Martin and I wanted to enjoy our twosomeness while it lasts, so we decided on going on one last big trip before becoming a trio! 

One of our shared dreams has always been to visit Antarctica! And since that trip is probably the least baby-ideal trip I can think of, we decided to go to Argentina with the intention of going from there to that last continent. So we bought the ticket and on Christmas Day we boarded a plane to Buenos Aires.

Our first days in Argentina were spent strolling the streets of Buenos Aires. Tired from the long flight, we rested a bit in our hotel room and then went out to tour the city. The city was remarkably quiet and most shops and restaurants were closed, probably due to it being 2nd Christmas Day.

When travelling, we always prefer to walk to everything – it gives a much better idea of distances and a better sense of a place, I think.
On our first day we walked over 11 km, all the way from our hotel in the San Telmo area, via Defensia to Plaza de Mayo, which is the main square with Casa Rosario in the end. From there we walked down Calle Florida, which is the main turist street, lined with shops, street vendors and hustlers asking if you want to exchange money. Going back we walked along the port area of Puerto Madero.

On the second day we decided to walk to La Boca. It took us about an hour, and the route that the receptionist at our hotel recommended was a bit dull, but we made it there nonetheless. Ah well, we then got to see a more “local” part of the city.

Lo Boca is a lovely area, full of color and vibrance. There are plenty of cafes and market areas, and even though the area is not that big, you can easily spend half a day there. We sat down at one of the cafes and spent some time people-watching, that’s always great fun! We also went to see the stadion of La Boca Juniors, which of course was a must to Martin.

After staying some hours in La Boca we walked back to San Telmo and walked up Defensa for the Sunday market, and had an Empanadas lunch at the Mercado de San Telmo.

We spent the afternoon in the Microcentro and Congreso areas, walking along Av 9 de Julio “the widest street in the world” to the obelisco and down Av de Mayo before heading back.

For dinner the receptionist recommended we eat at DesNivel, which was only two blocks from our hotel, and what a place! It felt very local and touristy at the same time, and the meat was to die for! We shared a 900 g steak (Martin wanted to order one for himself that size but the waiter talked him out of it and we shared it instead) which was cut by the waiter with a spoon directy at our table! Martin was one happy man 🙂

The next morning we went up very early and flew to Ushuaia.
We were positively surprised by the whole area and its beauty, and the city itself had a real alpine feeling, which we liked. However, everything is very expensive! We were told that it’s because they have to import everything from the “mainland” and the transportation is long, so they have to add a bunch of fees and taxes.

At first instance, we didn’t care – we had a goal of going to Antartica! So we spent the whole day walking around the town visiting different tour agencies requiering about trips to Antarctica. Sadly, most places had no availability and we really struggled to find any trips at all. We did however get offered one trip from 7th-16th of Jan. We thought it over but decided that it would be unrealistic to think that we would be able to make it back in time for our return fligh from Buenos Aires on that same day, so we passed. Besides, the price was around $8900 US, so it was not even that cheap.

 

 

We also looked at a 3night/4days trip to Cape Horn and around the national park in Chile, ending on Jan 2nd in Puerto Arenas, but the price was $1600 US per person (all included, also free bar), and though we were tempted, we simply felt it was way too much money for that short a trip. Instead we took a quick decision and booked a flight ticket out of Ushuaia to El Calafate the next day, and luckily the hostel let us change our reservation from two to one day.

The following day we spent hiking up Cerro Martial & Glacier Martial. It had great panoramic views of Ushuaia and the Beaggle Channel, and even more stunning landscape with the snow-capped mountains, ski-slopes and glacier views.