Today is the last full day we spent in Ushuaia. We made it a very low key day by splurging on a really good lunch then visiting the Martime and Penal Museum. The museum wasn´t the most exciting thing, but we got a student discount with our ISIC cards which all study abroad students need at UNCG (I finally found a place to use it!). The museum was held in what used to be a prison and all the cells had information about the prision, prisoners, and even information about Argentinan ship expeditions. Did you know Argentina owns part of Antartica?
Backing up a few days, we did other more exciting things like a combination bus-boat
tour around Ushuaia. The tour was nine hours and we were able to see some special kind of bird that I couldn´t focus on because there were sea lions right next to them. I don´t know how to describe the sea lions in a way that makes sense. They were so ugly they were cute? Then we saw a real lighthouse and an island of pingüinos! Unforunately, the penguins had already started to migrate, so there weren´t a lot of them like there would have been if we went a few weeks earlier, but it was an island of penguins! On my list of things to do here was penguins, glacier, Chile, and hiking, so I was super excited when the bus ran onto the island a little bit and we had about 20 to 30
minutes just to stare at and take pictures of the penguins. Never while I was planning this trip did I think I would see penguins. It was a possiblity, but at the same time when you see something on T.V. so much you don´t think it´s possbile to actually see them. It was surreal. We transferred to land afterwards and toured the first ranch in Ushuaia. We, also, drove through the mountains on a bus, and went to a husky breeding center that served great hot chocolate. I highly recommend this tour if you ever go to Ushuaia. You get to sit down a lot in a warm place and get pretty close to penguins. So. Worth. It.
We, also, went hiking in Tierra del Fuego National Park. It was just Rachel and me, so we were able to take our time and enjoy the view of the forest and the coastline as we hiked for about three and a half hours. With how I walk in the streets of Ushuaia always having to hold on to things so I won´t fall completely on my face as I trip over everything, I´m surprised I didn´t twist an ankle or something more dreadful (word brought to you by a British guy in the hostel).And yesterday we went on our last excurision where we went riding in a 4X4, had
asado for dinner, and went kayaking. Best Excursion Ever. Our guide was perfect for the job. He had special CDs made just for these trips and would get out of the car, while it´s still moving, and dance on the hood of the car. He would turn the overhead light on and off like a strobe light, let us sit on top of the car while we went through dips and turns and puddles, and made all kinds of jokes like the one in the title of this blog. There was even one instance where he went through a huge puddle, went up a 
hill, put the car in neutral, rolled back, and did it again. I was on top during this holding on for dear life. So much fun! The kayaking was fun, too, because it was my first time. Kayaking is as hard it looks. I had Rachel to guide me, so I feel like that´s the only reason we did not tip over and thank God because it was cold. We then did get stuck on a sand bar that was made of mud and had to have our guide rope us in while everyone watched and took pictures. Hah.There were days in between where we did much less significant things not worth mentioning, too, of course. We were thankful for it because this is vacation afterall and it gave us plenty of time to relax.
With our extra time here we cooked to save money. Ushuaia is such a tourist town plus it´s so separated from everything that prices are a little crazy. After spending about $15 USD on a chicken sandwhich with no fries or anything we knew we would have to cook. So, we´ve cooked stir fry, eggs in a basket, pasta with homemade garlic bread, and we bought soup for about 50 cents so we´ve had that more than once. They were simple meals that definitely helped out our budget.
Other culture things: People in Ushuaia WILL pick you up if they see you walking (I experienced this first hand and aparently it´s nothing to be afraid of). Even though this is a semi-isolated town they still have brand names and seem to have way more
labels in their closets than I do. I´ve been told that while crab from Ushuaia is widely sold here it´s actually not good compared to Alaskan kind crab. Just about every business is fully biliginual here so you can get away with speaking all English, if you wanted to. They take their siestas seriously here in that around mid-day a lot of stores will close for about three hours. Lastly, Ushuaia is the southernmost city but NOT the southernmost town. There are two towns one on the Chilean side of the Beagle Channel and one on the Argentinan side that are actually more south but a city here has to have at least 10,000 people which they both don´t.Other things: Met a guy from the UK who laughs and shouts in his sleep and gave us a demonstration. La Posta hostel is the place to stay here in Ushuaia. It´s the closest to the airport and the furthest from town. It´s my favorite hostel out of the four I´ve stayed and I highly recommend you check it out if you make it to this side of the world.
OK, leaving Ushuaia tomorrow and going to spend two days in Buenos Aires then head back "home". Travelling is fun, but I did come here for school after all. :P
p.s. Made my first joke in Spanish that a native speaker understood and told me was very good. <---Progress!! What what!?
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