Off to Patagonia!
Florence and Ariel pick us up early at the hotel and we take along a bagged breakfast to go. Buenos Aires has two airports – ‘EZE’ for international flights and ‘AEP’ for domestic. AEP is our port for the flight to Ushuaia on Aerolinas Argentinas. It’s absolutely huge, crazy busy, and really confusing. There are two queues for checking in – one for northbound, one for southbound and markings are not obvious. Our total lack of Spanish skills doesn’t help. Thank goodness for Florence! She stays with us and steers us to the right counters. It takes us about an hour to get through check in/baggage drop. Weight limits are strictly monitored . Checked bags (15 kg) and carry-on luggage (8 kg) are inspected. We did a good job distributing everything and made weight. Florence then guides us to the security area and makes sure we are good to go. It would have been difficult without her help.
Our outbound flight is delayed nearly an hour but, somehow, we arrive on time and our luggage arrives too. Yeah! We’re cruising out of Ushuaia with a company specializing in small boat Antarctic travel called ‘Polar Latitudes’ out of Vermont of all places. Their team greats us at the airport along with several other fellow travelers. Among them are Gene and Ginger from Portland Oregon – this trip will be of their 7th continent.
We are staying at the Arakur Resort in the middle of the Alarken Nature Preserve for two nights before the cruise. The hotel is beautiful, sitting on top of a mountain overlooking the city, harbor, and Beagle Channel. Check-in is quick and efficient. As you enter the main hotel area, a video of you is posted along with a reading of your temperature. Very strange. After getting settled, we head for downtown Ushuaia on the hotel’s shuttle.
The city is much bigger than we thought it would be. The population after the last census was 83,000 plus. Apparently, the Argentinian government provides subsides for housing and tax incentives for business in an effort to stimulate growth in this remote and challenging region. Besides tourism they have oil, gas and electronic industries as well as a commercial port. There is also a large military presence here with all branches represented at the bases.
The shuttle drops us off in front of a small restaurant, ‘Ramos Generales’. It took a while to find the tourist office where we stamp our passports with the Tierra del Fuego (land of fire) stamp. Very cool! The ‘downtown’ is pretty small and it doesn’t take long to exhaust the fourteen-block shopping area. fairly quickly and try to find somewhere to kill an hour or so before our dinner reservation. Most of the pubs and restaurants don’t open until 7:00, including the ‘Dublin Pub’, a notable craft beer stop on our ‘wish list’. We finally found a strange little place (Kuar) on the main drag to have a beverage before our later dinner reservation. While there, it rained, followed by sleet!
Dinner was at ‘Kamal’ located a nice uphill walk above the shopping district. Kamal is a small, 28-seat restaurant owned by an eccentric chef (Chef Jorge Monopoli). We opted for the chef’s tasting menu with wine pairing. It began with a welcome soup (roasted carrot/squash puree?) and homemade bread. It is accompanied by a cassis-infused gin and tonic garnished with corinto berries. The next course, described as ‘Snacks’ is King Crab with Cachiyuyo, black garlic and pate, very dainty and beautifully plated. The ‘Starter’ is also King Crab with a Corinto berry garnish. We get an extra course of mussels that was not on the menu that consisted of mussels. The ‘Main Course’ is Sea Bass with Carrot and Ginger, finishing with ‘Dessert’ some type of ice cream with cacao crumbs, almonds, olive oil and salicorn. Small wine tastings accompanied each course. I wish I had thought to take pictures of each course as the plating was exquisite.
After dinner we walked back downtown and to catch the last shuttle back to the Arakur. Sadly, no ‘Dublin Pub’ on this trip. Ramos Generales looks like an interesting place to have a meal if we end up back in the area. I did buy a bottle of wine there to take back to the hotel. The after-dinner coffee is keeping me awake, so I read for a while.
Mary