Ushuaia - i have missed u!!

Arriving into Ushuaia in driving rain did not diminish my excitement to be back in this beautiful little town.
Flying over a part of the Beagle Channel to land at the airport just out of town gave us stunning views of the clear water and glimpses of the snow capped mountains.
We arrived to a flag waving, banner bearing, musical welcome party.....actually not for us but the Bolivian President who had just arrived before us!!
Luckily we missed most of the melee because one of my bags looked like it wasnt going to arrive.... it came out v last accompanied by a security man! He asked me to X-ray it ( by pointing) and in v limited English asked if I had, (what I though he said) “books” in my bag. Yes I had a stack of 3 books so I just put the bag through the xray, picked it up, smiled and nonchalantly left. It was 5 mins later when we realised he may have said problem with the “box”...., which was a 2 litre cask of NZ sav blanc!!!
Anyway all bags on board the trolley ( with great relief) we got a taxi from the airport to the Hotel de Los Andes right in town.
Sadly the taxi cost more than expected because we got caught up in Simon Bolivar’s presidential cavalcade.
Our lovely taxi driver deposited us at the hotel 10 mins later and the v kind receptionist allowed us to check in even though it was 9am. Great service.
Sadly it was a twin not a double but we weren’t up to explaining that without any Spanish and we were too happy to just have a room as we were both hungry and knackered after the 3.5 hour v early flight.
Right across the road was a great cafe Marco Polo freestyle so we walked the 5m across the road and ordered coffees and food.
The rain started lashing down and we lost all sight of the mountains but the coffee was hot and my salad was good. K enjoyed her cheese and ham crepe when it finally came and about an hour later, when the rain had abated we set off to find the Freestyle Adventure travel agency to say Thanks and to pick up our gloves and over trousers for the cruise.
I have been to Ushuaia in 2000 when it was a dull little Argentinian one street town at the end of the world, and then again in 2006 when it had transformed itself with huge glass fronted outdoor shops and cafes and restaurants to meet the burgeoning demands of the cruise ship’s passengers.
K had been here in 2012 when she had left on the Plancius so both of us discussed the memories and the changes of this dichotomy of a town.
We had both forgotten how steep and narrow the side streets were as we climbed the hill to the travel agency where we were warmly greeted with a hug from our travel agent Marie!! Profuse thanks on getting us such a great deal were sealed with an exchange of a kiwi postcard and some pens and we were gifted a fleece beanie, a fabulous Antarctic neck scarf and a wonderful laminated brochure of all the birds and wildlife we are expected to see.
Whilst getting our free loan gloves and over trousers we were introduced to 2 x more couples who had also obviously got the cheap boat deal who would be our shipmates for the next 3 weeks. Stefan and Thomas seemed much nicer than Judy and David!
More hugs and we left to explore town and fo me to get back down to the wharf where i have spent weeks previously on Evohe.
The heavy rain showers meant beautiful rainbows as we walked downhill to the port.
To our delight our boat was in!!! Holy shitballs!! ( I will post about the boat seperstely as this is long enough!)Read more