Prior to leaving Santiago I went to the Aerolineas Argentinas office to check my flights, all being correct. The afternoon of the flight I receive an email from them, in Spanish, and after help from the hostel staff, the email indited that the Buenos Aires/Ushuaia flight had been cancelled and a different flight shown and hours later than the original. The Happy House Hostel staff were fantastic, they phoned the airline, checked that I was on booked on both flights, printed out boarding cards and told me how to get a free transfer between the two airports in Buenos Aires. The original flights were in and out of the same airport, this change meant that I had to clear immigration and customs in Buenos Aires at the first airport then carry by bags to a bus for the one hour trip to the second airport. Not a happy bunny having to sit on the floor while waiting for the bus!
There was one bright spot when the immigration lady at the second airport looked at my passport, said something to another lady then both laughed, and when I asked she said that she looked at me and thought of Christmas. This was midsummer day here, hot and I have little idea of what Christmas means at the moment.
To top it all I sat next to a mother with a young baby. No child strap was given to her while flying and the luggage situation is such on these planes that when everyone had sat down on suitcase was left in the isle as there was no room in the overhead lockers. I thought that it would be left there during the flight but a hostess tucked it away somewhere. There was a group of six elderly Aussies who tried to rush onto the plane telling me that they wanted to get on quickly so that they could get their luggage into the overhead lockers. Very stressed people! People were booking in with animals in cages to be put on the plane with them. One man walked down the plane isle with a dog poking its head out of a shopping bag. Anything goes on this airline so it seems (shades of PNG). We set off from the terminal then sat on the runway for an hour for some unknown reason. Door to door, hostel to hostel a total flight time of 41/2 hours took 17 hours and I was very tired at the end. At least the Hostel Los Cormoranes people met me at the airport here on a bitterly cold windy day.
The hostel is up a long series of hills, good exercise to go back and forth to the town, and from the veranda I was able to see the Bark Europa arrive in the port, under power, not sail. I have been able to get reasonably close to the ship but have not made any attempt to talk to anyone on board as the boarding time is to be 5pm on 24 December.
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| The town from the hostel |
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| Trying to show the steepness of the road |
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| The town from the harbour |
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| Hills behind the town |
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| Moasic |
Besides the town being built on the side of a steep hill there are hardly two houses that look the same and some have the most weird shape, while most streets are one way only. At least drivers stop when I (and locals) want to cross the road even not at a crossing. Driving speeds are slow as there a sleeping policemen everywhere, even on what I would call main roads, some quite substantial. When cars are parked I noticed that the front wheels are turned into the kerb so if anything happens the car would not be able to run down the hills. It’s also very expensive for everything here, the others, and myself, making our own food in the hostel and not eating out at all.
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| The town from the harbour |
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| Seen in the town |
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| The last DC3 flown by the Argentine Navy in 1978 (5 Tango 22) |
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| Stranded |
Maybe the above sign is why I was not able to get money out of the local ATM's using a UK credit card. I tried three of them, one even indicating that I should try another, but eventually I found a HSBC ATM that let me have some money.
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