My Way to the Worlds Southernmost City
Delays... I got up at 6 in the morning, did my morning routine, made oatmeal and walked my way down to the bus terminal. So there I was at 7.30 waiting for my 8.00 bus which of course didn't turn up till 8.30 and didn't leave before 9.10. However Tim made the waiting easy; Tim is an American from the hostel I stayed at who was waiting for a bus to Ushuaia (which is the southernmost city in the world) as well (although not the same). It was a good conversation which really spawned when at 7.40 they started playing some techno/electronic/reggae-ish music; which prompted Tim to say "What the fuck kind of music is that? It's 7.40 in the morning, be quiet", spawning quite a lot of laughter from around (he wasn't the only one annoyed by it). Well the buses eventually arrived, and we did get on.
The bus trip was unlike any I had been on so far. The bus was crammed full almost to the point of bursting, with a fair share of screaming children. What also made this trip peculiar were the border crossings, 4 of them. Leaving Argentina, entering Chile, leaving Chile and entering Argentina; all of them separate, instead of just a logical 2 crossings. It resulted in lots of waiting in line for stamps etc. I got my first entry stamp to Chile about 3 hours before I got my first exit stamp, so in total I got 4 stamps within 4 hours. Eventually the bus pulled to a final halt and everyone got out, got their baggage and went somewhere else, and so did I. But my map didn't fit with this place? So I asked someone for directions; he told me that I wasn't in Ushuaia but Rio Grande. "Clucking bell" was my initial thought, but I went into the office of the bus company I was using and asked about what was going on. Apparently another bus would come by shortly and pick me up, and surely it did, and some of the people from the first bus returned, many as bewildered as me. Eventually the bus halted in Ushuaia and we all got out. Now at the internet cafe where I had reserved my bed in Ushuaia, I couldn't print; and thus I had no idea what my hostel was called or where it was, so the first thing I had to do was to go to an internet cafe and find out. I was staying at Los Lupinos hostel which luckily turned out to be quite close. I went and paid for two nights before going out for dinner (no supermarkets were open, and you can't transport food across borders here), and I had a lovely ham and cheese omelet with French fries, immediately after I went to bed, very tired and with a long day of walking ahead of me.
Enjoy this article?
-
Hanne