The Bottom of the World

For Easter, Fernanda and I went as far south as we could go, almost to the very bottom of the world. We took a plane to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, which means the Land of Fire. That's a funny name, because Ushuaia (pronounced Oos-waya) is cold, and I mean cold. The wind came swooping down the mountains, and sometimes I was afraid that I was going to blow away from Fernanda and right out to sea. While everyone back in Mallorytown was admiring daffodils and crocuses, I was looking at fall colours on the trees and blankets of snow on the mountaintops. It felt a bit backwards to see people getting ready for winter in April!

You know, this is the first time I've really had a chance to see the stars. The rest of the time I've been in cities and all their lights were so bright that I couldn't see the night sky. Here, the stars are brilliant! They are so bright that you can read by starlight if you hold the paper close enough. The night sky is completely different from ours, and I couldn't recognize even one constellation at first. Then Fernanda taught me how to find the most important constellation, the Southern Cross. Its stars are so big and bright that they look like jewels floating above the Andes. I don't see a cross when I look at it, though - I think it looks like a kite and the kite string! It's funny, all the stars seem brighter here, and there seem to be more of them. The only constellations I knew from home were the Big and Little Dippers, and you can't see them at all from here. We're just too far south.

You'll never guess what else I saw! The southern lights! I thought there were only northern lights. The southern lights are just as beautiful. It was wonderful to see their pale green curtains shimmering and dancing over the dark sea and mountains.

When we flew here from Buenos Aires, I finally had a window seat in an airplane! Every other time I've been on a plane, I had to stay in my envelope in the bottom of a mail bag. Seeing everything was soooo exciting! The inside of the plane is a bit like the inside of a coach bus, but much brighter. The windows are like portholes, and they all have little blinds you can pull up and down. While the plane rolled slowly toward the runway, the flight attendants showed us where the oxygen masks, emergency exits and life rafts were. Fernanda and I looked at the map of the plane carefully, so we'd be ready for any emergency.

I can't tell you how awesome it is being on a plane during take-off. It's better than the most exciting ride you've ever been on at the fair or at Canada's Wonderland. The plane taxis to its assigned runway - and then stops. You wonder what's happening, when the engines suddenly start getting louder ... but the plane still isn't moving. The engines keep getting louder and louder, like a scream that goes up and up and up, and the whole plane vibrates faster and faster as the noise swells and grows. Then, all at once, the plane begins to move forward, racing faster and faster and faster until your tummy gets squashed against the seat. When you don't think you can possibly go any faster, the ground just sort of falls away and you're flying. The world drops down and away beneath you, spreading out like a wonderful living model of the real thing, and then you notice that the clouds are almost right on top of you. Next thing you know, you're in the clouds (it's like flying through fog), and then all of a sudden the clouds are underneath you and it looks as if you're flying above a meadow covered in fluffy white bunny tails. The sky changes colour to a deep, dark, intense blue; and the sun becomes blindingly bright.

Here is a video of take-off from Buenos Aires (I love the view of the city as we fly over it), and here is a video of our landing at Ushuaia. I didn't take them myself, but I hope you have fun watching them anyway. (There's a little bit of kissing in the last video, but it's just a tiny bit. If you don't like kissing, you can stop the video early.)

Next time I'll put up photos of Ushuaia!

besos (that means "kisses" - everybody in Latin America is much kissier and huggier than in Canada, and now I kiss and hug everyone too)
Sally