Hey Everyone,

Yesterday, Momo and I took the bus from Ushuaia to Rio Gallegos. On the map, it doesnt look like that long of a way, but it took 12 hours to complete a rather....interesting trip. First off, not to a good start, we have to wake up at 4 am to be at the bus station at 4:40. Bus doesnt get there until 5:10. NOT happy. I could have slept 30 more minutes. Sleeping anywhere from 4 to 6 hours is the worst for me. My eyes hurt, I feel exhausted, I'm frustrated and in a bad mood...1-3 hours of sleep, I'm fine. and more than 6 hours, I'm like a crazy puppy the rest of the day. Momo, of course, is NOT a morning person. So needless to say, she was less happy than I was. Besides the two groups of Isrealis shouting across us to each other at 4:40 am in a language that sounds like someone is gagging. Bad combination and formula for both of us to hate life at the moment. Then at 5:10, the oldest, worst bus drives up, bearly making it, as I think "we are never getting to Rio Gallegos, 12 hours away, in that broken-down bus. Typical. I just got Peru-ed in Argentina." Not to worry. We were only on that bus for 3 hours, where we are awoken suddenly to get off the bus, change buses, and head out with a nicer bus. I'm happy to change buses, but was not happy to be suddenly woken, disoriented and in shock, running around looking for my bags while trying to figure out what is going on. No one ever told us what we were doing. I cant remember how I figured it out. (Momo called it "a traumatic experience)

Another thing you should know, if you are planning on taking this bus, is that you have to cross the chilean border, then cross back into Argentina. Border crossing twice! Getting into Argentina is easy. They dont really care what you bring in, fruit, plants, cocaine, etc. They didnt check any of our bags. Getting to Chile, however, pretty tough. They searched through all of our bags from Peru, and our carry on luggage from Argentina.

I'd say the one cool thing about this trip is the Straight of Mangellan. We saw approx. 15 dolphins, surfing in the current behind the 30 minute ferry across the straight. They jumped out of the water playfully for half of the ride. It was awesome. It was the eye of the storm, in a hurricane of a trip.

After another few hours on this bus, we get to Rio Gallegos. Kind of a dump. Not much to see here, and pretty expensive. So we find the cheapest hostel, worried about the quality of this cheapest hostel in kind of a dunmpy city. Turns out, the place is full, but they will let us use the apartment they usually rent out. We get our own apartment!! For the same price, with a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, wifi and everything! A nice turn to an otherwise annoying trip to Rio Gallegos. We're rollin with the good day just as much as the bad days regardless!