Lisa Trapp, 2011 Antarctica student blogger, writes:

December 17, 2011

The peak of Olivia, seen just outside the airport upon arrival

I arrived in Ushuaia, Argentina today, the southernmost city in the world. The beauty of the area was enough to whisk my exhaustion away after having to catch an early flight from Buenos Aires. The first thing that struck me was how purely incredible the mountains were. The peak of Olivia jutting out despite the thick clouds captivated me the second I walked out of the airport. My study abroad group loaded into a bus all too soon and headed to our hotel. We stayed the night in the Aires del Beagle Apart Hotel, a beautiful alpine-style hotel that fit about four to a room. The two balconies that spread from the room that I shared and the large Jacuzzi tub was much more than I ever expected from our stay.

I was eager to go see the town, so I wandered out with the rest of the group. It was more than I ever expected it to be. Bright colorful buildings lined the streets and welcomed people in with open doors and lively music. An upbeat café with bright lighting and windowed walls lured me and some friends inside, and I enjoyed my first experience of trying to communicate with the locals. I hadn’t looked over any Spanish since four years prior in my junior year of high school. All the sudden simple phrases like, “Do you have salt?” seemed vastly complicated. But the overall struggle was well worth it for the wonderful meal and upwelling of pride for having bridged some small conversational gap.

After lunch I walked the length of the main street for well over an hour.  By the time I wandered to the end and back I was exhausted, so I made my way back to the hotel. None of my roommates had come back yet, and unfortunately the hotel had only supplied us with one old fashioned gold skeleton key, and I was not in possession of it. I didn’t mind though; the sky had cleared up a little and the mountains looked beautiful, so I sat on the front step, listened to some music and waited for my roommates to show up.

Aires del Beagle Apart Hotel in Ushuaia

When I finally got back into my room, I spent several hours on the back balcony with a cup of tea and the mountains in sight, resting my feet and enjoying a piece of the world many people don’t get the opportunity to see. I abandoned my post, however, when I got an invite to go bird watching down by the dock. I strapped my binoculars and camera around my neck and wandered back into the bustling streets. What had started as a light drizzle when I left the hotel turned into a full-blown rain by the time I made it down to the water and so I tucked my camera under my jacket and wandered towards a bright yellow building. The words “Artisan Market” were painted across the top and I made my way inside.

It was the piece of Ushuaia I had wanted to see, but couldn’t find along the main street. Locals selling handmade crafts and trinkets lined both sides of the long building. Everything from jewelry and maps to scarves and hand-carved penguins was available and good conversation to boot. Unlike the shops on the main street, Spanish music drifted through the building and intermingled with fast paced conversations that to my untrained ears were incomprehensible. I was so caught up in attempting conversations and learning about some true Ushuaian culture that it was the dinner meeting I had scheduled, not the easing of the rain, that finally took me away from the market.

View from outside the Confiteria Restaurant. Even by 9:30 p.m. when we were leaving dinner, the sun still hadn’t set.

Dinner was at a beautiful location on the water just outside of the city. We didn’t eat until eight o’clock but it was still considered the “early bird special.” The sun never really set while we were out by the water, but it flashed brilliantly through the clouds leaving streaks of color in the sky. I held myself back from going outside only until I had finished my dessert, a delicious blackberry ice cream with a hard chocolate exterior. But it was worth the wait. One day in Ushuaia and I had already felt like I had been there for a week and never wanted to leave. That night, downtown, I watched a group of explorers celebrate their return from Antarctica and wondered if my experience would leave me that overjoyed and full of camaraderie. Keep reading my posts to see if it did…