The End of the World
Travel Location: Ushuaia,Argentina
After 13 hours of travel, crossing the Straight of Magellan (see pictures) by ferry and changing buses in Rio Grande (about 3 hours north of Ushuaia), I arrived into the “Southernmost City in the World” around 9:30pm with still plenty of light in the sky. A light misty rain was falling on the town; of course, a light misty rain is almost always falling here. I hopped in a cab for a quick ride up to La Posta Albergue, where I’ll be spending the next 3 days before heading off to Antarctica. After a quick check-in, I pulled out the fleece jacket and raingear and headed out toward town, a 30-minute walk away, to meet up with a couple Irish lads I met this morning at the bus station in Rio Gallegos. Thus began a night of drinking Quilmes and some local brews at the Dublin Irish Pub (imagine 2 Irish boyz flying halfway around the world…only to go drinking in an Irish pub at the “end of the world”), followed by the Café-Bar Tante Sara, and then back again to the Dublin (couldn’t get enough of it the first time, I guess).
The Four Horsemen for the evening included myself, Derek and Gary from Kinsale, Ireland and a chap from Oakland, California named Leighton, who grew up in Santa Cruz, California. Derek and Gary, both 25ish, decided to take a break from work/studies to travel around for a few months before settling down. Although Derek seems well ready to continue his travels for maybe a few years to come.
The Four Horsemen for the evening included myself, Derek and Gary from Kinsale, Ireland and a chap from Oakland, California named Leighton, who grew up in Santa Cruz, California.
Leighton, 32, is a very interesting story and very interesting personality. After growing up in Santa Cruz, he moved to the San Francisco area to be an artist/entertainer/designer. He spent some time touring as a performer with the Yard Dog’s Road Show (http://www.yarddogsroadshow.com/), described as a “fifteen-member touring circus sideshow reminiscent of Burlesque and Vaudeville cabaret, where turn of the century births Victorian Rock and Roll”. You can see Leighton here in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqq0ZLUBrFU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XImHCztLEZU
He currently spends about 6 months of the year living in a Victorian house, with his wife, in a very rough neighborhood in Oakland, 3 months in Indonesia designing and manufacturing leather goods, and the remaining 3 months traveling the world. While in Oakland, he and his wife run a newly launched high-end boutique “Five and Diamond” (http://www.fiveanddiamond.com/) in the San Francisco Mission District, which sells a variety of specially designed leather goods and Indian-inspired jewelry. In fact, Leighton and I met on the bus ride down when I inquired about his fresh, leather, cowboy iPod case (http://www.wildcardcollection.com/), which he personally designed; we ended up talking most of the way down.
I’ve obviously given Leighton a pretty extensive write-up, but there’s a rationale for this. One of the reasons I’m enjoying traveling so much is due to the extremely interesting personalities (like Leighton) of fellow travelers I run into on the way…..personalities, people I would have never met in my west Los Angeles, investment banking prior life. For this reason alone, traveling has been a worthwhile decision.
I finally called it a night around 3am (the Irish lads were just getting started of course) and made my way back to the hotel for a night of sleep. My throat was raw and my eyes irritated and red after so many nights “socializing” in smokey bars and restaurants. The U.S. is so anti-smoking (a good thing in my opinion) that I have absolutely no tolerance for second-hand smoke, even after living in LA for 8 years and breathing in all the smog on a daily basis.
So I hope I’m not getting sick, but I suspect my respiratory system is about to rebel against me and my socializing….
