood “snack”. In my mind I was thinking it would be fresh fish and some french fries as it appeared on the menu. Actually it was a muscle/ oyster in a vinegar base sauce, fried chicken, fried crab cakes, calamari, fried shrimp, ham, turkey, and cheese with Greek olives and French fries. We were also offered a variety of dipping sauces: sour cream, salsa, and mayo. The waiter warned us that the salsa may be spicy and then we dug in. Couple of notes: The fried chicken was shoe leather, the flavors of the muscles were interesting but the seafood itself was chewy. The calamari was as you would expect, and the fried shrimp was dry and flavorless. The crab cakes were actually pretty decent because they were soft but appeared not to have a great deal of crab in it. The crab cakes had leeks or other onion type of flavoring in there which really helped the case. I wound up making a turkey, vinegar red pepper, and cheese rolls to my liking. Ham and cheese seems to be a staple flavor here. I’ve seen it offered a few times, including on the plane. I would also like to mention that the Argentinians do not have any idea of what “hot” means. The salsa was less mild than pico de gallo.
After dinner we took the shuttle back to the hotel where Brad crashed on the bed, and I went to the gym. The gym was actually really nice and had all the basics there. I finished my day(s) of travel by working out with a view of the sun setting around 10pm. The people outside taking photos of the sunset, also had the beautiful view of me working out in the gym because of the panoramic glass view in the gym area. I had to laugh at the thought of people looking back through their vacation photos when they get home, to see a girl on the treadmill eclipsing their view.
