We arrived into Ushuaia by plane and after driving round a few hostels only to find that they were full, our taxi driver suggested Patagonia Pais Hostel, which turned out to be lovely.  The staff and all the people staying there were a good bunch, so lazing around the hostel chatting (especially with Marisha?s injured knee) was quite a lot of fun.  Ushuaia itself is, in a word, touristy.  It is the southernmost city in the world, so everything is geared towards this, including all the tacky tourist memorabilia that they sell in every third shop you walk past!  Someone should probably wisen people up to the fact that this is only a technicality, since Puerto Williams on the Chilean side of the Patagonian border, is actually the southernmost settlement, it?s just that it?s too small to be classed as a ?city?. 

We had a lot of time to spend there, since we weren?t due to fly back to Brazil until the 22nd March (I hope the addition of dates clears up the confusion certain people seem to be having about what is happening when!  Like we mentioned, the blog is wayyyyyyy behind!!).  We had planned to do a boat trip on the Beagle Channel, until we found out how expensive it was, and also realised it was out of season so we wouldn?t see many animals.  Instead, we passed our days wandering around the touristy shops, stopping for coffees and ice-creams, and generally appreciating the huge snow-capped mountains that are the backdrop to the city.  We even joined in with the tourist vibe one afternoon and went to the tourist office to get the official ?Ushuaia ? End of The World? stamp in our passports!  On one of the days Rakhee went on a day trek in Tierra del Fuego National Park, which Marisha obviously couldn?t join in on due to ?the knee?, but Rakhee enjoyed the trek, seeing lots of ducks, hares and horses amongst the beautiful natural scenery, her only complaint being the amount of mud on the trail ? highly evident by the new brown colour of her trousers when she returned to the hostel that evening!  Another day was spent trailing round a few museums, including an ex-prison and a locomotive museum, but generally nothing too strenuous!  We also ventured out one night with a load of French guys, an American, a Paraguian and two Brazilians (see how multicultural we are!) to a nearby bar, which was fun as we were practically the only people in there.  We had a few cocktails, chatted to the staff and owners and were soon dancing on chairs and tables to the terrible 80?s tunes that were blaring out of the soundsystem until around 4am!  We even invented a new game, whereby we tried to see just how many straws Marisha's ever-expanding hair could hold...see the picture for the results!

 Touristy nature aside, a good time was had in Ushuaia and with our Patagonian adventure over, we waved goodbye to our new found friends and headed for the airport once more, our destination Sao Paulo, Brazil...