A Day For Arranging Things

Today was on the books as a rest day, so we slept in and took our time getting ourselves going. We had three tasks: rent a car, secure transportation from here to Punta Arénas at the end of the week, and the Secret Mystery Mission. The Mystery Mission was supposed to be the bulk of today's post, but due to a scheduling conflict the mission will take place tomorrow, so you'll have to wait. All four of you.

Cerro Benéte Couloir

Juan Pablo picked us up this morning and drove us out on the Panamericano, which winds from Ushuaia all the way through South America, Central America and, in theory, to Alaska. We'd come out this way when we went to Cerro Castor, but with poor visibility we hadn't really experienced the journey. At the start, this time looked to be little different.

Glaciar Martial y el Viento Que Nos Comió

The Martial Glacier and the wind that ate us... or at least tried.

After skiing Cerro Castor yesterday, we had high hopes for our first day of backcountry skiing. Andy (Antonio) and Anastasia both woke up with a head cold (Anastasia had hers yesterday... perhaps I need to watch those two more closely), but were too excited at the prospect of powder and views that they rallied admirably for our 8:50 pick-up time.

Fifty Four Degrees of Latitude - 8/28/2009

The streets of Ushuaia fall quickly to the water, stuck as they are on the flanks of the mountains that tower over the town and tumble into the Beagle Channel below. Our small, two-story apartment sits four streets up from the waterfront and faces south, toward the Channel. Toward Chilean Tierra del Fuego. Toward Cabo de los Hornos and Antarctica beyond. It is truly a spectacular place to be, after spending so many hours reading stories about this part of the world.

They Really Go The Other Way

The toilets that is... They swirl the other way. Happy dad?

We bought our tickets to Ushuaia today, leaving on Thursday. We're optimistically packing our bags for a day of rain-soaked snow tomorrow, then heading to the bottom of the world to chase the good snow.

After eight days down there we'll make our way to Punta Arenas for our flight to Santiago, but that's a long time from now. In the meantime we'll be hunting snow and eating lots of incredible steak, if there is any justice.

El Fin Del Mundo?

A brief update from rainy Bariloche, where we've arrived to a classic pineapple express. After receiving nine (9) FEET of new snow in the last few days, Bariloche is now getting hammered by rain and fifty degree weather. The forecast is poor for the remainder of our time here, so we're looking into flights to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world. South of the Magellan Strait. Tierra del Fuego.

I figure we should rent kayaks and round Cape Horn while we're there.

More when we know what we're doing.