Ushuaia

Here is the ferry I took across the Straight of Magellan on the way back into Argentina. I didn´t get a picture of it but there were four or five dolphins swimming along with the ferry, jumping in and out of the water as if they were racing us. It was incredible!









In Punta Arenas, Chile, I went to a penguin colony. Although it was a bit late in the season and many of them had already started heading north to Brazil, we were able to get extremely close to them, listen to their squawks, and see the little ones learning to swim.














Here I am in my new city where I will be living until July. Ushuaia in "el fin del mundo" is proud to boast its "southernmost city in the world" status. Due to this, I was expecting it to be extremely remote and freezing. However, when I looked at a globe I realized that it is at about the same latitude as British Columbia or Great Britain.







It is a gorgeous city with mountains rising up from the Beagle Channel. The city has very colorful architecture and a labyrinth of roads winding up the hills. I love the combination of mountains, glaciers, water.








And the views at night of all the ships in the port are gorgeous!!












Before I started working and met my host family I spent a few days in a hostel and at the national park. This was the breakfast spread in the hostel, overlooking the city and the Beagle Channel.









I headed into Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather. All the trees were starting to turn beautiful shades of green, red, orange and yellow (a nice change from the monochromatic yellow we get in Colorado!)








Here is the view from Cerro Guanaco, a peak in the park. In the background is Ushuaia, and the peninsula that you can barely see is the airport. There is not much room for error on this small runway!









The Beagle Channel from the peak.













Taking in the views, writing reflections in my journal, and getting a good fill of fresh, pure air.































Here is the home I am living in now, with Estela who is the director of the English school where I am working. I also live with her husband, her 10 year old daughter and 12 year old son.










Here is Estela with one of the classes, looking at illustrations of a story we are working with. They use stories a lot as a teaching tool.











With one of the groups we baked a lemon pie- working with food vocabulary, measuring, and eating... what better way to learn?











With another group we made waffles- the first time that many of them had tried waffles. Fortunately we don´t cook in all of the classes, or else I would be leaving here twice my size. I could never be a pastry chef!









The ages range from 3-adults. I love working with the whole range. One night the group of adults went to a bar-cafe and they prepared information on Ushuaia and all of its characteristics and features. I am working hard here, can´t you tell?








My friend Veronica from Neuquén was in town for a Paleontology convention so we went out for a drink with my new friend Daniel. (Cue the song "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold...":)