November 12
Cotton. Denim. Wool. Ahh. Three hours and hundreds of dollars later, Ernie and I look and feel clean and normal. Ernie bought chuck taylors, jeans, two cotton t-shirts, a belt, two pairs of boxers, three pairs of socks, and a cotton-fleece sweater-sweatshirt. I bought boots, jeans, three pairs of socks, three cotton tops, two pairs of underwear, two bras, and a super cozy sweater-jacket thing made of wool and cotton. And a pair of earrings and some deodorant. E got most of his clothes at one store and he was so ready to be out of his old clothes he sat in the dressing room while I paid for it all and then he wore it all out of the store. I wanted to be 100% fresh and clean before I put on my new digs (no contamination), so I waited to put everything on until after we got back to our apartment and showered. Except the shoes… we threw those away in the mall immediately after getting new footwear.
Ernesto is napping and I am giddy and itching to go prance around town and feel normal. But he was so patient today as I fussed over shoes and jeans I will not wake him.
November 13
Happy Birthday Nedly! I hope you are well mi amigo.
Today was spent with “Pira Tour”, Ushuaia’s eco-friendly tourism company that specializes in intimate experiences with penguins. Our first and last impression is that it is more sophisticated than the Galapagos tours we took, but we can’t really put our finger on why… Are the participants more sophisticated because of the price? (this tour was the price of two tours in the Galapagos) Or does the structure of the tour itself only attract a certain type of person? (It is a very slow paced tour). Or maybe we just convinced ourselves it was more sophisticated because we didn’t want to feel bad about walking with penguins. And when it comes to walking with penguins, the rules are plentiful: we had to stay as a group, we couldn’t go off the trail (and it was a small trail), we had to walk slow, we couldn’t get within two meters of the animals, and the penguins are only disturbed for two hours each day (40 people total in two groups of two). Most of the other tourists behaved and while there were lots of selfies there was no flexing or bikini modeling shots. Actually, there were modeling shots… some guy in aviators and a fake fur lined coat from Portugal had a team of three people taking photos and video of him all day. At the bow of the boat, with the penguins, being pensive on the dock… It was funny until it was annoying, like when the guy in charge of the reflector couldn’t get it quite right so the whole group was held up from moving along the trail. We were on a brand new boat that is super sexy and comfortable. The captain was hip and local, as were the two guides.They were fluent in Spanish as well as English, and they were young and cool. They reminded me of some of my old students (Argentine versions of Tai and Katie). What a great job for a recent graduate (note to self, encourage advisees to learn another language). We took our time getting to the penguin island, which was nice for soaking up extended views of black browed albatrosses and flightless steamer ducks. We also slowed for cormorant breeding colony, a South American sea lion colony, and one of the most southern lighthouses. The boat made a full and slow circle around each stop, which was much appreciated. The lighthouse used to be powered by sea lion or whale fat (which someone would have to go out and fill every two days), but ~20 years ago it got a solar panel. It is often called “the lighthouse at the end of the world”, but that is silly as there is a whole other continent south of South America with lots of lighthouses.
Entonces, el pinguinos! There are two species living on the private island that Pira Tour has access too. The larger species, gentoo penguins, have a funny and lovely guffaw. Their shape was lean and pointed and it was easy to imagine them hunting. They were busy laying belly down on their feces filled nests. My biggest disappointment in the day is that I have (yet another) cold and my sense of smell is gone… Knowing that the gentoo penguins make their nests out of rocks and their own feces (to keep the eggs warm), I would have really liked to experience the smell of gentoo penguins. The other and much more numerous species is the Magellanic penguin, which is quite small (second smallest penguin I think). It is very cute and there is nowhere it can’t preen itself. This colony is their Southernmost range; 2-3 pairs came a few dozen years ago and now they are in the tens of thousands. They dig out underground nests and it was a good thing we weren’t free to roam the island as we would have inevitably fallen into and ruined a Magellanic nest. They were a joy to watch, especially so close, and we are very grateful for the time we got to spend with them. At one point a flock of squawking gulls caught our attention and the fuss was over two leopard seals! They are common around the island in September when they are migrating south, but they aren’t normally found here this time of year. They were close enough that we could see their gnarly heads. AND, lucky us, there was a lone King penguin. They do not nest on the island and they have never been spotted there before… a mistake of nature that was the highlight of our day. Seeing their proportions and behaviors from just a few meters away… awesome. I hope s/he finds its friends in Bahia Inutil.
My great human moment of the day (and actually for many days now) is after we got on the bus for the ride home. The two guides gave their final spiel and everyone settled into their seats for the 1.5 hour ride back to Ushuaia. The bus driver was in his mid to late 50’s and he and the two young guides were clearly pals. After hitting cruising speed, they pulled out the bus driver’s “satchel de mate” (that is a phrase made up by Tara, translation = bag dedicated to yerba mate tea drinking; made of leather and includes tin case for yerba mate tea leaves and thermos of hot water and one silver straw). The yerba mate custom and scene has been “sold” to tourists as an Argentine custom since we entered well over a month ago, but we had yet to see it being consumed in the idyllic way it's presented in stores or advertisements. As most of the people in the bus slept (including Ernesto), the two guides sat on the giant steps and the three of them chatted and shared a gourd of mate, pouring fresh hot water for the next sipper. I’m glad I had my sunglasses on because I stared and smiled at them the whole time, and hopefully they just thought I was looking out the big front window of the bus. It was a lovely, genuine, and memorable scene.
November 14
After breakfast it was a day of chores and errands. We unpacked all cases and gave them a good rinse. We put all our belongings into one of three piles: garbage, things to pack on the bike, and things to take with us on our journey back to Portland. It was very strange how all those piles worked out… Given the size of the “things to pack on the bike” pile, it is a good thing I can pack like the tenth round of Tetris. After all the sorting and packing we tackled the motos themselves. We removed all the oil, gas, batteries, our rear view mirrors, and both our windscreens. Ernesto made it all happen; he had all the right tools and solutions to all stumbling blocks, as we took care of all this on the street and not in any sort of proper shop. Our good karma continues as El Senor of our apart hotel not only wants all our gas and their respective containers (he is a fellow moto-ist), but in response to our inquiry of where we can recycle oil he told us just to leave it and he would take care of it. That was a huge favor he did for us - Muchas Gracias El Senor!
November 15
We got four emails from Ignacio last night. One told us he would be here at 9 am, one told he would be here at 10:30 am, one told us both 9 and 10:30, and one told us he would check in at lunch time. We were ready at 10:30 and at noon we got an email to be ready at 3. We turned on the television and flipped repeatedly through the channels, not actually watching a show. Channel 3 is just a camera on a plaza in Ushuaia with some music in the background. I was so bored I decided I wanted to be on Argentine TV so I walked down there and did some dancing. Ernesto stayed in our apart hotel and laughed at me and took pictures.
At 2 pm we got an email from Ignacio that pushed our meeting to 3:30. At 2:30 pm we got an email that said “Dear tomorrow morning change now my god. Wait me there please” (he calls us “Dear” and “Dears” all the time, which helps me not hate on him). We waited and he did in fact show up and prove he was in Ushuaia, so that was good. He brought along his beautiful wife Maria. Unfortunately all that happened was that he told us we aren’t doing anything today and the new plan for the bikes. Instead of being trucked from Ushuaia to Valparaiso (the shipping port west of Santiago, Chile), they are getting stored at the customs office in Ushuaia until a boat takes them to Cartagena, Colombia (where we entered South America from Panama), where they will get on another boat, go through the Panama Canal, then to Los Angeles. He saw my face turn to worry. “No te preocupes” he says over and over (do not worry). Even his wife told me not to worry.
Ernesto says “I’m pretty sure he brought his wife so he didn’t get punched. Tomorrow he’ll bring his wife AND a puppy.”
Cotton. Denim. Wool. Ahh. Three hours and hundreds of dollars later, Ernie and I look and feel clean and normal. Ernie bought chuck taylors, jeans, two cotton t-shirts, a belt, two pairs of boxers, three pairs of socks, and a cotton-fleece sweater-sweatshirt. I bought boots, jeans, three pairs of socks, three cotton tops, two pairs of underwear, two bras, and a super cozy sweater-jacket thing made of wool and cotton. And a pair of earrings and some deodorant. E got most of his clothes at one store and he was so ready to be out of his old clothes he sat in the dressing room while I paid for it all and then he wore it all out of the store. I wanted to be 100% fresh and clean before I put on my new digs (no contamination), so I waited to put everything on until after we got back to our apartment and showered. Except the shoes… we threw those away in the mall immediately after getting new footwear.
Ernesto is napping and I am giddy and itching to go prance around town and feel normal. But he was so patient today as I fussed over shoes and jeans I will not wake him.
November 13
Happy Birthday Nedly! I hope you are well mi amigo.
Today was spent with “Pira Tour”, Ushuaia’s eco-friendly tourism company that specializes in intimate experiences with penguins. Our first and last impression is that it is more sophisticated than the Galapagos tours we took, but we can’t really put our finger on why… Are the participants more sophisticated because of the price? (this tour was the price of two tours in the Galapagos) Or does the structure of the tour itself only attract a certain type of person? (It is a very slow paced tour). Or maybe we just convinced ourselves it was more sophisticated because we didn’t want to feel bad about walking with penguins. And when it comes to walking with penguins, the rules are plentiful: we had to stay as a group, we couldn’t go off the trail (and it was a small trail), we had to walk slow, we couldn’t get within two meters of the animals, and the penguins are only disturbed for two hours each day (40 people total in two groups of two). Most of the other tourists behaved and while there were lots of selfies there was no flexing or bikini modeling shots. Actually, there were modeling shots… some guy in aviators and a fake fur lined coat from Portugal had a team of three people taking photos and video of him all day. At the bow of the boat, with the penguins, being pensive on the dock… It was funny until it was annoying, like when the guy in charge of the reflector couldn’t get it quite right so the whole group was held up from moving along the trail. We were on a brand new boat that is super sexy and comfortable. The captain was hip and local, as were the two guides.They were fluent in Spanish as well as English, and they were young and cool. They reminded me of some of my old students (Argentine versions of Tai and Katie). What a great job for a recent graduate (note to self, encourage advisees to learn another language). We took our time getting to the penguin island, which was nice for soaking up extended views of black browed albatrosses and flightless steamer ducks. We also slowed for cormorant breeding colony, a South American sea lion colony, and one of the most southern lighthouses. The boat made a full and slow circle around each stop, which was much appreciated. The lighthouse used to be powered by sea lion or whale fat (which someone would have to go out and fill every two days), but ~20 years ago it got a solar panel. It is often called “the lighthouse at the end of the world”, but that is silly as there is a whole other continent south of South America with lots of lighthouses.
Entonces, el pinguinos! There are two species living on the private island that Pira Tour has access too. The larger species, gentoo penguins, have a funny and lovely guffaw. Their shape was lean and pointed and it was easy to imagine them hunting. They were busy laying belly down on their feces filled nests. My biggest disappointment in the day is that I have (yet another) cold and my sense of smell is gone… Knowing that the gentoo penguins make their nests out of rocks and their own feces (to keep the eggs warm), I would have really liked to experience the smell of gentoo penguins. The other and much more numerous species is the Magellanic penguin, which is quite small (second smallest penguin I think). It is very cute and there is nowhere it can’t preen itself. This colony is their Southernmost range; 2-3 pairs came a few dozen years ago and now they are in the tens of thousands. They dig out underground nests and it was a good thing we weren’t free to roam the island as we would have inevitably fallen into and ruined a Magellanic nest. They were a joy to watch, especially so close, and we are very grateful for the time we got to spend with them. At one point a flock of squawking gulls caught our attention and the fuss was over two leopard seals! They are common around the island in September when they are migrating south, but they aren’t normally found here this time of year. They were close enough that we could see their gnarly heads. AND, lucky us, there was a lone King penguin. They do not nest on the island and they have never been spotted there before… a mistake of nature that was the highlight of our day. Seeing their proportions and behaviors from just a few meters away… awesome. I hope s/he finds its friends in Bahia Inutil.
My great human moment of the day (and actually for many days now) is after we got on the bus for the ride home. The two guides gave their final spiel and everyone settled into their seats for the 1.5 hour ride back to Ushuaia. The bus driver was in his mid to late 50’s and he and the two young guides were clearly pals. After hitting cruising speed, they pulled out the bus driver’s “satchel de mate” (that is a phrase made up by Tara, translation = bag dedicated to yerba mate tea drinking; made of leather and includes tin case for yerba mate tea leaves and thermos of hot water and one silver straw). The yerba mate custom and scene has been “sold” to tourists as an Argentine custom since we entered well over a month ago, but we had yet to see it being consumed in the idyllic way it's presented in stores or advertisements. As most of the people in the bus slept (including Ernesto), the two guides sat on the giant steps and the three of them chatted and shared a gourd of mate, pouring fresh hot water for the next sipper. I’m glad I had my sunglasses on because I stared and smiled at them the whole time, and hopefully they just thought I was looking out the big front window of the bus. It was a lovely, genuine, and memorable scene.
November 14
After breakfast it was a day of chores and errands. We unpacked all cases and gave them a good rinse. We put all our belongings into one of three piles: garbage, things to pack on the bike, and things to take with us on our journey back to Portland. It was very strange how all those piles worked out… Given the size of the “things to pack on the bike” pile, it is a good thing I can pack like the tenth round of Tetris. After all the sorting and packing we tackled the motos themselves. We removed all the oil, gas, batteries, our rear view mirrors, and both our windscreens. Ernesto made it all happen; he had all the right tools and solutions to all stumbling blocks, as we took care of all this on the street and not in any sort of proper shop. Our good karma continues as El Senor of our apart hotel not only wants all our gas and their respective containers (he is a fellow moto-ist), but in response to our inquiry of where we can recycle oil he told us just to leave it and he would take care of it. That was a huge favor he did for us - Muchas Gracias El Senor!
November 15
We got four emails from Ignacio last night. One told us he would be here at 9 am, one told he would be here at 10:30 am, one told us both 9 and 10:30, and one told us he would check in at lunch time. We were ready at 10:30 and at noon we got an email to be ready at 3. We turned on the television and flipped repeatedly through the channels, not actually watching a show. Channel 3 is just a camera on a plaza in Ushuaia with some music in the background. I was so bored I decided I wanted to be on Argentine TV so I walked down there and did some dancing. Ernesto stayed in our apart hotel and laughed at me and took pictures.
At 2 pm we got an email from Ignacio that pushed our meeting to 3:30. At 2:30 pm we got an email that said “Dear tomorrow morning change now my god. Wait me there please” (he calls us “Dear” and “Dears” all the time, which helps me not hate on him). We waited and he did in fact show up and prove he was in Ushuaia, so that was good. He brought along his beautiful wife Maria. Unfortunately all that happened was that he told us we aren’t doing anything today and the new plan for the bikes. Instead of being trucked from Ushuaia to Valparaiso (the shipping port west of Santiago, Chile), they are getting stored at the customs office in Ushuaia until a boat takes them to Cartagena, Colombia (where we entered South America from Panama), where they will get on another boat, go through the Panama Canal, then to Los Angeles. He saw my face turn to worry. “No te preocupes” he says over and over (do not worry). Even his wife told me not to worry.
Ernesto says “I’m pretty sure he brought his wife so he didn’t get punched. Tomorrow he’ll bring his wife AND a puppy.”