Tierra del Fuego / Argentina

The seas are finally calm and we spent a spectacularly beautiful day in Tierra del Fuego national park near Ushuia. Normally temperatures here are around 10 celsius but today was 19 and the sun was shining. In Tierra del Fuego they only get maybe 10 days of sunshine a year, so this was exceptionally lucky. It is so very beautiful down here and as i look out right now i am seeing land that probably no one has ever walked on for many hundreds of miles. The Yamana people once lived here and apparently there is only one single individual living now. We cruised by the Avenue of Glaciers a few hours ago and i can only say that it's breathtaking. I wish I had some talent as a photographer because surely there could be no more beautiful scenery on the globe.

Tomorrow we will be in Punta Arenas and I am going to Ottway Bay to look at Penguins and then to a sheep farm. It's a long excursion - about 8 hours - and am quite looking forward to it. Missed the sheep farm in the Faulklands, so i will get a taste of it (lamb bbq?) tomorrow.

The internet is very very slow tonight for some reason and usually at this time it's pretty good, so i can't post a picture. I think when I get to Buenos Aires i will go back into this blog and post several photos from there of some of the places I've seen on this trip. When I get home will put them all on a webpage so everyone can look at them if you would like to.

Have just had a most delicious decaf Moccachino and have finished my latest book "The Help" which was wonderful. I think I'll get another coffee and go to my cabin, sit on the verandah and watch the bottom of the world go by.

Life is good.

love m

xx

Rocking and Rolling in the Atlantic

Hugely rough seas last night and all day today - sort of like big rolling mountains out here. Waves were 35 ft high this morning and have become bigger and bigger all day. Books flying off the shelves in the library, stuff falling out of cupboards and closets, waiters staggering around with trays. It's quite challenging to stay upright. i've taken to walking below decks in the passageway on our floor to get from the bow to the stern - i can then just stagger into a wall on each side. As i sat down in this chair to do the blog i noticed the other swivel chairs were spinning if they were empty. We just had dinner in the big dining room in the stern of the ship -The Rotterdam - and you really see the dipping and diving back there.

Sally has had a cold these past three days and is doing all that she can to be rid of it. If we can actually land in the Faulklands this time we are both wanting to have excursions there - me to the sheep farm to watch the border collies work the sheep and Sally to a penguin rookery at Bluff Cove. The captain says you just dont know until you get there whether or not you can launch the tenders to get into Port Stanley - it depends on the wind. One time a few years ago they had tendered 1000 passengers into Port Stanley on excursions and the wind changed and they couldn't be picked up. I believe Port Stanley only has a population of 1000 people or so - you can imagine the dilemma of doubling the size of the town. Old army barracks were used, hospitals, and of course, people opened their homes to the passengers until they could be picked up the next day. I'm counting on buying wool there tomorrow, so we'd just better get in.

We saw an amazing show last night - a broadway review of Bob Mackie's costumes - and the singers were mostly people who've worked on Broadway. It was really good. I had low expectations and was really impressed. One of the singers looked a lot like Mike's girlfriend Kate, when she's all gussied up. Hi Kate !!!

Am going to the movies with Margaret tonight and Sally is going to stay "in" since she's not feeling great. It's some silly chick flick, and so perfect. We three went to an outdoor movie the other night which was fun, but too cold and too rough and wet now. People can no longer even walk on the decks outside - too dangerous with the ship rollilng and pitching the way it is and also too wet. Something is rolling around and banging behind a wall near where i'm sitting. whatever it is - it sounds large and on the loose.

After the Faulklands we go into Ushuia again and this time I'm going to go on an excursion to OttwayBay to another penguin colony. I hadn't realized there are so many different types of Penguins until I came here. I can relate now as the best way to walk around this ship is penguin-like to distribute one's weight over a broader base in order not to tip over. Whenever I start to walk normally, the ship pitches and then it's staggerring running steps and then whoaaaaaa, tipping backwards and hanging on. It's times like this that I wish i had bigger f e e t.

love m
xx oo

Buenos Aires yesterday, Montevideo again today

We arrived in Buenos Aires yesterday and it is just an amazingly beautiful city. It takes your breath away really. The buildings echo Paris and when one is driving by the cafes, one expects people are eating Croque Msr's or Salad Nicoise. There are great open greenspaces and squares and astounding monuments. If the computer guy were here I'd have him unlock the tower so I could post a picture. We took a four hour tour with a guide through the neighbourhoods and the Recoleta area where we've rented the apartment is just fabulous and very old and wonderfully clean. We spent a little time in La Boca where our friend Margaret did a power shop and purchased four handbags of exquisite quality in about 10 mins. People were dong the Tango on the street everywhere and in the cafes. So much fun and such a vibrant city. I didn't buy yesterday since I'm coming back here in two weeks to stay. The leathergoods in Argentina are finer and cheaper than they are in Uruguay or Chile. Jewellery is also beautiful and not expensive. The national stone of Argentina is "Rhodochrosite" which can vary from pale pink to a deep brown/red colour. Lovely. There is Rhodochrosite in my future ....BA is a dangerous place for me altogether. Emily - when you get here - bring $$$. Oh - and three of us went to a restaurant for lunch and had wonderful food for under $25. We are told it's hard to spend more than $50 on dinner, so that's the good news. What we save on food we can spend on jewellery and handbags. There is a bright side.
We're in Montevideo again today on the first leg of the return trip south, and we walked around the old part of the city this morning and bought a few things from the vendors in the shopping area. There are cobblestones often, and the walking is a little tricky for me but I'm managing pretty well. We had a very odd little lunch in town. Thought we were ordering grilled ham and mozzarella sandwiches and ended up with ham and pea sandwiches. That kind of thing happens quite often as we have no Spanish and they have little English. There is a lot of nodding which we think is understanding/agreement and sometimes the outcome of the exchange isn't as expected. ie. we were certain the guide knew yesterday that we wanted to drive down the street where our apartment is located in Buenos Aires and we did not. = nodding without comprehension ....... people are great though - trying hard and very friendly everywhere.
Am so looking forward to seeing the Faulklands and really hope we can get in this time. I've re-booked my trip to the sheep farm instead of looking at penguins there. Had to choose. Will see penguins again in Chile on the way back down and around.
Hope everyone is well. Have been picking up little things here and there but nothing major so far.
Michael - you'd love BA. You have to come here at some point. It's got a buzz like NY or Paris and after some extensive Tango lessons, you could work in San Telmo in a cafe if you got really good.

lol

love m
xx oo

Montevideo today and now on the way to Buenos Aires

We arrived in Montevideo this morning and were on an excursion for the whole day out to Punte del Este. Just beautiful there - on the ocean with a lovekly vista and white sand beach. Lots of gorgeous neighbourhoods with amazing homes etc. It's where South America comes to play in the summer and most of the homes are only used for a month or two at best. We stopped and had a really great lunch and then back to the city via a really nasty little tourist market.
Back on board and just had dinner and want to get some pictures on here now that everybody is packing to leave on this leg of the cruise and the internet isn't so slow. We are doing the return trip with only about 30 other people. The other 1200 are leaving and very very jealous of us.
I cannot wait to see those fijords again. I have some of the eeriest pictures of them. simply amazing. But first ... Buenos Aires tomorrow. We had a city tour booked and it was cancelled, so we are doing it on our own with another new friend, Margaret from Washington State. Will let you all know how the day goes. We plan to get a car and driver for a half day to take us around and show us the best architecture downtown and the parks and the big cemetary The Recoleta which is the same name as the area where we have rented the apartment at the end of this cruise. We have a NY Times article (thanks Emily) about the cafes of BA and we plan on having lunch at one listed in there. Then off to Calle Florida which is the pedestrian shopping area for a preview of things to come. Back to the ship late in the afternoon and we start the return trip. We are so hoping to be able to get into the Faulklands on the way back. Everybody cross your fingers.

Love to everybody and I will get some pictures on here NOW

love m
xx oo

Faulkland Islands - N O T

So disappointed not to be able to stop in the Faulklands yesterday. The swells were 25 ft and strong winds blowing the wrong way and so the captain decided that it wasn't safe to try to launch the tenders to get us all in. Sally and I are only a handful of passengers who are taking the cruise back around to where we started in Valparaiso, so we will get a second chance.
We sail all day again today and maybe tomorrow as well before we get to Montevideo, Uruguay. Have been reading a lot - currently "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", which I'm loving. Read "March" by Doctorow before that and "Cutting for Stone" before that - all on the e-reader which I'm loving to distraction. (Doesn't take much .....) I do find the "sea days" long, and due to our inability to stop in Stanley, we have four in a row which is way too much for me.
We're meeting lots of people on the ship and frequently dine with others. My world was getting to be pretty small in Bobcaygeon and this has been really good. Healthcare and Obama always the subjectmatter for some period of time with most of the Americans.
Met a couple who live on Ridge Drive, which is only blocks away from where we lived on Inglewood and then Moore Ave., and their sons went to RSGC. Their youngest was a year behind Michael in school, and they also knew Larry from cubs. It's sure a small world.

We have rolling seas again today, but it doesn't really bother me. Lots of people have been seasick due to the big swells and constant chop, and even folks who haven't been sick on other voyages are bothered this time. It's actually (for me) kind of nice at night. We all have noticed our legs hurting though and it's from trying to stay upright some days just walking around the ship. We are about 200 yards from the dining room .... need I say more?

well , am going to go on a kitchen tour shortly. Am fascinated with how they manage to produce all this food and where and how it's all stored etc. This afternoon there is a lecture on Montevideo which I will attend as well. I was dragged into a culinary quiz yesterday up in the Crow's Nest and we actually won. Had it been any other type of quiz I'd have opted out .....

love to everyone

m
xx oo

on the way to the Faulklands now

We were in Ushuia yesterday where 90% of all expeditions to Antartica begin. It's a desolate place, altogether isolated from the rest of Argentina. We went on a really overly long boat trip back down the Beagle Channel to see Penguins and Sea Lions yesterday. Will be seeing more penguins on the way back on another excursion. They are stinky little guys 'cause they're fish eaters, and funny as anything to watch. The ones we saw were Magellanic Penguins - the medium sized ones, and a few of another species with the orange beaks and feet - can't remember their name.... but I bought the t-shirt anyway.
The trip down the Beagle Channel yesterday was nothing short of spectacular on the way to Ushuia, and I have some amazing pictures of the fijords all misty in the morning light. Sally calls it the Land of the Lord of the Rings. It brings all those stories to mind. We sailed past Glaciers and waterfalls and literally thousands of fijords. Tall craggy mountains with snow on top and then rounded hills from glaciers "polishing" them smooth. Sometimes all these formations are together. It's a remarkable place and people are conspicuously absent if that makes any sense. It's eerily empty. We are now moving past the Land of the Fires - Tierra del Fuego - and I can see the outline of that coast in the distance from where I sit. We rounded Cape Horn this morning around 7 a.m. and we were expecting huge swells and a really rough ride. It wasn't as rough as our first few days on board after we left Vina del Mar, when the waves were maybe 15 ft. high. It's choppy now but just moderate swells apparently. We should reach the Faulklands tomorrow morning and winds permitting, will get into Stanley for our excursion. Sally and I are going to a sheep farm hopefully and having a lamb bbq for lunch. Since you all know I'm Collie crazy - can't wait to see the Border Collies working the sheep. Also promised Janet, my sister in law, to bring back wool for her from there as it's supposed to be the most pristine wool on the planet so am praying we get in.
I know everybody has been looking forward to viewing pictures and i've just talked to the computer guy about it, and if I compress my pictures I might be able to download them when it's not so busy in here. When everyone is online it's impossibly slow.
We are going to a dress up dinner tonight in the dining room. Had a fantastic dinner a couple of nights ago in the "Pinnacle" which is the added cost dining room. Fabulous food.
I will close for now as we are going to a lecture in 15 mins about the Faulklands. We attended another art lecture this morning - this time on Salvidore Dali. Really interesting. Am going to start going to the digetal camera classes next week. Tomorrow the art lecture is on Erte - did I spell that correctly? Art Noveau stuff. Haven't gone to any cooking classes yet as have been too busy eating........
Love to you all and will try to post something tomorrow night.

love m
xx oo

Punta Arenas, Chile

We arrived this morning in the southernmost city in the world, Punta Arenas. Went on a tour of the city, to the cemetario, a private home built in 1906, the navigation museum etc. I have been curious about the animals that might inhabit this part of the world and saw them all stuffed - not attractive - at the museum. They looked like they'd been there since this land was discovered - but none-the-less, the larger predators are puma, Pategonia fox (quite large), a smaller fox, some other spotted cats etc. They have the oddest little tiny deer and then normal sized deer but with big bodies and short legs. Condors which truly are among the ugliest birds in nature, are the national bird of Chile and well represented down here. Llamas and other cameliads are present too, but who knows if they are still running wild. Lots of different penguins inhabit this land - from the really big Emperor and King penguins to the little cute Rockhopper penguins. Can't remember which ones we are seeing tomorrow. We are going on a catamaran tomorrow in the Beagle Channel to a penguin nesting area. A lot of the knitted things here have penguins on them including two hats I bought today. One for Sarah down the road, and one for little Holly.

Punta Arenas is basically an unattractive town with the exception of the cemetary vaults and buildings and a few of the grander homes from the turn of the century. A few of those homes/palaces have been donated as museums. One can only imagine choosing material for a dress or something and then waiting a year for it to come from Europe by ship. We toured one of these homes and it wanted for nothing. Most of the houses look much as they do in towns in northern Ontario. Rectangular little bungalows. They get five or six feet of snow here in their winter and the guide was telling about a few years ago it snowed for two weeks here and almost all the farm animals died and the Chilean govt had to reimburse the farmers for their losses so they could start again. It truly is the bottom of the world and this place is very isolated from the rest of the world. In winter it's only light from 10 a.m. to 4 pm for part of the time.

Tomorrow Usuaia. Going to find a comfy chair now and finish my book and drink my delicious Americano. We're going to the Pinnacle for dinner tonight and am looking forward to that.

love to everyone
m
xx oo