Buenos Aires

My first stop on this adventure was in Buenos Aires and it took me about 55 hours to get here. I had the afternoon I arrived and one day after returning from Iguazu Falls in the city. Buenos Aires is a very pretty city and has a rich history. I'd like to go back and spend some more time as I only got a little taste on this trip.

Of course, one of the first things I had to do was shop for shoes :) Thanks to MatildaLily's penchant for munching moccasins, I had to replace my gym shoes. We popped into Galleria Pacifica, right up the street from our hotel, and hit the Nike store. I was pretty shattered after all of the travel, so begged off dinner with friends and hit the rack instead. The next morning we were meant to take the 8am flight to Iguazu Falls, but Amber discovered an email with flight changes after dinner. Our flight had been moved to 1pm, which was disappointing as it meant we would lose an entire day at the Falls.

The day after Iguazu, we had a shopping morning followed by a city tour. Argentina is known for its leather goods and I just so happened to need a new pair of black dress shoes for the cruise. The front desk clerk at our hotel, The Dazzler Towers, helpfully suggested a small store just down the block. They had wonderful shoes and bags...it was hard to keep on task and only walk out with what I really needed insead of all the things I wanted!

Well, technically I didn't really *need* the boots, but they were a great price and are oh so awesome!

A group of us also hit a wine store to stock up for the cruise. The cruise ship has wine, but not Argentinian wines and Amber remembered some nice ones from her trip last year. The wine store is only half a block from the shoe store so we did a group project. This is a small hole in the wall family owned store. The son speaks English but the mother not so much. They are both very helpful in recommending wines to suit each person's tastes. We haven't sampled all of the bottles yet (we're on day 10 of the cruise), but the bottles we have cracked have all been great. I bought a bottle of sparkling white and we're going to have a little cabin party to sample it.

I got to be a true pod person for the first time ever in Buenos Aires. At 1pm I boarded a big ol' tour bus for our guided tour around key sites. Our guide was excellent and her commentary was truly interesting. It was frustrating to have to shoot photos out the windows and not stop at some of the monuments - Buenos Aires has thousands of monuments, it seems, each with a story. One of the coolest sculptures is this enormous flower - Floralis Generica - done in metal in 2002 by architect Eduardo Catalano. It actually opens during the day and then closes at night, just like a real flower. Unfortunately for me, we only stopped at a light and I had to take a couple of pot shots through the windows on the other side of the bus from where I was sitting! It would become a shooting technique I had to use frequently on a lot of the trip!


Colourful graffiti with a Russian Orthodox Church behind it on the hill - again, from the wrong side of the bus, out the window, while stopped at a traffic light!


Evita Perrone is a huge figure in Argentine history. She still evokes high emotions with the locals - some love her, some hate her. They've had to surround a monument to her with a big fence to keep out some of the more over-zealous detractors.

The Cementario de la Recoleta is amazing. The tombs were originally built as miniature echoes of the deceased's own houses. They range from the very simple to the crazily ornate.






This one was built stone by stone by the son and took years to complete. It's one of the less polished edifices but the care and dedication it took to build give it a powerful presence.

The only example of Egyptian influence in the entire cemetary

Evita's is tucked down a non-descript alleyway with no sign post to mark it. Just look out for the bands of tour groups and you'll find it. She is under her maiden name Durante, not Perrone, so don't walk past it! Hers is one of the only ones we saw that had fresh flowers adorning it.


Our next stop was at the Plaza de Mayo, the name commemorating the May Revoltion (1810) that began the trek to indepedence from Spain, with the Presidential Palace, the Casa Rosada, yes it's pink, one one end. Cheryl and I were hamming it up trying to shoot over this enormous fence that blocked the building from the main square. We were jumping up and trying to fire shots off over the top, sticking our lenses into small openings in the fence and generally doing things the hard way...since the tour guide then said that we could simply walk around the fence!

The Piramide de Mayo reaches skyward, a reminder of the first anniversary of Buenos Aires' independence from Spain.

The ornate Catedral Metropolitana graces one side of this square. It's a very active cathedral and no flash is allowed inside as people are coming to pray all day. There are also areas that are completely off limits for photography, even with no flash.



The main altar is a lesson in decadence

Cheryl at the ropes which protect the altar area from the masses

La Boca is a festive, colourful area that we barely got to sample. El Caminito is the main tourist spot in this true locals neighborhood and it has tons of street artists, cafes, bars, entertainment, arts & crafts stalls and tourists. Most of it is pure kitsch, but it has a great, happy vibe. Unfortunately we only had about 20 minutes to check it out; if I ever come back to Buenos Aires, this area is worth at least half a day and a lunch with a cool beverage! The soccer stadium, La Bombonera, is only four blocks away, a few museums are nestled on the side streets and a few notable historical buildings (Casa Amarillo, Torre Fantasma) are all within walking distance. There are eclectic shops on the block surrounding a very colourful La Caminita which itself lined with more works of art and brightly painted buildings





The area also has its fair share of characters. One member of our group was approached by a working lady who threw a leg over him and then demanded $20! She had been hitting the bottle a bit and became quite enraged when her generous offer was declined. I thought Mike, the unlucky gent, and his wife Pauline handled it quite well and it was the best story of the day.

The last part of our city tour was more sedate with many more monuments, a cruise around Punta Madero with its reclaimed brick warehouses finding new lease as trendy developments, extensive new high-end hotels, restuarants, shops and condos and a little rush hour traffic. My second favourite sculpture of the day is actually a bridge, the Puentes de la Mujer. Designed by the Spanaird Santiago Calatrava (Calatreva, depending on the resource you use) and built mostly in Spain, it is 160m long and rotates 90 degrees to allow water traffic to pass. We didn't get to see it move as we hurtled by on the main road. It's intended to represent a couple dancing tango; I think it's elegant and simply beautiful.

That night we had dinner at La Cabrera steak house and it was crazy. There were about 30 of us and we took up one long set of tables down the whole side of the restuarant. The downside to this arrangement is that I was trapped in a corner all night and couldn't take many photos.

I know this snap doesn't do our dinner justice, but we had at least four types of steak, four types of potatoes, mulitple trays of little veggies and appertizer type goodies, lots of bread, a bunch of stuff I didn't know what it was and then they brought out about 20 different desserts. The whole endeavour was done family style and our plates were heaping for two hours, even when we tried to take just the tiniest taste of each thing!

After such a huge meal, of course we needed to work it off. And what better way than the Tango? *We* weren't doing the tango, but I'm sure we burned off some of the calories watching the hour and a half Tango Show at a dinner theatre! A couple more wines couldn't hurt, right? Happily, the wine was terrible so we stuck with water - much more righteous.

The show was pretty impressive and some of the dances were excellent. I had a guy with an enormous head sitting right in front of me so I wasn't able to see everything that happened or take a lot of photos as planned, but it was still enjoyable and the music was good.




There was a live orchestra supplying all the music and they were fantastic. The lead violinist wore an amazing dress...not what one expects from a violin player!


It was a little long for my tastes so it was nice to get to the end

I was happy to head back to the hotel for some still much needed sleep. I headed to the cruise ship the next day...
B

The Falklands

I’m jumping ahead in my journey as the Falkland Islands were fantastic. Far exceeded my expectations and I'm so glad I did it! The Falklands are actually an island chain of about 740 islands located 400 miles off the south-eastern point of South America. Our journey brought us to Stanley, the capital, on East Falkland. The island has many unique features, one of which is the presence of unexploded land mines left over from the 1982 Falklands Conflict. There are 117 mine fields across the island and all are well marked. The locals have taken the initiative in educating themeselves, their kids and visitors so no civilians have been hurt. As the world tries to rid itself of land mines, the Falklanders routinely insist that money and resources intended for land mine removal be spent in areas of the world without clear maps of existing mines. You have to like a people who are willing and able to take care of themselves and who place an importance on taking care of others, too!
The weather was mostly overcast and the seas were choppy as we approached the Falklands.


We could see that the day held great potential to give us some beautiful sunshine if only the winds would drop enough for the tenders. It is not uncommon for ships to miss out on the Falklands due to conditions so it’s something I’d prepared to miss, but deep down really really wanted to do. There was a fair amount of rock and roll to the ocean in the morning and many were speculating that we would either miss out completely or have our time here cut short.



But there wasn't any hesitation in the Captain's voice when he gave the go ahead for us to go ashore at Stanley. We were all pretty happy to put up with a moderately bumpy ride to shore for the chance to see the penguins and to explore some of the island.

Thanks to a little confusion during the embarkation process, we were late getting on the tender vessels to head in to Stanley, but the day improved rapidly. Jo and I got cozy in the tender as it was four to a bench and the benches aren't all that big!


At the dock, we were hustled up the ramp with no time to get a nice shot of the town. The crew insisted that the dock was unsafe due to the choppy seas, but really I think they just wanted to keep the line moving!

We were met by Patrick's team of drivers and split up into groups of four per 4 wheel drive vehicle. Amber, Cheryl, Jennifer and I were in one car and we were all in a festive mood already, we were all just happy to be here. It was going to be a fun drive! Most of the vehicles were SUV types and ours was very comfortable; Amber said that last year the vehicles were smaller and less comfortable so we had been prepared to rough it..this was better! Our driver, Christian, seemed a little reserved at first, but once we all started chattering he loosened up and came up with some excellent one liners when we'd least expect it.

Getting to Volunteer Point is an adventure in itself. It is about 75 kms, with the last 17kms of that over unmarked peat bog. One driver said there were about 28 different paths out to Volunteer Point, but it looked like those were more like guidelines than actual paths as there was frequent stopping and head shaking. The road leading to the cross country terrain is mostly gravel and can also be quite exciting! The peat bog is a rough, windy, unpredictable path to the shore and we could really see why Princess recommends that those with back problems skip this particular excursion. It was excellent fun and was as enjoyable as the time we spent with the penguins themselves. The vehicles travel in convoy so that no driver is alone and so that there is plenty of help available when someone gets bogged or when a new "bridge" needs to be put down.

Convoy grouping up as a new bridge is placed and each vehicle takes it easy going over.

A temporary bridge

We were surprised at how many significantly steep hills there were!

They provided excellent platforms for viewing the gorgeous countryside, though!


And the island is beautiful. Wide open plains, rolling hills, unexpected rock formations, bays, cliffs and other magnificent vistas over every bump.


No one really knows how these big fields of rocks were formed. Evidently there are multiple theories and geologists continue to visit the Falklands searching for a definitive answer.

Once the drivers got comfortable with their charges, it seemed like our once sedate convoy turned into a mini-rally! Christian was making up his own path, gunning it to get in a better position and talking a bit of smack about the other drivers. We were, of course, cheering him on, offering helpful suggestions and flashing victory signs at other cars as we flew past! Friends of ours had another rally-wanna-be driver who tried to be a cheeky monkey and get around us a couple of times, but Christian was just too good! It took a bit of skill to not only navigate over the uneven terrain, around the muddy rivulets caused by the rains the day before and to not get into first position - the guys up front had to stop to open all of the gates!
Getting up in it

A driver tries to make a move

DENIED!

We had a beautiful day with alternating overcast and blue skies, a warmish temperature but howling wind. I'm glad I rugged up in my new parka, knit cap, mittens and wind pants over a thermal layer. Yes, I am a wimp!

Volunteer Point is a gorgeous stretch of land and beach surrounding by Caribbean Blue waters on one side and rolling countryside on the other. The Gentoos and the Kings each have a colony up in the pasture land and Magellanics make their burrows in the strip of land between these colonies and the sparkling white sand beach.







The King Penguins are simply gorgeous with their glistening black and white feathers highlighted by bright yellow and orange on their heads. These are the largest penguins here and often waddle around the beach in small groups.

None of the penguins seemed particularly keen to actually get in the ocean, though many did venture to the water's edge, stick a toe and and seemingly decide better of it.


All of the penguins had youngsters, but the wind was so fierce that many of the bubs were tucked under a parent or snuggled deep in the mouths of their burrows.


The King penguin parents keep their youngster tucked into a special belly pouch most of the time. One chick was out for quite a while, continually squawking for more food.



There was a little group of Kings away from the main colony. All of these pairs had chicks and most parents spent a lot of time trying to tuck Bub back under.


There are lots more penguin photos and more penguin stories to come, but I'm falling way behind in getting anything up at all so I'd better save some for later! After our tour, we headed back in to Stanley for a short look-see. Coming around the bend we could see our ship, waiting patiently for us

There is an active military presence on Stanley and it is rumored that the pilots have no real altitude restrictions during training!

Not sure you can see, but the two guys in the doorway are waving to us

Have to like a town that clearly marks its two roads!

A pretty church behind a monument to the town made of whalebones

The Falklands Conflict still has ramifications, such as live land mines in fields across the islands, and there is a memorial wall over looking the bay to those British and Falklanders who lost their lives

Every port needs a newspaper and this one has the Penguin News

We were a little confused by some of the street signs...not sure why one can't wear blue from 8-5 on Monday through Friday!

And then there's this sign giving some sort of directions

Or this one showing how to shear a sheep...Falklands style

My favourite was the rabid looking Rockhopper penguin sign outside one of the gift shops. Could he look more evil?!

The conditions were much more pleasant on our return trip on the tenders. I was even able to stick the baby Olympus camera out the door behind me and take some shots of the houses lining the bay.


As we waited for the Star Princess to pull away from Stanley, the seas became like a mill pond and a lone sailboat cruised serenely along the coast for one final wave good-bye to the pod people.

I was happy to have been one of them today!


BTW - I apologise in advance if any of the links are broken...if you drop me an email, I'll try to get them fixed next time I'm online!