Ushuaia, Argentina

This post is part of our epic adventure to the Falklands, South Georgia, and Antarctica. In case you don’t want to read this sequentially, or you are looking for a specific part of the trip, here are some shortcuts:

Christmas Day

While most of the world was celebrating Christmas morning, we were in El Calafate beginning the last part of our journey to the embarkation point for our expedition to Antarctica.

Although the departure time on our e-tickets was given as 8:55am, we opted to err on the side of caution and arrive well in advance due to inconsistent information on the airline website and TripIt.

At 6:30 am, we departed from the Design Suites and made it to the airport in 20 minutes. Our checked bags were weighed during the hassle-free check-in process. We had two bags, one weighing 22 kg and the other 24 kg. We were instructed to move 1 kg from the 24 kg bag to the 22 kg bag, making both bags 23 kg apiece. Since the weight limit was 15 kg, this didn’t make much sense, but we diligently transferred my hiking boots from one luggage to the other. We also weighed our carry-on wheelies, which came in at 10 kilogrammes each. We did not weigh our camera backpacks, which were each 10 kg each. We then made our way to the sales counter to pay the $14 excess luggage fee.

Lesson learned: don’t stress about luggage fees.

The security line was endless and people were trying to push their way through (though we were all on the same flight). We boarded the flight with about 10 minutes to spare, and an hour and ten minutes later we landed in Ushuaia. The views of the Andes were absolutely breathtaking.

It took some time for the bags to arrive, but the airtags said they were in Ushuaia so we didn’t stress. After locating the Aurora Expeditions representative, we boarded a huge bus for the 10 minute drive to the Las Hayas hotel.

The Las Hayas is located on a hill overlooking town, and the property has some lovely hiking trails. The decor was “modern explorer” with lots of ships, maps, and travel themed tsotchke.

Checkin wasn’t until 2pm, but we arrived just in time to enjoy the buffet breakfast. The restaurant at the Las Hayas is one of the highest rated in Ushuaia, so I inquired about a booking for dinner (given it was Christmas). The staff regretfully informed me that the only time they had available was very early, at 7:30pm. We had no problem being the early birds as we typically eat even earlier than that at home. The hotel sent us a bunch of information via WhatsApp and said they would text when the room was ready. We sat in the sun on the terrace for a bit and then got a taxi into town. We were relieved to learn that the taxis took credit cards because we were down to one Australian $50, which was pretty much useless.

We wandered along the waterfront taking pictures and then walked back along main street, Avenida San Martin, which runs parallel along the waterfront. Ushuaia is very Bavarian looking and was mostly deserted because it was Christmas. There were two massive cruise ships, a Viking and a Norwegian, in port. Note to self: El Puerto (the port) and Aeropuerto (airport) sound very similar.

We received a text that our room was ready, so after buying a giant bottle of water for $1, we got a taxi back to the hotel from the taxi stand. Our room was on the top floor, with a tree-filled view of the town and sea. The floral decor looked like it belonged in gran’s house, and it was roasting hot. We struggled to open the window and finally asked housekeeping for help. If you turn the lever one way it opens left to right and if you turn it the other it opens top to bottom. We went for a walk around the lovely hotel grounds. There were daily activities such as archery, trekking, and water yoga, but we’d had a hectic week of travel and puma trekking so planned to just relax. We were also still waking up at 4am despite trying every tactic imaginable to adjust.

We went down for dinner at 7:30, and it was just us and one other couple which was absolutely bliss.

The service was excellent and I successfully used my new Spanish vocabulary “soy alérgica a las cebollas” (I’m allergic to onions) when ordering. We started with a bottle of Patagonian Malbec, and then I had the “langostinos three ways” and Andy had the mixed grill. Desert was “chocolate with four textures”.

We waddled back to our room and discovered that the hotel elves had been busy and had returned our freshly laundered clothes. It cost $40 for the whole bag which was absolutely fair considering the amount of clothing we stuffed in there.

December 26th

We woke to overcast skies and a solid drizzle. As we’d been going non stop since arriving in South America we decided to have a lazy morning and then head into town for “the best empanadas in Ushuaia” at Don Lupita. The taxi dropped us on the main street, and the town was much busier than the day before. Ushuaia is very hilly once you turn off main street. There was only one table left when we arrived for lunch at 1pm. We ordered two jamon y queso, one carne, and one tomato and the bill came to about $10 USD. We can’t confirm they were the best in town without more research, but they were pretty damn good.

We walked back down the hill to the main street to find a pharmacy because Andy needed some sinus medicine and I needed something for a rash on my foot. A fun game of charades ensued, but it was a success. We walked by a bakery and were lured in by the smell of churros. We ordered two, and the baker used a funny looking machine to inject them both with chocolate.

We had a light dinner in the bar at the hotel, which seemed to be getting more and more crowded.

December 27th

After literal years of anticipation, it was finally the first day of our expedition.

Our checkin with Aurora was at the hotel at 2pm, so we went into town for some last minute supplies and more empanadas. We also tried several different cash machines with no luck so decided to buy some more churros and head back to the hotel. While trying to buy some water at a corner store, I (think I) asked the cashier if there were any money exchanges nearby, and he ended up exchanging our AUD $50 into Argentinian Pesos. I’m not sure if it was legal but the rate was ok and at least we had some cash just in case.

Check-in with Aurora was quick and simple. We were given baggage tags and told to be in the conference room on the ground floor at 6:45am for the mandatory pre-departure Covid test. We’d hermited in Sydney for two weeks before departure, had our fourth booster six weeks ago, and had been avoiding crowds (and people in general) but we were still anxious about this last hurdle.

Next up — Embarkation Day

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