The city of Ushuaia, Argentina fames itself with the catch phrase that it is the "End of the World." All over the town there are souvenirs and signs that exploit this fact. They even have a double decker bus like the ones in London to do tours through the city, even though you can walk the entire "city" in about half an hour. It resembles many of the towns in Patagonia that I've passed through on the way here, very swiss-alpine like, although I think of all the towns, Ushuaia has the most spectactular setting, in between the Beagle Channel and the end of the Andes Mountain Range.

I spent a few hours wandering around the Tierra del Fuego National Park, just a few kilometers away from the city. It was a good park to have a wander through, but not as spectacular as the scenery I have seen in the past weeks. For me, the most noteable sight in the park was the end of the Pan American Highway, which starts in Alaska, and runs through Canada, United States, Central America, South America and ends here in Argentina. I have read that its length is around 26,000 km long, but for some reason the sign said 17,848 km. Not sure what the discrepency is, I´ll have to look into it later.

Ushuaia was originally colonized as a convict settlement in the early 1900s, but since the prison was closed in 1947 the town has begun to thrive as a tourist attraction with its "end of the world" status and accentuating how far they are from everything. Its a nice place to spend a day or two, but by the time I leave for Antarctica, I will have been here in Ushuaia for almost a week. It's the longest I've been in any city since I started traveling. I almost feel like I live here! Even the local penguin and beaver mascots know me now! I kept calling the beaver a bear, he didn't like that too much. Ha ha.

I have been spending a fair bit of time watching the boats come into and out of the pier, trying to figure out which one would be my home for the 10 day "expedition" to Antarctica. (I have been informed by the tour company that the trip is not a "cruise," its an "expedition." ok ok, expedition it is then) I wondered if it would be one like this, or like this, and hopefully not like this, or this. I ended up calling the tour company I booked the trip through to get more details, and I was told the ship I would be on is the called the M/V Orlova. It is currently returning from Antarctica and won't dock until monday morning, and then in the afternoon, it turns right around and goes back! I did a little internet research on the ship and found this website describing the vessel, its amenities, and what to expect on board. My favorite part is where it suggests that women consider bringing a cocktail dress for the welcome and farewell parties. Um, unless I can find something that goes with the "gumboots" I've rented for the zodiac landings, I may not dress to standard. The site also had a diagram of my triple share room. Looks great to me!

This trip to Antarctica has been planned since about january, but it has only been since I arrived in Ushuaia that I've started to get REALLY uncontainably, excited about it. It seems funny, but on a trip like this I find it hard to look more than a few days in advance. So it's just now really sinking in that I'm actually going to be boarding a ship that will take me to Antarctica! Woohoo! I'm getting more and more excited by the minute!! I have been shopping around for warm clothes and other cold weather accessories, trying to choose the perfect one or two items that will keep me warm, is waterproof, but won't take up too much space (a combination that normally means 'expensive') and I even bought a backup digital camera, just in case.

It should take about 2 days from Ushuaia to cross the Drake Passage to the South Shetland Islands, which from what I've heard can have very rough seas. (After my experience on the ferry from Zanzibar, I have stocked up on motion sickness pills, just as a precaution.) From South Shetland, we'll continue to the Antarctic Peninsula and disembark where we can using the zodiacs, weather and ice permitting, to visit some research stations and see some penguins, birds, sea lions etc etc. Also, on board there will be expedition leaders that give lectures on the research conducted, flora and fauna, and history of the Antarctic. It's going to be fabulous!

This will be likely be my last entry before I board the ship, and I plan to be back here in Ushuaia on December 8th, hopefully with some photos and stories to share! Until then!!!!!!