Ushuaia

When we flew into Ushuaia the beauty was astounding. I started to cry with all these mixed emotions - the sheer beauty, the fact that I was actually here, in Antarctica! Wow! I can’t believe I am actually doing this! Morbidly I imagined ways I might not have to go home, and the only way I thought is if I die here. Maybe I can have a dramatic death, getting eaten by a leopard seal or maybe I can die of hypothermia or get stranded in one of the research stations. The dominant species that will replace the human race will find my naked body (because people who die of hypothermia take their clothes off, or so I heard) 10,000,000 years from now and try to extrapolate, like Otzi, what happened to me.  They will extrapolate that the human race lived mostly off of cafe con leche.

But I suppose the preferable alternative is to stay alive but still not go home.  I would miss my cats though.

Ushuaia is at the base of the Andes mountains.  The mountains seem to go right up to the sea, with not much foothills.  The town is set on the hill heading straight up to the mountain.  Everything here is at the "fin de mundo" Even next to the elevator in the hotel there is a plaque that says something like "ascenseurs de fin de mundo."

My morning run was mostly along the shoreline.  It was very picturesque in the morning sunlight, although by that time the sun had already been up for a few hours.  Despite a brief adrenaline-laced interlude of getting chased by wild dogs (that does seem to be the most ironic way to die) it was a very beautiful run.

For those "training hill" aficionados - try this one on for size.

The bay with Andes in the background.