Taxis, Planes and having a wee

Sunday morning started with us checking out of our guest house (we never did find out the name of the owner) and heading with all our bags, in a taxi, to the National Park "Tierra del Fuego".

Stood within the province of Tierra del Fuego, the park is a part of the subantarctic forest. It was the first shoreline national park to be established in Argentina back in 1960.

The 240sq mile park has dramatic scenery, with waterfalls, forests, mountains and glaciers. It boasts over 20 species of wild animal and over 90 birds and we were really fortunate to see quite a few!

Before leaving for South America, the furthest either of us would generally walk was from the house to the car and from the car to our respective offices.  Since arriving in New York on day one of our adventure, we've been walking miles every day which, is getting easier as we're getting fitter.

Our deal with the taxi driver was that he drove us to the best bits in the park and we'd get out and walk around the area, go back to the car and he'd drive us on to the next location. We had limited time before our flight so this was the best use of our time and was actually cheaper than taking the public bus, a train and another public bus which is the only other way of doing it! I'd love to get my hands on some of these antiquated Argentinean systems, add a bit of marketing (and common sense) and transform them into slick, easy to understand and financially viable process that benefits everyone.

The park was stunning, the weather was perfect; cold enough to need coats but sunny enough to feel warm. Having stayed in major cities so far, it was as if our lungs were jumping with joy at the beautiful, fresh mountain air.

We walked in 7 locations over 3 hours and loved every minute, enjoying the peace, tranquility and the gift we've been given of 3 months together exploring a part of the world neither of us knew anything about a few months ago.

Here's a few pictures:

The typical woodland paths we walked that link the lakes, mountains and stunning views together.

Selfie stick gets an outing on the beach of a gorgeous lake

Tiny stream cutting its way through the ground to the lake

Some of the birds we managed to photograph but we also saw eagles and all kinds of birds of prey

This Woodpecker was giving this tree a good seeing to. Not quite sure if he had a purpose other than vandalism

Our favorite spot of the day; An Andean Fox. They're about twice the size of our foxes

Once we'd finished in the park, we fell back in the taxi, exhausted but completely satisfied and smiling from ear to ear.

Even though our flight wasn't until 5:50pm, we'd asked the driver to drop us off at Ushuaia airport around 1:45pm as all the local airports here seem to have good, reliable Wi-Fi which is somehow lacking everywhere else in Argentina (and we had nowhere else to go)!

Our first surprise was that the airport was empty. I mean, there was no-one there at all apart from one lady behind the Aerolineas desk. We asked her if we could get on an earlier flight but it turned out that our flight, in 4 hours time, was the next flight leaving from the airport! No wonder it was quiet!

Our second surprise was that she allowed us to check our bags in! Normally they make you wait for 2 hours before the flight but we weren't going to argue. Any excuse to get rid of our large rucksacks!

We got some lunch, caught up on some finance and admin stuff (these trips don't organise themselves!) and generally waited around, passing the time for 4 hours..... or so we thought!

We are really relaxed when it comes to flying. What I mean by that is, we'll arrive with plenty of time to get the flight (Iguasu was a one off!) and then sit City side for as long as possible before we go air side as usually there's more to do, better cafes and, in the case of Argentina, free WiFi. We then go air side and sit at the departure gate until the last minute and then board the plane. We are usually the last people to board. Our thought process is, we have numbered seats (so no one's going to steal them) and we're going to be stuck in these seats unable to move for a good few hours so we'll make the most of our freedom!

Well, our 'freedom' was brought to an abrupt end when the screens started saying they were boarding our plane at 4:30pm (for a 5:50pm flight)!! 

Obviously we did what most travellers would do, we ignored them and leisurely walked through security at about 5pm and sat at the departure gate. Which was pretty much empty....

Within 30 seconds a member of staff approached us and asked us to board. Grumpy, we got up, muttering about sitting on a plane for 50 minutes longer than necessary but to our surprise, as soon as we had sat down, they shut the doors and pushed off! At 5:20pm we took off, 30 minutes before the time on our ticket! This was either an incredibly efficient airline or the pilot was on a promise!!

The only thing we could surmise was that, as it was such a small airport, they had much more flexibility on take off times. Therefore, if they gambled on everyone arriving early (which most people do), they would board early and get off early. The down side would be if one passenger was late, everyone would have to wait for them. Fortunately this was not the case and we arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule in Al Calafate, jumped in a bus and arrived at our third hostel of the trip.

One small issue we've had since being in South America is that every public place seems to have a completely different sign or letter on the door of toilets! In the UK there's a picture of a man or a woman and/or a "M" or an "F" for male or female.  Not so in South America. We've seen all manner of different letters and some pictures that frankly could be a Scotsman in traditional dress or a tomboy. For me this doesn't prove much of an issue as a simple "perdon" to a startled lady isn't embarrassing but for Lauren, the possibility of walking in on Francesco standing at a urinal 'inspecting the plumbing' has meant she'd rather risk bursting her bladder, or more likely the offer of, "you go first" will be uttered in such a way that it seems that she's being the subservient wife that she always is ;-)

Anyway, this was not a problem whatsoever when we arrived at our new resting place for the next 2 nights. Any faint hearted individuals might want to lol away now:

After a few local beers and more organising of transport, we headed for bed looking forward to our special trip the next day.