For me, the worst thing about overland traveling is rolling into town after dark, tired, and then having to find a hotel. We normally manage to check out about 4 or 5 before exhaustion wins and we settle on something more expensive or more grim than we’d like. We got to Ushuaia during daylight hours and we had time to ask around. However, after 7 or so tries, we hadn’t found anything under $100 that had availability. And even in that price range, they didn’t have parking. Standing outside a Lonely-planet preferred (but full) hostel, I decided to ask the Drake hotel across the street. When they told me $75, I was skeptical. It was still more than we wanted to pay… but they did have a private, locked patio to park in. I agreed to look at the room. When I saw it, I took it. When Trevor saw it, he asked me if I was sure it wasn’t $250 dollars, not $250 pesos.
We were the only guests in our separate “wing”. There was a huge, sunny conservatory with 3 new, modern leather sofas, underfloor heating, Wi-Fi, a lending library of books and a DVD collection. Our room itself had a huge picture window looking out onto a private garden and the snow-capped mountains that surround Ushuaia. There was a fridge, coffee-making facilities, TV, DVD player and a desktop-computer. (What? No arguing over whose turn it was with the laptop?) The bathroom was uber-modern: poured concrete with porcelain and stainless steel fixtures, toilet and bidet – and the piece de resistance: a Jacuzzi bath!
Apart from our day in the jeep on the Salar, we had been riding long hard days for more than 3 weeks. We hadn’t had a day without a planned early-morning activity since Medellin. It took us about 15 minutes to figure out we could spend an extra night in Ushuaia and hang out for a day. We woke up, and did nothing at all. No, that’s not true; as Trevor might say, we did 2 things: “f*ck” and “all”. It was lovely. (Sorry there aren’t more photos. We were too busy relaxing to take any!)
The next day we dragged our feet getting up. I took my second 2-hour Jacuzzi in 2 days, and Trevor hit “Snooze” 15 times in a row. We got on the bike at the crack of noon and headed north, for the first time in 3.5 months 
. We stopped only to take the requisite Tierra del Fuego “windy” sign.
To make Rio Gallegos, we had to go back in and out through Chile. Trevor just loved doing the paperwork for his 4th border crossing in 6 days – our final one of the trip.
The lines at the border dashed our chances of arriving before dark but were treated to a final fling of Patagonian God-rays.
(click for full effect)
We rolled into Rio Gallegos around 11 and stayed at the first hotel we found. We barely made it to the pub across the street where I’m ashamed to say we both ordered a burger (veggie for me), a basket of chips, and a litre of Stella each, before we fell into bed.
