Day 1: Ushuaia

The journey began on Saturday when we all flew out of a local national airport in Buenos Aires and headed due South to the southern-most city in the world, a little place I like to call Ushuaia.  The flight lasted three hours, and after passing a good amount of that time by watching the always-entertaining "Dave Chapelle's Show," I looked out the window to note that we were descending upon a tiny strip of runway on a small island surrounded by mountains, pretty much a hit-or-miss (a.k.a. hit or die in the ice-cold water below) type of landing, and thankfully our pilot pulled through in the clutch.  We arrived at about 7:00pm and headed straight for our hotel, which was an amazing place, situated right on the water, where we checked into the rooms, ate dinner, and hung out around the hotel that night.  The next day, Sunday morning, we had breakfast at the hotel, and then it was off in the Land Rover Destroyer squadron through the surrounding wilderness of Tierra del Fuego.  We had an AWESOME time, I was in a car with seven girls and a dope driver (dope=cool/nice/awesome), the sun was shining (I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt), and we got to see some pretty amazing sights. Observe...

This was taken when we arrived at our hotel in Ushuaia, Los Cauquenes Resort and Spa (www.loscauquenes.com), and what you're seeing is the view from the back porch.  The hotel was awesome, I got to sleep in a bed in which I wasn't able to feel the wooden planks beneath the mattress, and the shower was powerful and had hot water.  Not to mention, the breakfast made an attempt to serve bacon, although it wasn't really cooked fully, but I didn't complain.  Good experience to say the least.

Our first stop in the brigade of Destroyers was at an overlook of this cool lake, Lago Escondido, I believe, and as you can see, the weather was phenomenal.  The scenery reminded me of home, and the mountains in Colorado.  Our driver, Bismarck, was the only driver that spoke conversational English exceptionally well, and I had some cool conversations with him while we were in the car, including talks about the Bulls of old, as he used to play basketball himself.  He said if he were to go to the U.S., he'd go to Colorado first (he's a hippie outdoorsman), and then to Chicago next to see the United Center. 

Me and a few of my lady friends (there's really too many to count!) at the scenic overlook.  As you may be able to tell, the two girls on the outside are twins, and the one on my far right (in the picture on the left) is one of our R.A.s.  All three of these lovely ladies rode in my car, and without a doubt, we had the best car in the group.  Also, notice the flower in my right ear. That's a little hippy trick I learned from working at summer camps in the mountains of Colorado.

Not quite sure about this one actually.  what I will say is that throughout the day, and at various other times throughout my stay down here, I've been pioneering the bringing back of the wearing of coats/sweaters/sweatshirts around your waist.  It's a really catchy look if you ask me.  Watch out for it's return any time now.

Me trying to be artsy in my photography.  Turns out it's not all that great, but I find it good enough to include in the post.  Take that Norman Rockwell.

Here's our group and the lineup of the Destroyers parked on the shore of the biggest lake in the region, which seemed to stretch on for ever.  The rocks were really flat, so we spent a good chunk of the time skipping rocks on the water...mindless entertainment.  One of my friends accidently threw his girlfriend's camera into the water while trying to skip a rock, as it was tied around his wrist and somehow came loose.  That was unfortunate.  To get to this spot, we did some serious off-roading, serious enough to the point where we had to get out of the trucks and leave it up to only the driver.

We then drove to a different area of the lake where we parked the cars and got out to walk to a campground where we would eat lunch and hang out.  As most of you don't know, I'm in charge of filming and putting together a final video for the whole trip (which also entails receiving a steady flow of pesos...solid), so I had the camera with me the whole time.  During the hike to the campground, I thought it would be a good idea to climb this tree and take an ariel shot of the group walking.  Being the outdoorsy Colorado macho-man I am, I started scaling this tree, thinking it would be nothing.  Out of nowhere, I lost my footing, and slipped off the trunk of the tree.  In a heat of panic, I reached out for the small branch nearby, which held my weight for, oh, 1 second, and then decided to snap, sending me falling 10feet below onto the ground by the water.  I popped right up, as I knew everyone was watching, and played it cool...

...saying, "Oh I'm fine, I'm fine, don't worry, that was nothing!"  I looked down at my arm, and turns out the tree got the best of me.  I just laughed afterwards at how humorous it must have been to see me falling from that tree.  What a schmuck.  Anyway, I only sustained minor abrasions, and am completely fine (no, I'm serious this time).  Plus, chicks dig scars.

This is the view from where we stopped to eat lunch.  It was awesome cause the guides had found this spot the night before and went ahead and had everything set up for us when we got there.  We had a nice little Argentine BBQ in the middle of the woods on a beautiful day, with steak and chorizo, Coke, water, wine, and bread, and I was content.  It was incredible.  My arm was a bit irritating though.

Somehow this picture got put out of place, but just go with it anyway.  After our long day in the wilderness and in the Destroyers, we had an hour to kill before getting on the cruise boat. Therefore, we decided to walk around the city of Ushuaia, and sure enough, found an Irish bar just two blocks away.  Me and my good friend Claire, a fellow individual blessed with Irish-blood, decided that we needed to take a picture next to this overwhelmingly creepy gremlin (supposed to be a leprechaun I think) sign that says you're in the southernmost Irish pub in the world.

Here's the group of ladies and I outside our car during one of the stops.  Bismarck was a trooper for putting up with us the whole day, but I'm sure he loved it, and was definitely glad to have me in the car to balance out the excessive amounts of estrogen.  He was a crazy guy, and some of the stuff he told us about isn't suitable to be posted on this family rated blog.  

The crew once more, with Bizzy B in the middle, outside of where we met to board the ship. Awesome day.

View of the incredible sunset while we were leaving the port in Ushuaia aboard the good ol' boat (stories to come later).  I've received calls from photography agencies wanting to sponsor me for my framing of this shot.  I haven't found an offer that is suitable to me yet.  

Our home for three nights, and the sight of Stomach Explosion Fest 08 (room 204).  Enough said.