Hey all! So things have shifted a little bit since you last heard from Jordan and I. We took another 16+ hour bus ride to Rio Gallegos, this very bleak looking oil town that did not have much going for at first sight. We didn´t stay long enough to find out though, as within three hours we were on another bus. Our original plan was to head to Ushuaia, which claims to be the southernmost city on the planet. But to get there we had to book our tickets and then wait until the 21st. Not a big thrill considering where we were at. So after weighing our options we got on another bus heading south, this one heading to Punta Arenas. That´s right: we are now in the country of Chile. Getting across the border was interesting, especially since I´d forgotten to mention that I´d been carrying beef jerkey with me. Since this is illegal to take across the border it was confiscated from us. But we were told we could have it back on the condition that we ate it right then and there. Not one to waste food you can guess what we did.
The town is of medium size and sits right next to the Straights of Magellan and is very nice from what we´ve seen so far. Due to phone difficulties we were unable to book a hostel in advance. But no sooner had we got off the bus than we were mobbed by young people advertising various hostels. Before we knew it we were in this young man´s car and he drove us straight to the hostel that´s set up in his aunt Tita´s house. This is by far the nicest place we´ve stayed in so far and one of the cheapest.
Having spent what seems like the majority of our time in transit from place to place since we´ve gotten here and getting a little tired of this we decided to settle down and spend a couple of days here resting and just taking in the local sites. This is the first place we´ve found that we actually felt like we could do this. Jordan thinks he could spend a month here. I give him about a week. Besides, I didn´t come all the way down here to watch TV.
But the rest will definitely be good and it sounds like there are some interesting things to see around here (penguins **wink, wink**). And the place we´re staying at has free internet AND a computer with a USB port! So with any luck you´ll get to see some more pictures soon. And when we´re ready will move on to other areas. Now would be a good time to bone up on our Spanish language skills, which still blow by the way.
Love to all.
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Haa ha ha. “Confiscated Beef Jerky”–rock band name!
Boy, you guys blasted right through Argentina. I hope you get to see some penguins.
And I continue to gnash my teeth and wail with jealousy, just so you know.
Comment by Lauren Baur — January 17, 2006 @ 6:54 pm