Heading South: St Andrews (56°N, 2°W) to Ushuaia (54°S, 68°W)
After months of anticipation and planning, the 2014 St Andrews Antarctic crew took off from 
Edinburgh on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 5th, to begin our journey southward. After a brief stopover in Paris followed by an uneventful 13-hour flight, we landed in Buenos Aires on Thursday morning, and arrived at our hotel in the Palermo Soho barrio of the city. For many of us this was our first time in Buenos Aires and in South America, and despite the fatigue we were excited to be definitively out of the Northern Hemisphere. We spent the day enjoying the summer sun and exploring the surrounding city, 
making our way to the Zoological Park, Botanical Gardens, and elsewhere, and taking in the view from the rooftop lounge in the hotel.
On Friday March 7th, we woke early and made our way to the airport for the 3 ½ hour flight to Ushuaia. This city, in the Tierra del Fuego (Fireland) region, is known as “El Fin del Mundo,” – the End of the World-, because it is the southernmost city on Earth. After an 
exciting descent over the southern Andes Mountains, we landed in this picturesque Patagonian town of 70,000 residents and settled into our hotel rooms. It was cool, misty, and slightly drizzly but with occasional sun peeking through the clouds, leading many of us to remark that we had found the southern hemisphere version of St Andrews! The surrounding mountains still have snow on the highest peaks outlying the city, despite it being the end of summer, and the streets are full of restaurants, museums, and colourful 
shops to browse. We spent a couple of hours exploring the city before gathering for a lesson on Antarctic species identification and protocol for our shipboard wildlife surveys, then enjoyed a delicious dinner at a local restaurant. Tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon we will begin the next stage of our adventure, when we board the MV Plancius and begin our journey to the Antarctic. Stay tuned…
~Kady (MRes student)