We arrived back in Buenos Aires yesterday with all our luggage. Marcella was there to collect us again and bring us to our new hotel called Home. It is really lovely with a garden and pool as well as a small restaurant and bar. I asked if we could stop at an ATM as we were running short of pesos ans she said the the peso printing machine had broken and the whole country was short of cash until Brazil had time to print some notes for Argentina.
In Ushuaia I was struck down with flu but hit the well travelled Tamiflu and staved off the worst of it. Before leaving we decided we should try mate which seems to be a local drink here you have through a metal straw with a sort of seive at the end. The first cafe we went to said they only did a claytons version and sent us to another place. It wasn't actually open but they let us in and with his three words of English and our three words of Spanish we got our mate. It is a kind of grassy tea. It is served in a small gourd cup with a metal rim. The cup is full of the "tea" leaves. Then you pour a small amount of cold water in, followed by boiling water to fill the cup. Then you sip it through the straw. It's quite nice if a bit bitter. Our man recommended some sugar which was better. It seems it is what they all drink from little folk at the fin del mundo. Not as elaborate as a Japanese tea ceremony but has a small touch of the same ceremony and I bet there is an art in the utensils apart from the cheap touristy bits we have seen.
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