Date Explored: February 17, 2016
We last left off exploring Wulaia Bay on our Patagonian cruise. The next morning, a Wednesday, we disembarked in Ushuaia, Argentina, on the southernmost tip of South America, otherwise known as The End of the World. It was during embarkation that we let one of our guides know that “Canadian beaver” might be slang for other than the animal. Throughout the four-day cruise, Cristobal had been telling stories about “getting chased by Canadian beaver” during his visit to the Great White North. Did his eyes ever widen we finally told him the slang meaning. He had been speaking about encountering the animal in one of our national parks.
Ushuaia is beautiful. The only problem is it’s tough to get pictures of the gorgeous mountains without phone wires, etc. getting in the way, so I didn’t take a lot of photos. You can arrange flights over the mountains and nearby glaciers, but we only had one night, so we were up for some good food and relaxation.
We guessed the Stella Australis would feature some fine accommodation, so for our overnight in Ushuaia, we decided to take it down a notch and went through Booking.com to reserve rooms at Mysten Kepen B&B. Mysten Kepen is a lovely B&B, but be forewarned that they don’t offer shuttles or taxis from the port. While we could have easily arranged a taxi at a taxi stand we found after finding the B&B, for reasons that made sense at the time (as in we didn’t realize how far we would be hiking), we decided to drag our suitcase the “few” blocks to the B&B. “A few blocks” wound up being a hike up steep roads. Finally, just when it seemed all hope was lost, we found the Mysten Kepen. SILly and BILly had a room in the main house while DH and I were in a lovely newer room with a private bath at the top of an outdoor staircase. Definitely, I would recommend asking for that room.
There’s a very tiny house beside the B&B. Animals might be in the yard next door and such. If that sort of thing bothers you, Mysten Kepen is not for you. But we found Rosario, our hostess, delightful. She and I were able to communicate through her rusty English and my awful Spanish. Plus, she really went aboveboard when I accidentally left my headphones in our unmade bed the following morning, when we flew to Buenos Aires. Both thanks to Rosario and also to our hotel staff in Buenos Aires, Rosario arranged for another traveler to bring my headphones to Buenos Aires the following day, where we took a taxi (while en route to dinner, exploring a new neighborhood) to pick up the headphones at the other traveler’s hostel. So I had my headphones for our long flight back home from Buenos Aires! Truly exceptional customer service on the part of Rosario of the Mysten Kepen as well as the Casa Calma in B.A.
For our one night in Ushuaia, we wanted to go to dinner at this little place called Kalma Resto, which might now be in a different location (Jorge, the chef and owner, was busy fixing a new place after his shifts at the restaurant). We found it after storing our luggage in our B&B and walking about town, visiting a museum and searching out wine for those in our party who could not do without. 😉 SILly and I walked into Kalma Resto to arrange reservations, but unfortunately the place was booked solid with a group of about 20 either on their way to or back from Antarctica. The lovely hostess discussed our situation with Jorge (that we only had one night in town), and even though he needed to work on renovating his new place, he asked us to return at 9:45 p.m., once he expected the large party to be gone. We did, and only one other table was still occupied. Once that couple left, Jorge put out the Closed sign, and we basically had the entire restaurant to ourselves. He was our chef and server, and it was like being on The Food Network or something. Truly a wonderful experience. Like Rosario at the Mysten Kepen, Jorge of Kalma Resto went out of his way to accommodate us. What exceptional people! And Jorge is an amazing chef and an amiable fellow. I wish him much success in his new endeavors!
Next and final stop, Buenos Aires, a beautiful city, certainly my favorite of the major South American cities I’ve visited so far.
