The Adventure Begins!

After spending the night in Buenos Aires, we flew out early the next morning to Ushuaia and landed around 10 am in temperatures much cooler. Many of us felt more at home because it was more similar to the Pacific Northwest climate. Because we landed so early, many of us took advantage of our “free day” to catch up on the minimal sleep we’ve been getting while others decided to explore our second stop of the trip.
Later that evening, the group went out for dinner at a chic restaurant for Nick’s 21st birthday. The food was great but the company was even better. One of the most entertaining aspects of this trip so far is overcoming the language barrier and this is definitely something that was apparent at dinner. There are a few of us that have a Spanish speaking background and are able to help out but many of us stutter through conversations and it is amazing and entertaining to be immersed in a completely different culture.
To continue celebrating Nick’s birthday we innocently wandered down to a nightclub we saw when initially coming in to Ushuaia, little to our knowledge it ended up being the Southern most gay bar in the world. Our entire group made up the population of this nightclub and as the night went on, we began to pick up the signs that maybe we were not in a regular nightclub. Nonetheless, we made the most of that experience and continued to dance the night away!
Early the next morning we woke up and went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park that was absolutely gorgeous! We went on a couple short hikes around the coast of the Beagle Channel and stopped for lunch at a nearby river. The boys and Alexis were brave enough to jump in for a swim in the chilly water. This led to many laughs and several memorable quotes. After the swim, we continued on to el Lago Roca (Roca Lake) which was another cold body of water that stands between Chile and Argentina. The site was absolutely breath taking, just like everything else here!
After a day of hiking, we had more free time to explore downtown Ushuaia and many of us decided to go to museums, shops or restaurants. It was nice to have a relaxed evening however it ended with many of us catching up on our readings and homework for class the next day.
This morning we checked out of the hotel and spent our last hours in Tierra del Fuego walking around and getting ready to board our ship to Antarctica, the Ushuaia. We are all so excited to embark on this adventure and do not know what to expect, other than pure awesomeness. It is all still so surreal!!

Abrazos de Argentina!
Megan Aarsvold and Yvonne Kicken










Pictures by Megan Aarsvold