How Fortunate Are We

46 Days

Two Continents

10 Countries

Equator Crossing

Panama Canal

Machu Picchu

Antarctica

Iguazu Falls...

Mission Accomplished.

Back to B.A. for Another Day and A Half

When we got back to the Marriott, where we had left 5 suitcases, our room wasn't ready to they upgraded us to a lovely suite. What a way to finish our stay.
 
The last days were the best days. We wandered the streets, ate in a little restaurant and felt good about having completed such an incredible adventure.  We remained fascinated with doors all through S. America.  Found more great doors.

A group was in the hotel that is running a marathon around the world.  They were headed out to run the last leg in Antarctica.  Having been there, it's hard for us to imagine, but note how young these guys are.

Forbes Magazine called the bar at our hotel one of the  9 best bars in the world

When it's over, it's over.  Sitting at the airport waiting to check in.

Iguazu Falls

How do you describe something larger than life and a real force of nature?  The falls are spectacular.  We saw them from both the Argentina and Brazil sides and the views are equally stunning.  Jim had a closer perspective by taking the zodiac trip on the river. Mist rises between 100 ft. from Iguazu's Devil's Throat, which has a walkway out over it. We did a bit of hiking over the two days that we toured with our guide Tiago.  This young man had superior language skills and a lot of knowledge about the local bird and animal life. Not sure that photographs can capture something so beautiful and powerful.

Off to Iguazu: The Nightmare at the Airport

What should have been an easy flight up to Iquazu Falls turned into a nightmare half day. We walked into the domestic airport and found 1,000s of people in turmoil.  All flights were closed and the only explanation was a weather delay, but there was no bad weather outside.

We stood in lines for over 3 hours to get to a ticket counter.  All announcements were in Spanish and we had no clue.  An Asian woman in line just ahead of us passed out and we along with several other passengers jumped ahead of her.  This caused a lot of Spanish women to get wrought up, yelling, gesturing and shooting us dirty looks. 

We got ticketed and upstairs was a bit calmer, but nothing moved. It took 6 hours from arrival at the airport until take-off.  We did get to Iguazu Falls after lunch and it turned out to be well worth the chaos. At the end of the day, Jim and I were quite proud of ourselves that we had managed through what was one of the worst airport experiences we had ever had.

Sorry, but no photos to mark chaos.

Buenos Aires

 Leaving the ship was a happy/sad event.  Sad to be leaving our good shipboard friends that were continuing on, but happy to be bringing our long journey to a close.  We had a smooth transition from ship to hotel with all seven pieces of luggage. 

The Marriot Plaza is a grand dame 100-year-old hotel in the heart of the city, right next to the great shopping street, Florida.  It took 4 hours to get into our room, as we arrived at the hotel at 9:00 am in the morning. Small room, but well appointed. We had one of the best steaks we’ve ever eaten in the Grill Room of the hotel.

Views from Our Hotel

Buenos Aires is a bit of Europe in the heart of South America.  The population is 40% Italian, 40% Spanish and 20% all others in national origins.  We really liked this city. Seemed fairly safe, certainly felt safer here than Rio last year. High fashion, silver, and great leather goods are the things to buy, and, yes, I indulged in a purse. 

Saturday Shopping

Galleria Pacifico:  Imagine shopping in these surroundings

Crossing the widest boulevard in the world, we found a new variation on the guys that stand on corners and wave advertising signs.  Here they jump into the middle of the street in front of the cars when a light turns red.  They have to scurry back to the sidewalk when it starts to turn green.  Quite fun to watch.

Widest Blvd.  18 lanes of traffic

Off to the Estancia

Our last day aboard ship was spent in the Buenos Aires countryside visiting an estancia.  We wanted to see gauchos and visit a ranch.  La Mimosa was built in 1869 and is still owned by the same family.  The owner was there to greet us at the gates.  We couldn't go into the lovely old house, but several doors were open so we could see the rooms filled with antiques. 

The ranch dogs were always a part of every event, right down to coming on the dance floor.  We enjoyed a ring race, where gauchos ride hell-bent-for-leather standing in the stirrups to grab a tiny ring about 1" in diameter.  They then presented it a lady in exchange for a kiss.  Imagine my surprise when the gaucho appeared in front of me with a ring.

We had a barbeque lunch. traditional folk dancing (we all joined in) and rides in an old wagon.  There was every kind of fowl, cows, horses, yes, a real ranch.

The ring was hanging from this stand and the rider had to grab it with a short stick.

Montevideo, Uraguay

Our last port of call before our final stop in Buenos Aires was Montevideo, the capital of Uraguay and the lesser known city just 80 km across the Plato River from B. A.  We got off the ship as soon as it docked to lunch at the famous port market filled with grilling restaurants.  We were invited to join friends from San Francisco who were food buffs and had seen the restaurant that we visited on the Anthony Bourdain's show on the Food Network.

Estancia de Puerto, was an open grill specializing in paradillo (assorted grilled meat).  When I tell you that we had no clue what we were eating, believe it.  We asked on one item and they said stomach parts, the menu read "mixed guts." We didn't ask again.

The afternoon was spent in a walking tour of the center city and a highlight was the Opera House. This city, like Buenos Aires, is very European in architecture.

Opera House

Signing Back In

Dear Blog Followers,
You probably think we have signed off permanently, not so. We still need to share the final days of the journey.  As we drew closer to Buenoes Aires, our schedule became so full and hectic that the opportunity to blog was limited or non-existent.  And do we have stories to tell!

The final days have been trying and wonderful all at the same time. We have some great pictures from Iquazo Falls, but we don't have the ability to post them yet. We travel out tomorrow night and are home on the 24th.  We'll do one final  blast of several segments of the trip to catch you up.

I didn't share with you that while we were in Antarctica, I caught one of the many bugs going around the ship and became ill.  After two trips to the doctor, a Z pack, 3 breathing treatments and a bill of over $1000, we continued on to Iguazu Falls as planned.   The ship's doctor was first rate and we just count this as one of the many unforseen events of shipboard life and travel. We weathered it great.

We are back at the Marriott Plaza in Buenos Aires, a wonderful 100 year old hotel with so much charm and character.  We do love this city and it certainly rates the name "Paris of South America."

Port Madryn, Argentina

After seven days at sea, it felt wonderful to put our feet on land.  Port Madryn doesn't have any historical significance or incredible landscapes. It was a bit of a shock to find that it is quite barren and arid.

We got on a coach traveled 1.5 hours to a small town settled by the Welsh.  We had tea and entertainment by the local high school choir singing in Welsh and Spanish.

On our way down the pier back to the ship we were entertained by our first penguin sighting. We had passed on penguin tours at every port, planning to see them in the Falklands.  This was our last chance, but 6 hours on a bus to see messy birds was not something we wanted to do.  Imagine our surprise to find one little guy swimming away right by the ship.

No Falkland Islands for Us

This was our first missed port. After 5 days at sea, we were looking forward to seeing the island that made such headlines 30 years ago with the war between Britain and Argentina.  We arrived, dropped anchor and set the tender boats in place.  Then the captain made the decision to pull anchor and leave as 45/50 mile winds came up.  The winds were so strong that we started dragging the anchor, and that's a dangerous thing for ship in a shallow harbor.

The crew had planned a British day and the festivities were able continue, as the Pilot Boat brought out the British beer.  We had a Pub Sing Along led by a group of UK passengers.

Our Limited View of the Falklands

Port Stanley

Pilot Boat Bringing the Beer

Pub Sing Along

Elephant Island

The most spectacular day in Antarctica.  Bright sun and slightly warmer temperatures. This first picture is the view we awoke to find. Hard to tell where the mountain ends and the cloud begins.