Lots and lots to write about! We´re in Ushuaia at the moment, but before I start writing about here, I need to finish off telling you about our last few days in Buenos Aires.

The last organised tour that we did in Buenos Aires was a city tour. We booked it thinking it was a walking tour, however when we didn´t get off the coach for an hour, we realised we were wrong. Although we were a bit disappointed at first, we actually got to see a lot more parts of the city than we would have if we´d walked. The city is huge with so many different districts. We were on the coach for a long time, however they did let us off to wander around certain places. We saw a very impressive church which was absolutely beautiful inside. A lot of Buenos Aires needs some TLC - a splash of paint, repaving of the pavement, fixing crumbling walls - so it was refreshing to see an old building in such good condition. The best part of the trip was visiting La Boca. This was a very poor part of town where it was popular to build houses out of scrap (mainly corrugated iron) and paint them different colours to look nice. At La Boca was the Boca Juniors stadium where we had a quick tour. We had our photo taken on the pitch with a few trophies and of course me wearing my Blackpool shirt. Away from the stadium was a street full of life - a market, shops, restuarants and cafes with tango dancing seemingly everywhere. It was a little touristy, but it was still very nice. The tour ended in San Telmo where we went to another market with seemed like it went on for miles.

Towards the end of our time in Buenos Aires we decided to go out for another steak. The hostel recommended somewhere in a very nice district and we thought we´d be in for a real treat. When we arrived there were crowds outside - crowds of Americans. It seemed like a bit of a tourist trap. The decor and service was great and the starter was really nice, however when it came to the steak it was a big disappointment. I think they just catered for the tourists and used meat of a lower quality. Lesson learnt - avoid the tourist traps and don´t take recommendations!

On our last day we visited the Japanese garden in Buenos Aires. It was a beautiful calm place and thousands of Koi Carp, bridges, statues and other Japanesey things. The lunch in the restaurant was fantastic and more than made up for our steak disappointment. The garden also made us look forward to Japan even more. I think it might be my favourite place on our little tour. We´ll have to wait and see...

Anyway, our time in Buenos Aires came to an end and we had our bus journey ahead. The 36 hours to Rio Gallegos was actually 40 hours and so we missed our connection and had to spend an evening in the town we christened "Merced 2". If you remember our comments about Merced in California, the same applies - industrial and grotty, a dead end town. The place we stayed had a strange tap system. The cold tap in the sink didn´t turn on, the shower was either freezing cold or scolding. The shower had 5 taps that seemed to change their mind as to what their function was. The following morning we had no water and so I had to go downstairs, find the water pump outside and plug it in. I don´t want to spend another night in Rio Gallegos.

The following morning we got our coach to Ushuaia. It was a 12 hour journey (quite short!) however it was quite annoying because of border controls. We were stamped and had baggage scanned leaving Argentina, then again entering Chile (where they have strict rules about fruit and wood), then again leaving Chile, and lastly entering Argentina. We also had a boat trip as part of the journey.

Ushuaia was well worth it all though. The town is incredibly nice. It´s a seaside town and is surrounded by mountains. It´s the southern most town in the world and they really play on that fact with "End of the World" merchandise everywhere. They are also known for their chocolate here, with several chocolate shops and cafes. The shops are great and the people very friendly. It feeels very safe and welcoming. The hostel is fantastic as well. There tends to be older travellers here, a better class of people than in Buenos Aires where lots of people just go for the nightlife. It took us a couple of days to fully recover from our journey.

We visited the national park "Tierra del Fuego" (land of fire) for a walk. It´s called land of fire not to be ironic (it can get very cold here) but instead because when the first Europeans visited they saw the natives had lit campfires. The park was everything we hoped for, lovely surroundings, a natural path (not like the metal grids everywhere like at Iguazu Falls) and it was very peaceful. All you could hear was the lapping water and the trees swaying. There were very few people around at the walk. We headed for a cafe where we were due to be picked up. We had imagined a nice tea room however we couldn´t have been further from the truth. We arrived at a big building, with a big car park, with big coaches and a big cafeteria, with a big queue of old Americans on vacation. Clearly they were really set up for the tourists at the park. It was a huge money making machine. It´s such a shame that a naturally beautiful place has been ruined a bit by tourism.

It turns out that Ushuaia is THE major port for cruise ships in the region. While we´ve been here we´ve had the pleasure of two of them and they really make a difference to the town. Ushuaia is also the place to go if you want to visit Antartica. If you fancy going the best idea is not to book the boat there, instead arrive here and get a last minute deal. You make a saving of about $4000 US.

The main speciality here is King Crab, so we decided to go to the recommended place for it. The restaurant was on the sea front and quiet when we arrived. Then the Americans arrived on their tour and filled the place. It was quite amusing that they needed a tour guide to help them with eating out.The crab was fine but again, clearly a tourist trap. We found a place by ourselves one night that wasn´t on any tourist maps and the food was fantastic. We got good steaks and the atmosphere was really nice. It was also very quiet and the chef came out at regular intervals to chat and ask if things were okay.

We have been on a couple of boat trips while we´ve been here. One trip was to "Penguin Island". It was hilarious. We were driven out to a ranch about an hour and a half away then got into a covered speed boat. After 10 rocky and bouncy minutes we arrived. There were thousands of penguins. They were so funny to watch waddling around. Most were just stood solemnly, but it suprised me how close we got to them. We were told particular areas we could and couldn´t go (so as to avoid the burrows) but it was a superb trip. The other boat trip we went on was to see the King Cormorants and sea lions. The voyage was for 3 hours and we had a guide explaining all about the wildlife and local area.

Today is our last day in Ushuaia. It´s a good little town, but I´m a bit worried about it. You can see how it is growing more and more commercial. At the moment it´s still very quaint and friendly, but 2 big casinos have been built and probably more are on the way. You can´t blame them for wanting to maximise profit from the cruise ships that visit, but I hope they don´t lose their identity along the way.

We leave tomorrow at 5am and reach our El Calafate just past midnight. We have 3 hours in Rio Gallegos. Hopefully it won´t be any more than that!

D